Gaza parties unhappy with "Miss Palestine" competition

The Hamas "Ministry of Women's Affairs" has denounced the planned Miss Palestine competition, scheduled to be held December 26 in Ramallah.

The ministry called the competition an indication of "moral collapse" and it demanded that the Ramallah government, which supports the contest, to "stop this farce that harms the reputation of our pure and honorable history."

The Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir party in Gaza also condemned the contest:

The Islamic party said that “the honor of Muslim women is not for trade or pleasure”, and accused the Palestinian Authority of being shameless and of aiming at spreading corruption and obscenity among the Palestinian people.

The party also said that such festivals were created by “corrupt western cultures that treat the women as products to be hold and bought”, and added that Palestinian women are mothers of sisters of courageous fighters and martyrs.

The party added that the Palestinian Authority should not sponsor foreign activities that reflect western traditions that are unacceptable to the Palestinian people. It also considered the contest as an attempt to bury the values of Islam.

It demanded the P.A to cancel the contest without any delays and to stop “spreading immoral principles among the Palestinian people”.

It is always illuminating to hear what Hamas and other Islamist parties consider "immoral."