Islamism in the Gaza Strip
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Politics of the Gaza Strip |
Islamism in the Gaza Strip involves efforts to promote and impose Islamic laws and traditions in the Gaza Strip. The influence of Islamic groups in the Gaza Strip has grown since the 1980s. Following Hamas' victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections and a conflict with supporters of the rival Fatah party, Hamas took complete control of the Gaza Strip,[1][2][3] and declared the "end of secularism and heresy in the Gaza Strip".[4] For the first time since the Sudanese coup of 1989 that brought Omar al-Bashir to power, a Muslim Brotherhood group rules a significant geographic territory.[5] Gaza human-rights groups accuse Hamas of restricting many freedoms.[2]
According to a Human Rights Watch researcher, the Hamas-controlled government of Gaza stepped up its efforts to "Islamize" Gaza in 2010, efforts that included the "repression" of civil society and "severe violations of personal freedom".[6] Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in 2009 that "Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity".[7] According to Mkhaimar Abusada, a political-science professor at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, "Ruling by itself, Hamas can stamp its ideas on everyone (...) Islamizing society has always been part of Hamas strategy."[8]
Dress code for women
1970s to 1980s
Successful coercion of women by sectors of society to wear Islamic dress or
1980s to 1990s
Similar behavior was displayed by Hamas during the First Intifada.[10] Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab alongside other measures, including insisting women stay at home, segregation from men and the promotion of polygamy. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed, with the result that the hijab was being worn 'just to avoid problems on the streets'.[verification needed][11]
2007 Swords of Truth threat
In 2007, Islamic group
2009 rules for female lawyers
After taking control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Hamas tried to enforce Islamic law in the territory, imposing the hijab on women at courts, institutions and schools.[13][14][15]
Some of the Islamization efforts met resistance. When Palestinian Supreme Court Justice Abdel Raouf Al-Halabi ordered female lawyers to wear headscarves and caftans in court, attorneys contacted satellite television stations to protest, including Saudi state media outlet Al Arabiya, causing Hamas' Justice Ministry to cancel the directive.[8]
2009 Detention of Asma al-Ghul
In 2009,
Typical clothing in the 2020s
In the early 2020s Women tended to dress conservatively in the Gaza Strip, but traditionally Islamic dress codes such as head scarves were not mandatory for all.
Islamisation of other women's issues
In 2009, Hamas banned girls from riding behind men on
The Hamas-led government briefly implemented, then revoked, a ban on women smoking in public.[18] In 2010, Hamas banned the smoking of hookah by women in public, stating that it was to reduce the increasing number of divorces.[19]
In March 2010, Hamas tried to impose a ban on women receiving salon treatment from male
In 2013, UNRWA canceled its annual marathon in Gaza after Hamas rulers prohibited women from participating in the race.[23]
In 2015, Hamas banned New Year's Eve celebrations based on the Gregorian calendar, stating that such celebrations "offended the territory's values and religious traditions." This was after the Islamic New Year had begun in October.[24]
Polygamy
Polygamy has burgeoned under the Hamas government, despite the fact that the overall rate of marriage has decreased.[25][26][ambiguous]
Book banning
There is widespread banning of books in the Gaza Strip. In 2007, the banning of a book of Palestinian folktales, "Speak, Bird, Speak Again", which is a collection of 45 Palestinian folk tales, because of some supposedly lewd content, caused an outcry.[27] The Palestinian novelist Zakariya Mohammed warned that Hamas' decision to ban the book was "only the beginning" and he urged intellectuals to take action. He said: "If we don't stand up to the Islamists now, they won't stop confiscating books, songs and folklore".[28]
Music and Entertainment
One of the most obvious difference between Hamas and the smaller more fundamentalist groups in the Gaza Strip is music.
entertainment venue bombings (2006-2007)
Beginning in October 2006, during the
The Islamist group Swords of Truth claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes, music shops and pool halls, which they considered places of vice. The assailants used to detonate small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries. Hamas spokesman Ismail Ridwan denied any connection with the group.[12]
claims from Al-Qaeda sympathisers
Police said that no credible claims of responsibility had been made for the attacks, dismissing a statement that appeared on a news Web site in December from an unknown group with alleged links to Al-Qaeda. Haaretz noted that, "There has been no conclusive proof that Al-Qaida has established a Gaza branch. Observers believe the vice squad is most likely homegrown."[32]
Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in 2007
In 2007, the Gaza Strip's
Arab Idol 2013
In 2013, Islamic religious leaders were critical of the Arab Idol singing contest,[34] describing voting for songs as immoral, evil, sinful and a "crime against the cause of our people".[34]
ISIS sympathisers in 2021
In August 2021, Islamic State (ISIS)-inspired groups in the Gaza Strip accused Bianco Resort, one of the Gaza Strip's most luxurious seaside tourist sites, of holding a music concert for men and women, before attacking the resort with an explosive device.[35]
Police raid on hip hop concert in 2010
In April 2010, Hamas sent police to break up the Gaza Strip's first major
Water park
In 2010, human rights activists said that Hamas stepped up its efforts to impose strict Islamic teachings in the Gaza Strip. Crazy Water Park, one of the Gaza Strip's most popular entertainment sites, was closed down by Hamas for allowing mixed bathing. Two weeks later, the site was set on fire by a group of unknown gunmen. The Hamas government issued a strong condemnation and promised to pursue the perpetrators. The government had already a week earlier ordered the closure of Crazy Water Park for three weeks due to it not having a proper license.[37]
Although it is not clear which Islamist group was behind the action, Islamist militants who objected to mixed-gender socializing destroyed Gaza's water park.[1][2][38][39]
Children's summer camps
In May 2010, a previously unknown militant group calling itself "
In a separate incident in June 2010, a group of about two dozen armed and masked men attacked a UNRWA summer camp in Gaza. The assailants tied up an unarmed guard, then tried to set fire to two tents and a perimeter fence. They also used knives, slashing a plastic swimming pool, blow-up slide and toys. John Ging called it a "cowardly and despicable" attack. Hamas condemned the attack and said it was investigating.[40]
Other prohibitions
The "Islamic Endowment Ministry" created by the Hamas administration has deployed Virtue Committee members to warn people of the dangers of
It was reported that young Palestinians in Gaza were being targeted by Islamist gunmen and Hamas security forces for wearing hair gel, with some of them being beaten and shaved against their will.[43]
In 2008, Hamas instructed the main Palestinian telecoms company,
Men are banned from
Hamas banned public dog walking in May 2017, stating it was to "protect our women and children". Hamas officials stated that the ban was in response to a rise in dog walking on the streets which they stated was "against culture and traditions in Gaza".[46]
Effects on Christian population
In 2007, about 3,000 Gazans were Christian, out of the total population of 1.5 million.
The Islamization of Gaza has put increasing pressure on the tiny Christian minority.[50] Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, a rival group to Hamas,[51] announced the opening of a "military wing" to enforce Muslim law in Gaza. "I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza."[52] Sheik Saqer has asserted that there is "no need" for Christians in Gaza to maintain a large number of institutions in the territory and demanded that Hamas "must work to impose an Islamic rule or it will lose the authority it has and the will of the people."[53]
In October 2007, Rami Khader Ayyad, owner of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was abducted, beaten and murdered, after his bookstore was firebombed by an unidentified group attacking targets associated with Western influence. According to Ayyad's family and neighbors, he had regularly received anonymous death threats from people angered by his missionary work. Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas in Gaza, condemned Ayyad's killing and said Hamas "would not allow anyone to sabotage Muslim-Christian relations." Hamas officials made visits to Christian community, and its spokesman promised to bring those responsible to justice. No group claimed responsibility for the murder.[47][54][55]
Ayyad's funeral was attended by 300 Muslims and Christians. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights stated "This ugly act has no support by any religious group here."[48]
In 2012, a public protest was organized by dozens of Christians who claimed that two Christians were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will. According to two mediators, the two Christians embraced Islam of their own free will. The conversions have the minority Christian population worried, and Huda Al-Amash, the mother of one of the converts, Ramez, stated, "If things remain like this, there'll be no Christians left in Gaza." Gaza's Archbishop Alexious said that the converts should be returned to their families.[56][57]
Criticism by Palestinians
Islamic emirate in Gaza
According to Francesca Giovannini of the University of California Berkeley, a growing number of analysts have denounced openly the "systematic, massive and explicit efforts" at Talibanization led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.[59]
Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in 2009 that Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity.[7]
In the same year,
The fact is that Hamas is a Taliban state, as one Israeli diplomat put it. This is almost an epiphany, a clarifying truth. Hamas operates against its Palestinian enemies like the Taliban does against its Afghani enemies. Imagine a Hamas squad enters a kindergarten in a kibbutz. Neither the Taliban nor Hamas strive for earthly aims. Armed with instruments of death, they each fight for a heavenly design. But on earth.... The Taliban are not analogous to Hamas. They are identical, equivalent. A ceasefire with Hamas is a delusion. Engage with whom?[60]
Director general of the Palestinian interior ministry,
In 2008, Following the bitter
Al-Ayyam columnist, Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar, called Hamas "the new Taliban" and wrote: "How will the mini-state of the new Taliban [i.e. Hamas] manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip under a suffocating international siege?... Will they implement the laws of Islam?... An Islamic state [ruled by] the new Taliban has become a reality in Gaza."[64]
See also
References
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- ^ a b c Gunmen torch Gaza beach club shuttered by Hamas Archived 2012-05-25 at the Wayback Machine, AFP 19-09-2010
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- ^ Khaled Abu Toameh, "Haniyeh Calls for Palestinian Unity", Jerusalem Post, June 15, 2007
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- ^ Rubenberg, C., Palestinian Women: Patriarchy and Resistance in the West Bank (USA, 2001) p.231
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- ^ a b c Khaled Abu Toameh, 'They accused me of laughing in public' Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, Jerusalem Post 04-08-2009
- ^ [1] Archived 2017-08-01 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters 8-10-2009
- ^ Gaza ban on women smoking pipes Archived 2020-11-11 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, 19 July 2010, The Independent.
- ^ Blomfield, Adrian (18 July 2010). "Women banned from smoking hookah pipes in Gaza". London: Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
- ^ Hamas orders male hairstylists out of lady salons Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, Associated Press (published in the Jerusalem Post 21–02–2011)
- ^ Hamas bans men from women's hair salons in Gaza Archived 2017-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters 05-03-2010
- ^ Gaza police order male hairdressers to quit working Archived 2022-10-31 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian 23-02-2011
- ^ "UN cancels Gaza marathon over Hamas ban on women". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ^ "Hamas bans New Year's Eve parties in Gaza". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
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- ^ Al Ghoul, Asmaa (18 March 2015). [Gaza's unhappy sister wives "Gaza's unhappy sister wives"]. Al-Monitor. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
{{cite news}}
: Check|url=
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- ^ a b article title: Hamas are not ISIS, date 2023
- ^ al Jazeera documentary about music in prison
- ^ pending
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