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Monday, August 24, 2009

Another step towards Hamastan

Hamas has denied repeatedly that they want to turn Gaza into an Islamist regime. For example, in this interview last year with Hamas senior advisor Ahmed Yousef:
Q: Some people have claimed that Hamas is trying to establish an Islamic emirate and is about to impose Sharia law in the territories under its control. Is this true?

AY: It's totally false, and from the time of the Hamas takeover of Gaza I don't think any Palestinian observed any change in daily life. This claim is used just for propaganda to satisfy Israel and maybe some of the American agenda. We live the same life here, and we are facing the same problems with sanctions, occupation and isolation. Nothing has changed. It is the same life. People can wear a head scarf or not wear it and nobody will force anyone to abide by Islamic law. Life here is very democratic and we hope to stay like this.
Since then, Hamas has forced female lawyers to put on a headscarf in court, it started inspecting the luggage of visitors and confiscating alcohol, it cracked down on lingerie shops with immodestly clad mannequins, and Hamas police on horseback started enforcing modesty rules on the beaches.

Now, Hamas has added one more:
Hamas has instructed schoolgirls in the Gaza Strip to wear the jilbab (Islamic long-sleeved dress) and head scarves or face being expelled from school.

The cases are seen in the context of Hamas's efforts to enforce strict Islamic laws throughout the Strip.

A veteran journalist in the Gaza Strip said that most girls who returned to
schools that reopened on Sunday were seen dressed in traditional Islamic clothes.

He noted, for instance, that at the Maghazi Girls Secondary School in the center of the Gaza Strip, "about 95 percent" of the girls showed up wearing jilbabs.

"The few who came to school wearing jeans were warned that they would be expelled if they did not wear jilbabs," the journalist told The Jerusalem Post.

So why exactly do people who pretend to be liberal and pro-human rights support Hamas again?