Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Potential convergence

Hamas says it has sent a "barrage" of floating bombs into the Mediterranean with the hope that it would hit Israeli targets and explode.

The Free Gaza movement is planning to send a flotilla of 10 boats to Gaza this spring.

Hmmm.

Gazans don't think they benefit from tunnels

A new poll of Gazans by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion shows a number of interesting trends.According to this poll, oOrdinary Gazans tend to be more pragmatic and less extremist than Hamas, and in general they support Fatah more than Hamas.

One answer was intriguing: when asked who benefits most from the smuggling tunnels, 49.7% said "Hamas" and only 26.4% said "the people." Sounds like the "human rights" organizations that keep calling the tunnels a "lifeline" are out of step with what ordinary Gazans think.

According to the poll, Gazans also overwhelmingly support a "one-state solution," probably because of how the question was phrased. (A different poll from another organization found overwhelming support for the opposite.)

And 40% of Gazans would jump at the chance to emigrate to a Western country if they had the chance.

Unlike others, this poll did not ask whether Gazans support terror attacks against Israeli civilians. That number seems to have gone down slightly in the most recent PCPO poll: it is now "merely" 43%, with 57.4% of Gazans supporting terror.

The Lebanese AK-47 Index

A fascinating article in The National:

Abu Mahdi spends most of his day sitting in a plastic chair in front of a dilapidated concrete block shack on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs puffing on a water pipe and pouring coffee for a steady stream of visitors and customers that have come to examine his inventory.

Two of his first customers on a cold winter morning are young fighters in their late teens from the militant Shiite movement Hizbollah who are enraptured with a selection of gleaming new 9mm handguns from Belgium, the United States and the Czech Republic.

But these young fighters make only about US$400 (Dh1,500) a month for their work in “The Resistance”, putting the sleek automatic pistols, listed at $2,000 each, well outside their price range.
Although Hizbollah obviously issues military-grade weaponry to its fighters, the boys say only the highest-ranking members – leadership, undercover operatives, bodyguards and security teams – are given pistols, making them a critical, if expensive, status symbol among the youngest fighters, who have been known to take second jobs or save for years just to add private weapons to their inventory.

The group does not buy its weaponry on Lebanon’s back market, according to people familiar with its acquisitions process, but from the international black market. Hizbollah’s arms also come direct from Iran and Syria.
A few minutes after the Hizbollah gunmen arrive, a jeep from the Internal Security Forces, Lebanon’s federal police force, pulls up outside the shack but neither Mr Mahdi nor his militant customers seem worried. The police officers have arrived to pick up two assault rifles that they ordered a few weeks earlier. They seem to know the fighters and all start happily chatting and playing with the dozens of weapons stuffed in the back of Mr Mahdi’s truck.

...“I am exhausted,” [Mahdi] says, thanks to non-stop business demands. “I am making a lot of money but I have no time to sleep. Anyone who tells you that Lebanon is peaceful and stable is lying. Everyone is buying weapons; I can’t keep up.”

.... Arms dealers have used an interesting metric for judging the stability of the country: the price of the ubiquitous AK-47 assault rifle.
“There were so many AKs in the country at the end of the war that it’s almost pointless to import them, everyone just sells the same guns back and forth,” Mr Mahdi says. “So I can tell you, according to the price of one gun, how Lebanon is looking. And things are not good.”

Just before the death of the former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, whose assassination ushered in Lebanon’s longest period of chaos since the end of the civil war, a new model AK-47 in very good condition could be bought for $300. A month after his death, the price had doubled to $600. By the outbreak of the July 2006 war between Hizbollah and Israel, it had tripled to $900 as people expected either an occupation by Israel or ongoing civil strife in the aftermath.
“The war was terrible for Lebanon but I made $10,000 profit in just a few weeks,” Mr Mahdi admits. “But prices just kept rising.”
He says the high point for the price of the AK-47 was in the period of major Sunni and Shiite sectarian tension that preceded the May 2008 clashes between Hizbollah and its allies against groups of Sunnis loyal to the government.

“In the days before the action, I knew that something was going to happen because prices jumped to $1,300 per AK,” he said. “It’s come down just a little but business is too much for this peace to last. Everyone is walking the streets acting all good, but they’re lying.”
This prediction is based on several factors, according to Mr Mahdi. The first is a widespread concern by Hizbollah that al Qa’eda-style groups, who cannot resist having their biggest enemies – the Shiite and Israel – in such close proximity, will target Lebanon. The second problem is a lack of faith in Lebanon’s government.
“There is no government, those people are useless,” says Mr Mahdi. “No one trusts them to keep the peace, so everyone buys weapons to protect their homes and families. Normally I sell about 30 to 40 machine guns a month but right now, it’s double that. And the price is $1,200 for a gun in good condition, almost as high as May 2008.”
“But I know there is a real problem on the streets right now not just because of the machine guns but because I am selling so many RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launchers. People only buy grenades when they think war is coming. An RPG isn’t really a weapon you use to protect your house, but everyone is buying them anyway. Not good.”

Facebook Fatwa?

A recent study found that Facebook was cited in 20% of recent divorce petitions.

Firas Press reports that in reaction, the Fatwa Committee of Al Azhar University in Cairo is banning Facebook for all Muslims, saying that entering the social networking site is forbidden and that the visitors are sinners.

Maybe I'll start a similar rumor about YouTube, and then all the jihadi videos will be removed...

Work accident!

The Al Qassam Martyrs Brigades announces the martyrdom of Dujana Abdul Rahman, who was killed in a "jihad" mission in Gaza City.

By my count, this is the fifth Hamas victim of a "work accident" this year.

PA prime minister Salam Fayyad has controversially attended the Herzliya conference on Israel's security. In his speech, he stated the oft-cited position that the Palestinian Arabs "only want to live in dignity on 22% of historic Palestine."

We have gone into detail a number of times about the fact that "historic Palestine" certainly includes significant portions to the east of the Jordan river.

But to make it easy for Fayyad, I would like to ask him which tribes were part of "historic Palestine" and which were not?

According to Robinson and Smith in their survey of Palestine in the 1830s and 40s, the tribes around the Jordan Valley at the time included the the Ka'abineh, the Rashaideh, the Ta'amirah, the Mas'udy, the 'Abbad, the Amir, the 'Abbadin, and the Mushalikhah, the ' Adwan, Ibn Ghiiniim, Beni Hasan, the Baharat, the 'Ajarimeh, Beni Sukhr, and Beni Hamideh. Some were to the east and some to the west. Which ones are "Palestinian?"

The Palestine Exploration Fund's survey of eastern Palestine in the 1880s mentions that the Adwan tribe is the strongest tribe east of the Jordan, along with their rivals the Beni Sakhr, and the Hameidi (who would sell their corn in Jerusalem.)

However, the Adwan clan is mentioned in a recent study as being "Palestinian." And the earlier Robinson/Smith study talks about Adwan members who were in Jericho.

So a reasonable person would conclude that the Arab tribes from a mere 150 years ago often fought with and allied with each other depending on the political atmosphere of the day, were often nomadic (many tribes had originally come from as far away as Yemen,) did not think of the Jordan as any sort of political boundary, and did not consider themselves "Palestinian" in the least (the Beni Sakhr stretched up from the eastern part of the Jordan valley to the Hauran area of today's Syria.)

So, Mr. Fayyad, which tribes were "Palestinian"? Specifically, are the Adwans your people? And if they are - why do you say that "historic Palestine" is strictly to the west of the Jordan, using a country boundary that simply didn't exist until the 20th century?

If you care so much about your historic rights, why do you ignore the illegal Jordanian usurpation of your "historic" land?

More to the point - why is the definition of "Palestinian" land, since 1964, always exactly congruent with land controlled by Jews?

More on the 12-year old bride of the 80-year old Saudi

Some more details on the 12-year old bride married to the 80 year old man in Saudi Arabia, partially explaining why the case was dropped. From the Saudi Gazette:

A Buraidah girl, 12, sent shockwaves through the courthouse here when she said that she accepted her marriage to an 80-year-old man because she wanted to obey the wishes of her father.

The marriage has caused a great deal of controversy in the Kingdom and resulted in widespread condemnation from local and international human rights activists. The elderly man paid SR85,000 dowry which the father claims he is holding for his daughter.

The decision surprised Ibrahim Al-Amr, the judge of the General Court in Buraidah on Monday. Al-Amr was expected to issue a verdict in the matter when the girl made the announcement.

During the court session, she said: “The marriage took place with my consent and I accept him as my husband in obedience to my father.”

The child’s statement was not the only surprise of the day. The girl’s divorced mother also dropped a bombshell by withdrawing the lawsuit she had filed to annul her daughter’s marriage to the 80-year-old man.

The girl’s mother has now added a condition to the marriage, that her daughter must be allowed to complete her education and that her former husband should drop previous cases he had filed against her. Also, she stipulated that she be given custody over her son.

So the mother, who previously appeared to be defending her daughter, now looks like she was just using her as a bargaining chip; she willingly sacrificed her daughter to be in a better legal position vis-a-vis her ex-husband.

Truly sick.

This is the logo of the Tehran Emrooz newspaper, and it is causing a controversy in Iran.

Mohammed Ali Ramin, Associate Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said in a statement that this logo represents a "soft war" against the regime.

Ever since the riots that followed the rigged elections, the Iranians have been especially sensitive to any perceived uprising or signs of discontent. This logo represents just such an attitude, according to Ramin.

He brought a full-size version of it to the Iranian parliament and said that he has repeatedly asked the newspaper to change their logo, without result.

According to Ramin, the logo is meant suggest a woman dancing ballet and is therefore a manifestation of a quiet protest on the part of the paper.

For the second half of 2008, the newspaper was banned altogether by the government.

We keep finding more fake civilians

Thanks to Hamas' continuously adding new "martyrs" to their list of Al Qassam Brigades members killed during Cast Lead, plus incredible recent research done mostly by PTWatch, our list of people who were called "civilian" who were really members of terror groups keeps growing.

We are now up to 363 "civilians" (according to PCHR) who were really terrorists.

We have identified that fully 75% of the "policemen" killed in Gaza were known members of terror groups. Hamas' obituaries commonly refer to the "police" as "mujahadeen of the security forces" showing that Hamas certainly considered its police force to be jihadists.

If you add together all the "police," the fake "civilians" and the "militants" that PCHR admitted, we now have the names of 672 people who were legitimate targets in Gaza. That is nearly half of all the victims. For a war that was waged largely in urban areas, especially when the opposing side's entire strategy was to maximize civilian victims, was this is an enviable achievement.

And we are not done counting yet.

UAE camel pageant a hit

From RIA Novosit:

The ongoing Al Dhafra Festival camel beauty pageant in the United Arab Emirates challenges the global financial recession with camel sales reaching almost $16.5 million in the first three days.
Emirate camel breeder Hamdan Al Falahi accounted for more than half of the turnover, buying camels worth over $8.7 million.

A total of 1,200 owners from all Persian Gulf states have brought 28,000 of the most beautiful she-camels to take part in the core activity of the festival, a beauty pageant known locally as Camel Mazayen. The winner will get a cash prize of $11.4 million.

Other camel competitions include the best milking camel mare, as well as the quickest racing mare.

The event, which is to last until next Monday, is visited by some 6,000 people daily.

Al Quds adds that a single camel was sold for $2.72 million, a world record, barely beating the previous record from 2008.

12-year old Saudi bride drops divorce petition

A follow-up to this story, from Arab News:

A 12-year-old girl who was married off to an 80-year-old man in Buraidah has dropped her request for a divorce just one day before a court hearing to annul the marriage.
A source at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said the girl, her mother and legal representative came to court and withdrew the request.
The girl failed to appear in court on Monday when the hearing was originally supposed to be heard. Her legal representative did not provide a valid reason for her absence.
The HRC, which had formed a committee to investigate the marriage, was stunned that the girl had dropped her request. “No one really knows the real reason behind the change of heart,” said the source, adding that although the HRC cannot interfere in people’s personal lives, it would continue lobbying for a minimum marriage age.
The case has attracted a lot of interest. The girl’s father married her off to his 80-year-old cousin in exchange of SR85,000 in dowry money. However, the girl’s mother, who is separated from her father, accused the man of raping her daughter.
The girl had also told a local journalist over the phone that she “doesn’t want him, save me.” When the mother’s lawyer failed to get the marriage annulled, she brought the case to the attention of the Kingdom’s media.

Something fishy is going on....

Egyptian convert to Christianity barking up the wrong tree

From Daily News Egypt:

The lawyer of a man who converted from Islam to Christianity sent a memo to the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in a bid to urge the Egyptian government to allow him to change his religious affiliation on official documents.
Ashraf Edward Kirolos called on the OHCHR to intervene in the case of Mohamed Ahmed Hegazy, who converted to Christianity and sought legal action to have his religious affiliation recognized on his national ID card and other official documents.
Kirolos’ memo urged the organization to pressure the Egyptian government into honoring its pledges and international commitments with regards to religious freedom, namely when it comes to converts to Christianity.
“While the government facilitates the conversion from Christianity to Islam, it refuses to recognize citizens who choose to convert from Islam to Christianity, which is a double standard and a violation of citizens’ rights and religious freedom,” the memo read.

He expects the UN Human Rights Commission to actually try to defend human rights?

HRW slams Jordan - but avoids slamming the Arab world

Human Rights Watch just wrote a report slamming Jordan for arbitrarily revoking the citizenship of a few thousand Palestinian Arabs. I had covered the phenomenon here as well as Jordan's absurd defense of the practice.

What is interesting is HRW's legal arguments against Jordan's actions. After the organization goes into detail on the right to nationality, it adds this paragraph:

Prevention of statelessness

In addition to the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of nationality, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness provides additional guidance on situations in which nationality must not be withdrawn: states must not "deprive a person of his nationality if such deprivation would render him stateless."[28] To the contrary, article 1 of the convention stipulates that a state "shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless."[29] The convention also declares that states must not "deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds" and that a "transfer of territory shall include provisions designed to ensure that no person shall become stateless as a result of the transfer."[30] Jordan has not yet acceded to this convention. It is, however, a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires it to "respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality."[31]

Jordanians of Palestinian origin whose nationality is withdrawn become stateless because, under international law, Palestine in 2009 is not a state and has not been one at any time since Jordan's independence.[32]

While it is true that HRW's legal arguments are a bit of a stretch - as they mention, Jordan never accepted the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and indeed most nations did not, including the US (Israel did) - nevertheless it is interesting that HRW is using it as a basis for an argument that what Jordan is doing is wrong.

Because by that very same argument, every Arab country is equally wrong by refusing to grant citizenship to people of Palestinian origin born in their countries - who now number in the millions. Not only is the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness being violated, but also the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states:

Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

Article 8

1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

As HRW notes earlier, "Palestine" is not a nation that is recognized under international law, which means that between the two conventions, every Arab nation is violating international law by refusing to allow children of Palestinian Arab origin to become citizens. (Even if you expand the definition of "nationality" and "identity" to include Palestinian Arabs, keeping children stateless is proscribed in this Convention.) Practically every nation on the planet has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Somalia and the US are the only exceptions, UNICEF explains why here.)

Human Rights Watch is not afraid to take on Jordan in defense of Palestinian Arab rights to a nationality. Do they have the guts to take on the entire Arab world - including the Palestinian Arab leadership who oppose the naturalization of their own people in other countries, against their will?

The legal and moral arguments are identical. But it is a lot less politically correct.

Another car bomb in Gaza

There has been a series of car bombs in Gaza over the past month. The latest from this morning targeted the car of Hamas leader Abu Omar.

On January 26, a naval police officer's car was blown up. On January 13th, a police officer's car and another naval police officer's car was blown up.

No serious casualties yet, but there is something going on there.

PA "maliciously" associates Qaradawi with Jews

Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi has caused some controversy by publicly siding with Hamas and against the PA and its leaders.

The PA responded by insulting Qaradawi.

According to Middle East News Agency, one of the PA's "malicious" attacks was publishing a picture of Qaradawi with a rabbi.

Qaradawi was unfazed, saying that the "rabbi" was from Neturei Karta.

The interesting part is that the PA continues to try to delegitimize its opponents - from the more extreme position. Just like they have made fun of Hamas for not being committed enough to "resistance," the PA tries to attack one of the most extreme mainstream preachers as a lover of Jews.

This is Israel's "peace partner."

Palestine Today has a story about a baby born in a Gaza hospital. He has dark skin, short arms and legs, and is very hairy, so much so that he has the nickname "gorilla."

The horrified parents refuse to take him home.

So who are the Palestinian Arabs blaming? Why, Israel, of course.

You see, every Gaza baby born over the past few months who is less than perfect is automatically considered to be a victim of "white phosphorus." So even though this baby is apparently a newborn, and was conceived months after the war, the puerile Palestinian Arabs love to say that Israel is the reason for all of their problems, which includes birth defects.

Moderate PA TV: "Jews are the enemy of humanity"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

The following is the transcript of excerpts of the hate speech in a mosque broadcast on PA TV [this past Friday:]

"The loathsome occupation in Palestine - its land and its holy places - by these new Mongols and what they are perpetrating upon this holy, blessed and pure land - killing, assassination, destruction, confiscation, Judaization, harassment and splitting the homeland - are clear proof of [unintelligible word - Ed.] hostility, of incomparable racism, and of Nazism of the 20th century. The Jews, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger! Enemies of humanity in general, and of Palestinians in particular - they wage war against us using all kinds of crimes, and as you see - even the mosques are not spared their racism...

"Oh Muslims! The Jews are the Jews. The Jews are the Jews. Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims. The Prophet said that if two Jews would be alone with a Muslim, they would think only of killing him. Oh Muslims! This land will be liberated, these holy places and these mosques will be liberated, only by means of a return to the Quran and when all Muslims will be willing to be Jihad Fighters for the sake of Allah and for the sake of supporting Palestine, the Palestinian people, the Palestinian land, and the holy places in Palestine. The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them, until the tree and the stone will speak and say: 'Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah' - the tree and the stone will not say, 'Oh Arab,' they will say, 'Oh Muslim'. And they will not say, 'Where are the millions?' and will not say, 'Where is the Arab nation?' Rather, they will say, 'Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah - there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' Except for the Gharqad tree [tree mentioned in the Quran - Ed.], which is the tree of the Jews. Thus, this land will be liberated only by means of Jihad..."

The next time that Abbas claims that the PA is adhering to the Road Map, ask him about that part that mentions "incitement."

Hamas/Galloway fundraiser in Boston tonight

From "Justice With Peace":

When: Monday, February 1, 2010, 6:30 pm
Where: Palestinian Cultural Center for Peace • 41 Quint Ave • (Green Line B to Harvard Stop, Glennville Ave to Quint) • Allston

Fundraiser for Viva Palestina

Gaza Aid Convoys

with

The honorable
GEORGE GALLOWAY
Member of British Parliament
Leader of the Viva Palestina convoys to Gaza
Lifelong international activist

Tickets at the door – General: $20 - Students with ID: $10
Limited capacity private reception with Mr. Galloway: $1000

You give money to Galloway, he gives it to Hamas! How much easier can fundraising for terror be on US soil?

h/t ckb at lgf

PalArabs vs. Kurds in their quest for freedom

An interesting article from The National (UAE):

Success stories of state-building in the Middle East have been few. The United Arab Emirates has certainly been one. Qatar, and to an extent Bahrain and Jordan, are now featuring high on good governance indexes. Yet the most impressive of all has been Iraqi Kurdistan.

Less than 25 years ago, Iraqi Kurds suffered one of the Middle East’s worst genocides of modern history. In 1986, Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein ordered Operation Al Anfal, killing close to 150,000 Kurds over the course of three years. That number exceeds all the deaths resulting from more than 60 years of conflict between the Arabs and Israel, which has seen at least half a dozen wars. [Actually, it is about triple the numbers killed in Arab-Israeli wars. - EoZ]

In the aftermath, Iraqi Kurdistan has emerged from civil war to become one of the Middle East’s most promising regions. One can only hope that the way Iraqi Kurds did it might inspire the Arabs.
...
The Kurds understood that the international status quo would force them to reconnect with Baghdad. Thus, they moved to their second best option: they rejoined Iraq but made sure it would be a federal union that would give their northern region enough cultural, economic and political independence.
Since then, the Kurds have not wasted time in crying foul over surrendering their historic quest for independence. Instead, they founded a new formula: Iraqi Kurdistan would remain part of Iraq as long as Baghdad has democratic rulers. The emergence of a dictator would force the Kurds to go their separate way, fair and square. This position won the Kurds further kudos in the capitals of the world.

More importantly, unlike some Arab leaders and their signature policies of double talk about Israel – promising peace in English and talking war in Arabic – Kurdish leaders have preached to their people that the autonomy or rights they had earned, whether in Iraq or Turkey, were the best they could get.

Meanwhile, the Kurd’s quest for an independent state has all but vanished. This means that Kurds would not be blowing themselves up, and that their leaders would not be insisting on independence in a populist manner like several Arab and Iranian leaders often do regarding Palestine.
This newfound Kurdish wisdom has penetrated all the way into Kurdistan, as Iraqi Kurds held free and fair elections for their regional parliament last year, when a considerable opposition bloc emerged. Mr Barzani himself was re-elected Kurdistan’s president with 68 per cent of the vote, a percentage that makes many Arab presidential elections, with poll numbers exceeding 90 per cent, look silly.

Democracy, still not ideal, is now taking root in Iraqi Kurdistan.

And with democracy comes good governance and economic prosperity. For that, the Kurds have been tapping their human capital assets from their diaspora. Again, compare that to most Arab countries where brain drain has become an unstoppable trend.

The Kurdistan state-building experiment in northern Iraq, even if only within the limits of autonomy, is far from perfection. Yet it is one of the most impressive in the Middle East. It should certainly serve as a model for several Arab countries to emulate.

While the analogy is not exact, the lesson that the author seems to be saying is that, for people who want to be free, official statehood is not the only option and that most of the benefits can come from autonomy and compromise. Furthermore, the hardheaded insistence on a state naturally leads to terrorism and is counterproductive to those who want true freedom and democracy.

However, this argument makes sense to Palestinian Arabs only if the point of a "Palestinian state" is to protect the lives of PalArabs, to end decades of misery,to build institutions and preserve an identity and bring freedom.

But given the negotiating pre-requisites of the "moderate" Palestinian Arab leaders, it is clear that their real goals have little to do with helping their people. Their goal, as it has been since 1948, is really only to destroy Israel, and as a result the wise advice that is given here will fall on deaf ears.

Dangerous marriage in Gaza

From The Media Line (h/t Media Backspin tweet):

Ehsan fell in love with his wife A’isha, a girl from the neighborhood, when he was 14 and she 13.

Eight years later they are still together, with Ehsan is about to graduate with a degree in pharmacology from Gaza’s Al Azhar University and A’isha studying journalism at the same school.

But after being together for years, the couple is still no closer to being able to expose their marriage.

“I am a religious person and well mannered, and so is A’isha,” Ehsan told The Media Line. “We know right from wrong. Whenever we sneak our the back door of the university so that we can walk in the street for five minutes, we feel guilty and ashamed.”

“Then I remind myself that it’s not wrong, even though our parents don’t know,” said the black-haired young man with cautious honey eyes. “I have never even touched her hand, or degraded her in any way, be it hurting her feelings or her dignity. How can I hurt a person I love more than myself? Love is not wrong even though it’s considered ‘scandalous’ and unacceptable here in Gaza.”

A’isha and Ehsan’s status is what is known in Gaza as a ‘conventional marriage’, a union recognized by law, but often without the approval of the religious authorities or the couple’s families - an anomaly in a society in which religion, law and cultural legitimacy are so intricately weaved together.

“Conventional marriage, in its real meaning, is just like the real legitimate marriage but lacks the court papers, appearance and approval,” Dr Hassan Al Juju, Head of the Supreme Council of Sharia Law in Gaza told The Media Line. “Instead of the sheikh, a lawyer does his usual work in the presence of the man and woman. The bride’s father or legal guardian has to be present even if she is over 18.”

‘Conventional marriages’ occupy an uncertain space in Gazan society and are frequently known to stir controversy. The debate on whether they can be considered legal and culturally legitimate often appears irresolvable and the boundary between ‘conventional marriages’ and ‘secret marriages’ is often blurred.

In a society in which women’s ‘honor’ can impinge upon a family’s reputation, secret marriages and love affairs are a dangerous business, and often end in ‘honor killings’ – the murder by a family member of a female seen to have shamed the family name.

Men began knocking on A’isha’s door to ask for her hand in marriage when she was 16. Although she would always find a reason to refuse, she knows it won’t be long before her parents would start asking questions and force her to get married.

“I hope it never happens,” A’isha said through tears. “I am trying my best to buy him time and I don’t know how my destiny will end once my family knows I am married.”

“I am sure my family will either kill me or lock me up forever,” she said. “I want to live my life and be happy. Is that too much to ask?”

Many say they got into a conventional marriage by chance.

Nur, 31, holds a prestigious position in a Gazan civil society organization. With a degree in social science from the Islamic University, she has a tall fit frame, grey eyes, looks younger than her age and is smartly dressed.

“Every one who meets me thinks I am very happy and that I am lucky to have such an open minded father that lets me work and not get married,” she told The Media Line. “But the truth is much more complicated and painful.”

“My father has been refusing every man that knocks on our door for over nine years,” Nur said. “I am tired of him taking my salary and preventing me from marriage. Now I see education, work and independence as a burden, not a privilege.”

“Eight months ago a man came to ask my father for my hand,” she said. “After two months my father said he wasn’t fit and that I should forget about him but it was too late, we are in love.”

“I know it might sound too bold or maybe wrong but what could I do?” she said. “I had to turn to Dr. Hassan and tell him to give my father his last ultimatum or I will use conventional marriage to marry this man. I just want to be happy and be a mother. Isn’t that my right?”

Though the consequences for those who chose traditional marriage can be very severe, the desire to find love and happiness is often too big a draw.

“You know what would happen if we revealed our marriage right now?” Ehsan said. “She would be killed and I would be either locked up or have to go into hiding to keep myself alive. But I can never let them separate us and I will do everything to fight them if they try. I am willing to take her and live somewhere else or hide or even get out of Gaza.”