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Hamas' New Order Exacts Toll on Gazans

[Washington Post] Scott Wilson - Facing money shortages, a shrinking private sector and growing political resistance, Hamas leaders in Gaza are increasingly imposing harsh interpretations of Islamic law and using brute force to bolster their isolated administration, which remains illegitimate in the view of Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and his U.S.-backed government in the West Bank. Reconciliation between the two largest Palestinian parties - now running parallel governments in what had been envisioned as the two territories of a Palestinian state with a single government - appears as distant as when Abbas dissolved the Hamas-led power-sharing government after the fighting in June. Gaza's streets have taken on an increasingly Islamic cast in recent months. The improved everyday security has brought people back to the markets, beaches and parks, many of them women wearing for the first time the full black gown, gloves and face covering favored by the most conservative Muslims. After Friday prayers in recent weeks, Fatah supporters have marched through Gaza's streets in protest against the Hamas administration. "Shia! Shia!" the demonstrators shouted, an insulting reference to Hamas' inflexible Islamic character and financial support from the Shiite government of Iran. Their numbers have swelled into the thousands, and Hamas' patience appears exhausted. The Palestinian Scholars League, an Islamic council dominated by Hamas clerics, issued a fatwa early this month prohibiting outdoor prayer.
2007-09-18 01:00:00
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