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Hamas Seeking to Make Palestinian Society More Islamist


[Guardian-UK] Rory McCarthy - It began with a rash of unusually assertive police patrols. Armed Hamas officers stopped men from sitting shirtless on the beach, broke up groups of unmarried men and women, and ordered shopkeepers not to display lingerie on mannequins in their windows. Then came intense pressure on parents to dress their daughters more conservatively for the new school term. Last week police began enforcing a new decree banning women from riding on motorbikes. To many it feels like a new wave of enforcement in what is already a devoutly Muslim society. As part of a new "virtue" campaign, posters decry the trend for young women to wear their headscarf along with tight jeans and recommend a fuller head covering, counseling: "The right hijab is your way to heaven." However, while Gaza is socially conservative, many Palestinians object to being commanded to follow a particular social code.
2009-10-21 06:00:00
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