Gaza newlyweds forced to divorce over Fatah song at wedding

Palestine Press Agency reports that a song played at a wedding caused the newlyweds to get a divorce.

It's the old story: the Montagues and the Capulets, the Jets and the Sharks, Fatah and Hamas.

The bride's family are Hamas members while the groom comes from a Fatah family.

Despite family pressures, the couple decided to get married anyway. But it was the groom's music choice that caused the problem.

The groom's family asked the DJ to play a Fatah-linked song called "Ali Keffiyeh" which was famously sung by Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf.

The brother of the bride became very upset and pulled her out of the wedding reception. A scuffle between the two families ensued and police had to be called, where they separated the families including the couple.

The news media is now saying that there is no solution to this impasse except for divorce, which the humiliated bride's family is insisting on.

Incidentally, the fact that a song about the keffiyeh causes such tension between Hamas and Fatah proves pretty conclusively that it is not merely a decorative scarf but a political symbol.