From Haaretz (in Israel)
Drag against the occupation
By Tamara Traubman
A full dance floor in a South Tel Aviv nightclub, replete with its share of drag queens. Ostensibly another Friday night of gay men having a good time. But this is not an ordinary party of this sort. Palestinians and Jews are dancing together, the music is Arabic, several of the drag performances have a political content, and even the time of night - from the early evening until before midnight - is designed so the celebrants can get home at a reasonable hour without being asked too many questions.
The party is taking place as part of the activities of a new association, Al-Qaws [The Rainbow] for Sexual and Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. The dance parties, which take place once every two months, characterize the organization's nature: Political activism can be more than just demonstrations and serious slogans. You can surely dance while fighting for civil rights.
The association's members, who come from all over the country, began operating in 2000 in the context of the Open House gay organization in Jerusalem. But lately they realized they had to take another step to meet the special needs of the Arab gay and lesbian community in Israel, and to preserve their uniqueness and political character. Al-Qaws registered as an independent association, and on March 1 will celebrate the launch of its operations.
The association's director, 29-year-old Haneen Maikey from Jerusalem, says the parties are only one aspect of the group's activities, which include local support groups. "We also provide a personal response to people who come for advice, information and a sympathetic ear, and we organize events as well," she says.
'Badge of shame'
Al-Qaws is the first Palestinian-Israeli organization to cater to the entire gay and lesbian Palestinian population. About five years ago the organization Aswat (Voices) was founded for lesbian, bisexual and transsexual Palestinian women. The organization's members are involved in a variety of feminist and political activities. Last year, when they wanted to hold a large convention in Haifa, the Islamic Movement published a condemnation of the convention and called it a "a badge of shame."
An Arab gay man or lesbian in Israel is doubly excluded: In Arab society they suffer from oppression and discrimination because of their sexual orientation, while in Jewish society they suffer from discrimination for nationalist reasons. Maikey says the Arab gay or lesbian in Israel "remains a stranger even in an accepting environment." Usually their relationships are conducted in Hebrew in an environment different from their original cultural milieu. "So even if it's an accepting environment, you remain a stranger, a kind of 'guest of the culture,' and you have to behave according to rules determined by the other," she says.
According to Maikey, "At the parties many people say that it's important to them that there is finally a framework where you can speak Arabic without fear." At the parties there is a sense of freedom and liberation, one reason being the variety that is celebrated. "There's everything here, and everything is accepted," says one of the female participants. "Arabs, Jews, men, women, lesbians, gays, trans, straights." Another reason for the feeling of liberation is that the parties are a meeting place for many identities, mainly gender and national identities.
"I see the parties as both a path and a goal," says Samira, an activist at Al-Qaws and Aswat. "As far as I'm concerned the parties are part of a way to build a community. It's a social meeting place and the beginning of creating a community. It's also a place where you don't apologize for anything about your identity. In the nightclubs and at other parties we are asked to leave the Palestinian aspect outside the club before we enter. Here it's a place that doesn't ask for that. On the contrary, it nurtures our identity."
Songs of love, and struggle
On the stage the performances are beginning. A drag queen sings a love song by the singer Fairuz, another begins a belly dance. A black drag queen with a dark blond wig, wearing a tunic sewn from a keffiyeh, gets onstage. "I don't care what they say," she sings to her beloved. "Every day I'll be what I want to be."
Later the installation artist R. appears. He is active in the Al-Qaws Tel Aviv-Jaffa branch and organizes exhibitions, but he prefers not to be identified by name. R.'s installations are political and very moving. One can often see people in the audience crying. To the strains of songs of struggle, for the most part by classic singers such as Fairuz or Majida al Romi, he appears as a character he created: "Arus Falastin," The Bride of Palestine. "It reminds people of who they really are," he says.
The conflict and distress supposedly subside at the party, mitigated by drag. R. says that "in recent years, all the drag queens I have encountered came to entertain, to make people laugh, to amuse. Although all drag is political in itself, when it is only amusing it becomes boring in a certain sense. Ordinary people - that doesn't excite anyone any longer."
At the last party R. appeared as a "drag king" in a new character he created: Ahmed Basha. His face adorned with bristles, a keffiyeh on his shoulders, he wears a black shirt with the inscription "Free Palestine."
The song he sings, by Lebanese musician Marcel Khalifa, was written during the first Lebanon war. It tells about a little boy who is playing in the yard, looking for string to fly a kite. Suddenly he sees a plane in the sky, "a kite that doesn't need string," he calls to his friends. The plane then bombs the house and turns everything into fire.
Can we expect a Palestinian gay pride march as well? Is coming out of the closet one of the goals of the association?
Samira says that coming out of the closet is not a sacred goal. She was born and grew up in the North and currently lives with her Jewish partner in Tel Aviv. Her immediate family knows about her sexual identity, but the extended family doesn't know (which is why she prefers to be interviewed without her last name). "For me the issue of visibility is important," she says. But she and Maikey stress that visibility does not necessarily require a gay pride march, but can be achieved by "creating a discourse in society."
Showing posts with label palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label palestine. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Message from Aswat - Palestinian Gay Women - Our Success is Your Success in 2008
From: Aswat - Palestinian Gay Women <ipcoordinator@aswatgroup.org>
Date: 2008/2/5
Subject: Our Success is Your Success 2008
Subject: Our Success is Your Success 2008
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| Copyright © 2008 ASWAT - Palestinian Gay Women | Powered by COMRAX |
Aswat - Palestinian Gay Women - In the Media
From: Aswat - Palestinian Gay Women <ipcoordinator@aswatgroup.org>
Date: 2008/2/5
Subject: Aswat in the media
Subject: Aswat in the media
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| Copyright © 2008 ASWAT - Palestinian Gay Women | Powered by COMRAX |
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Jerusalem Residents Brace for Presidential Entourage
Middle East Features
Jerusalem residents brace for Clear Skies whirlwind
Jerusalem residents brace for Clear Skies whirlwind
Jan 8, 2008, 14:31 GMT
Jerusalem - Even for Jerusalem residents accustomed to making their
way though their city amid high security, 'Operation Clear Skies,'
involving about one third of all available police manpower, is
exceptional.
But then it's nearly ten years since a serving US president last came to town.
President George W Bush was slated to arrive in Israel and head
straight for Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon for a three-day visit which
will also take him to the Palestinian areas.
It is the first presidential visit since Bill Clinton came for three
days in December 1998, and while there are no specific security
warnings in connection with the trip, Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld
said, no one is taking any chances.
Some 10,500 police personnel will be mobilized for the duration of the
presidential stay and in addition to the visible presence, undercover
personnel will also be employed.
Spot checks will be carried out on vehicles and the odd- and possibly
odd-looking - pedestrian, and sniffer dogs will be utilized to search
for hidden explosives.
Special robots have been positioned in sewers to ensure there are no
underground surprises, snipers will take up positions on strategic
rooftops and a balloon with a camera and night-vision equipment will
hover protectively over proceedings.
The security arrangements are costing an estimated 25,000 dollars for
each hour the president is in the country.
If the police are bracing for the visit, so too are Jerusalemites,
especially those who live or work near the King David Hotel, where the
presidential entourage will be staying.
While streets the president is expected to travel on will be closed in
accordance with his schedule, those surrounding the hotel will be
sealed off for 100 metres in each direction for the duration of the
visit and people who earn their living in the vicinity are less than
enamoured with the result.
A car-rental agency located next to the King David has said it will
shut up shop until after the president leaves.
'We have other branches in town, and it will be impossible for cars to
enter the street, so why even bother,' one employee told the Jerusalem
Post daily.
Other store owners are less certain. Most plan to remain open. They
know they cannot expect many customers, but are depending on members
of the presidential entourage to stop by, although given that they are
mainly upmarket outlets, they have perhaps not taken White House
salaries into account.
Someone else affected by the presidential visit is the head chef at
the King David Hotel, who had been looking forward to displaying his
culinary skills.
But a hotel employee told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the
president preferred relatively simple fare and had requested 'nothing
extravagant' during his stay, although he will accept the personalized
complimentary bathrobe already prepared for him.
The presidential party will be taking over the entire hotel, Israel's
most prestigious and luxurious and a Jerusalem landmark since it
opened in 1931.
Bush himself will occupy the King David's Royal suite, which, were he
a paying guest, would have set him back 2600 dollars a night.
Located on the top floor, it boasts, among other facilities, a living
room, separate bedroom and separate meeting or dining room seating 12
people, a jacuzzi bath, and a home cinema system.
It is the same suite occupied by his father when he visited, albeit
not as president and has also housed, at one time or another, Winston
Churchill, former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, former US presidents
Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the late King Hussein of Jordan, former
British premiers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, and the Duke of
Edinburgh.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will occupy the Presidential
suite, one floor below, and the rest of the six-storey hotel's 237
rooms will be taken by other members of the entourage.
Guests who were supposed to stay in the hotel while Bush is in town
have been forced to find alternative accommodation, something they did
with good grace, the hotel said.
If Jerusalem residents can take any comfort in the upcoming
presidential whirlwind about to hit them, it is that their city is
getting a clean-up ahead of its high-profile guest.
The city's sanitation department is working 'around the clock to clean
and maintain roads' along which the president will travel, the
Jerusalem municipality said.
It also noted that 'streetlights have been repaired.'
Monday, January 14, 2008
UPDATE from Al-Qaws & JOH: Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Haneen Maikey <info@alqaws.org>
Date: Jan 13, 2008 5:17 AM
Subject: UPDATE from Al-Qaws & JOH: Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community
To: Haneen Maikey <marhaba@joh.org.il>
From: Haneen Maikey <info@alqaws.org>
Date: Jan 13, 2008 5:17 AM
Subject: UPDATE from Al-Qaws & JOH: Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community
To: Haneen Maikey <marhaba@joh.org.il>
Ground-Breaking Developments for the Palestinian LGBTQ Community:
Registration of the First Independent
Palestinian LGBTQ Organization
Jerusalem, January, 2007- Al-Qaws, the Palestinian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Trans and Queer (LGBTQ) community project of the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH), has achieved a mile stone development in which it decided to become an independent entity, constituting the first-ever official Palestinian LGBTQ organization.
The Al-Qaws ("Rainbow") project was initiated in December 2001 by the JOH in order to address the special needs of the Palestinian LGBTQ community in Jerusalem. The project was specifically designed to reflect the special nature of one of the most traditional communities in Jerusalem.
During the six years of its existence, Al-Qaws has undergone an all-embracing organizational process of development. What started as a local professional-oriented project has grown into a national community and grassroots organization, with activist leadership. This major development has been made possible thanks to the leadership group's determined investment, the deep commitment of Al-Qaws activists and the autonomous space provided to Al-Qaws within the JOH, enabling Al-Qaws to address the needs of the Palestinian LGBTQ community.
This process culminated in the decision of the Al-Qaws' leadership to secede from the JOH and establish an independent organization. With this decision, our community begins a new journey with a committed leadership group and widespread local activists, friends and supporters. In November 2007, Al-Qaws received the formal status of a nonprofit organization and a new name: "Al-Qaws – for Sexual & Gender Diversity in the Palestinian Society."
Haneen Maikey, Al-Qaws Director, commented, "This change is incredibly exciting. This new phase presents new opportunities with promises of growth through self-definition for Palestinian LGBTQs."
True to its deep commitment to advancing the status of LGBTQ people in Jerusalem, the JOH has provided constant support for Al-Qaws toward this development. This has made the transition period an easy, productive and exciting stage for all those involved. The JOH will continue to host Al-Qaws in its new community center in downtown Jerusalem. The two organizations are committed to exploring wider fields of cooperation in the future towards the advancement of our common goals.
Noa Sattath, JOH Executive Director, stated, "The Palestinian LGBTQ community is fortunate to have such strong and capable leaders. We look forward to working together with the leadership of Al-Qaws for a better future for all our community members."
For further details, please contact:
Haneen Maikey
Al-Qaws – for Sexual & Gender Diversity in the Palestinian Society
info@alqaws.org +972-2-6250502 ext 128 +972-54-4898062
Thursday, January 10, 2008
What Bush Won't See on His Trip
Reporter offers Bush a Gaza, West Bank misery tour
CNN's Ben Wedeman says Bush won't see the plight of Gaza and the West Bank
Video from CNN
From CNN
January 9, 2008
By Ben Wedeman
CNN
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events.
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Air Force One touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. President Bush has come to the Holy Land for the first time as president of the United States.
But he's trapped inside his security bubble, his every step mapped out in great and precise detail by teams of security experts and handlers. In the end he'll see a side of this unhappy land that bears as much resemblance to reality as Hollywood does to real life.
I spend a lot of my time covering the West Bank and Gaza: here's what I see, and he won't.
He won't be going to Gaza, the Palestinian territory that is under the rule of Hamas. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States. Watch what Bush won't see »
Gaza today is a wasteland. Since Hamas took power, the Israeli government has made it extremely difficult for Gazans to travel outside their crowded strip of land along the Mediterranean. Israel has also severely restricted imports in Gaza to essential humanitarian goods. Four out of every five Palestinians depend on international food aid, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. No one is starving, but the economy has come to a virtual standstill.
President Bush won't see the hospital wards where babies, just weeks old, are dying because their doctors can't get permission from Israeli authorities to go to Israel for treatment as they did in the past.
Earlier this week, I visited the intensive care unit in Gaza's Nasser Pediatric Hospital. Hospital director, Dr. Anwar Khalil, explained that a third of their incubators have broken down because of a lack of spare parts. The electricity goes out on a regular basis because the power is cut up to eight hours a day after Israel reduced fuel supplies.
Israeli leaders insist they're trying to pressure Hamas militants from firing locally made missiles into Israel, a near daily occurance. But to the vast majority of Gazans -- who have nothing to do with the missiles, who are powerless to stop the militants -- it amounts to collective punishment.
In Gaza, they blame Israel. They blame the United States, which supports Israel's policy toward Hamas. They also blame their own leaders.
"We are cursed," said Iyad Sarraj, a Gaza psychiatrist and a human rights activist. "Our leaders are either Israeli collaborators, asses, or mentally unstable."
Sarraj warns that what he describes as the siege of Gaza will blow up in the face of Israel in another intifada, or uprising. "From the first intifada, which was only stone throwing, to the second intifada, which brought suicide bombing, the third intifada will be much, much worse, and I suspect that it will be chemical weapons and chemical warfare."
But none of my sources who are intimately familiar with the weaponry available to militant groups has mentioned that as a possibility. There are indications that the militants in Gaza, left to their own devices, are up to no good. I was told by reliable sources that Hamas is busy developing new and more effective weapons -- rockets with propellant resistant to humidity, higher explosive payloads and longer ranges as well as roadside bombs and other explosive devices. Weapons are being stockpiled, and tunnels are being dug all over Gaza in anticipation of an Israeli invasion. Little in life in Gaza is inevitable, but death and destruction.
President Bush went to Muqata'a, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the West Bank.
But he didn't travel around the West Bank to see checkpoints like the one in Hawara, south of Nablus, where Palestinians wait, often for hours, in the winter cold, waiting to be allowed by young Israeli soldiers to go to their homes, universities, businesses, doctor's appointment, or to visit a relative or a friend.
If Bush got through Hawara to Nablus, he'd find a city where the Palestinian Authority, which the United States and Israel are supposed to be supporting, is rapidly losing credibility every time Israeli forces close down the city to round up militants, as they did over the weekend. Israel may have valid security reasons for going in, but these operations do irreparable damage to the standing of Palestinian leaders such as U.S.-backed President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Sallam Fayyad, now often described here as Israeli collaborators.
Maybe when the U.S. president went to Bethlehem Thursday, he may have seen what Israel calls its security barrier -- a 24-foot-high concrete wall encircling most of the town. Israel put it up to stop suicide bombings, a measure that appears to be working when it come to cutting down on the number of attacks. But the Palestinians call it the "racist apartheid wall." The wall has all but destroyed the local economy, cutting Bethlehem off from much of its farmland and reducing the flood of tourists to a trickle.
If he had some spare time -- and a convincing disguise -- I'd be happy to take Bush on a tour of my beat. I'll do the driving.
CNN's Ben Wedeman says Bush won't see the plight of Gaza and the West Bank
Video from CNN
From CNN
January 9, 2008
By Ben Wedeman
CNN
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events.
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Air Force One touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. President Bush has come to the Holy Land for the first time as president of the United States.
But he's trapped inside his security bubble, his every step mapped out in great and precise detail by teams of security experts and handlers. In the end he'll see a side of this unhappy land that bears as much resemblance to reality as Hollywood does to real life.
I spend a lot of my time covering the West Bank and Gaza: here's what I see, and he won't.
He won't be going to Gaza, the Palestinian territory that is under the rule of Hamas. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States. Watch what Bush won't see »
Gaza today is a wasteland. Since Hamas took power, the Israeli government has made it extremely difficult for Gazans to travel outside their crowded strip of land along the Mediterranean. Israel has also severely restricted imports in Gaza to essential humanitarian goods. Four out of every five Palestinians depend on international food aid, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. No one is starving, but the economy has come to a virtual standstill.
President Bush won't see the hospital wards where babies, just weeks old, are dying because their doctors can't get permission from Israeli authorities to go to Israel for treatment as they did in the past.
Earlier this week, I visited the intensive care unit in Gaza's Nasser Pediatric Hospital. Hospital director, Dr. Anwar Khalil, explained that a third of their incubators have broken down because of a lack of spare parts. The electricity goes out on a regular basis because the power is cut up to eight hours a day after Israel reduced fuel supplies.
Israeli leaders insist they're trying to pressure Hamas militants from firing locally made missiles into Israel, a near daily occurance. But to the vast majority of Gazans -- who have nothing to do with the missiles, who are powerless to stop the militants -- it amounts to collective punishment.
In Gaza, they blame Israel. They blame the United States, which supports Israel's policy toward Hamas. They also blame their own leaders.
"We are cursed," said Iyad Sarraj, a Gaza psychiatrist and a human rights activist. "Our leaders are either Israeli collaborators, asses, or mentally unstable."
Sarraj warns that what he describes as the siege of Gaza will blow up in the face of Israel in another intifada, or uprising. "From the first intifada, which was only stone throwing, to the second intifada, which brought suicide bombing, the third intifada will be much, much worse, and I suspect that it will be chemical weapons and chemical warfare."
But none of my sources who are intimately familiar with the weaponry available to militant groups has mentioned that as a possibility. There are indications that the militants in Gaza, left to their own devices, are up to no good. I was told by reliable sources that Hamas is busy developing new and more effective weapons -- rockets with propellant resistant to humidity, higher explosive payloads and longer ranges as well as roadside bombs and other explosive devices. Weapons are being stockpiled, and tunnels are being dug all over Gaza in anticipation of an Israeli invasion. Little in life in Gaza is inevitable, but death and destruction.
President Bush went to Muqata'a, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the West Bank.
But he didn't travel around the West Bank to see checkpoints like the one in Hawara, south of Nablus, where Palestinians wait, often for hours, in the winter cold, waiting to be allowed by young Israeli soldiers to go to their homes, universities, businesses, doctor's appointment, or to visit a relative or a friend.
If Bush got through Hawara to Nablus, he'd find a city where the Palestinian Authority, which the United States and Israel are supposed to be supporting, is rapidly losing credibility every time Israeli forces close down the city to round up militants, as they did over the weekend. Israel may have valid security reasons for going in, but these operations do irreparable damage to the standing of Palestinian leaders such as U.S.-backed President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Sallam Fayyad, now often described here as Israeli collaborators.
Maybe when the U.S. president went to Bethlehem Thursday, he may have seen what Israel calls its security barrier -- a 24-foot-high concrete wall encircling most of the town. Israel put it up to stop suicide bombings, a measure that appears to be working when it come to cutting down on the number of attacks. But the Palestinians call it the "racist apartheid wall." The wall has all but destroyed the local economy, cutting Bethlehem off from much of its farmland and reducing the flood of tourists to a trickle.
If he had some spare time -- and a convincing disguise -- I'd be happy to take Bush on a tour of my beat. I'll do the driving.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Ramadan shows more West Bankers turn to God
By Wafa Amr
Reuters
Tuesday, October 2, 2007; 8:54 PM
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Five years ago restaurants in Ramallah would stay open all day and serve beer throughout Ramadan. This year virtually all removed alcohol from the menu completely and many closed during the fasting hours.
The change highlights what some see as a trend: faced with a sluggish economy, infighting between rival factions and low hopes for peace with Israel and a state of their own, thousands of Palestinians seem to be turning to God.
The evidence is patchy and anecdotal, and for some there is a hint of coercion. But 24-year-old Huda, who declined to give her last name, said her friends could hardly believe it when, as a liberal young Palestinian woman, she decided to observe the fast.
"I'm not a fanatic but I have some religious feelings inside me and I wanted to try fasting this year," she said. "My friends are astonished at this sudden change."
Not all Palestinians have turned religious -- indeed what many see as the politicization of Islam by the factions, whose warfare in the Gaza Strip gave Hamas control of the enclave in June, is driving some away from mosques.
But university professor Marwan Abu Khalaf, 50, says the number of young men attending the mosque next door to his house has grown steadily.
"I have prayed regularly for the past 10 years and I can say there has been a rise of about 25 percent in the number of young men who come to pray," Abu Khalaf told Reuters.
In traditionally conservative West Bank cities like Hebron, Qalqilya or Tulkarm women have generally worn headscarves. But some say the rise of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and in large West Bank cities like Nablus has prompted more women to wear veils and men to grow beards.
In Ramallah -- the West Bank's economic hub and for years a thriving secular city -- some women are adopting more modest dress. Fewer wear short skirts or sleeveless shirts in central Ramallah while more also don a headscarf and long robes.
"Women who do wear short skirts feel out of place or are harassed by comments from men on the streets," said Eman Hammouri, director of the city's Popular Arts Centre.
DEEPENING FAITH
Both Fatah and Hamas are trying to exploit Palestinians' new-found piety for their own gain. Hamas has used mosques and schools to spread its political views while Fatah has been using Friday prayers in the Gaza Strip to protest against Hamas' rule.
Some Palestinians say militant groups are using religion as an excuse to force their will on people.
Osama Khalaf, owner of Darna, one of Ramallah's best known and most fashionable restaurants, said he stopped serving alcohol during Ramadan for fear of retaliation by secular armed groups using religion as an excuse to throw their weight around.
Khalaf said both Muslim and Christian West Bankers, who make up about 2 percent of Palestinians, were becoming more religious amid tougher living conditions. Crucifixes are worn more widely and church attendance appears up.
"Not only the Muslims are becoming more religious," Khalaf said. "But the Christian minority are also adhering much more strictly to Christianity as a reaction to the more religious environment around them."
INFIGHTING
Last month, a woman wearing the hijab and covering her face with a black veil in a doctor's waiting room shouted at the secretary for watching Arab music videos on television -- many Muslims consider such material to be prohibited by Islam.
"This has never happened before in my clinic," said the doctor, who asked to remain anonymous.
Some analysts said a new sense of despair may have prompted more Palestinians to seek comfort in religion.
Fed up with corruption within the secular Fatah faction that for decades dominated the political scene, Palestinians elected a Hamas government in 2006 parliamentary elections, hoping the Islamist group would rid local politics of sleaze.
Hamas seized control of the more conservative Gaza Strip in June after violent clashes with Fatah, prompting President Mahmoud Abbas to sack the government and appoint a new Fatah-backed administration.
Despite a new U.S.-led drive for peace with Israel, the internal strife and the split between Gaza and the West Bank has for most Palestinians jettisoned hopes for an independent Palestinian state, at least for now.
"In the absence of alternatives, they turn to God for spiritual stability and security," said Mahmoud Habbash, agriculture minister in the West Bank's Fatah-backed government.
(Additional reporting by Wael al-Ahmad in Jenin and Atef Saad in Nablus)
Reuters
Tuesday, October 2, 2007; 8:54 PM
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Five years ago restaurants in Ramallah would stay open all day and serve beer throughout Ramadan. This year virtually all removed alcohol from the menu completely and many closed during the fasting hours.
The change highlights what some see as a trend: faced with a sluggish economy, infighting between rival factions and low hopes for peace with Israel and a state of their own, thousands of Palestinians seem to be turning to God.
The evidence is patchy and anecdotal, and for some there is a hint of coercion. But 24-year-old Huda, who declined to give her last name, said her friends could hardly believe it when, as a liberal young Palestinian woman, she decided to observe the fast.
"I'm not a fanatic but I have some religious feelings inside me and I wanted to try fasting this year," she said. "My friends are astonished at this sudden change."
Not all Palestinians have turned religious -- indeed what many see as the politicization of Islam by the factions, whose warfare in the Gaza Strip gave Hamas control of the enclave in June, is driving some away from mosques.
But university professor Marwan Abu Khalaf, 50, says the number of young men attending the mosque next door to his house has grown steadily.
"I have prayed regularly for the past 10 years and I can say there has been a rise of about 25 percent in the number of young men who come to pray," Abu Khalaf told Reuters.
In traditionally conservative West Bank cities like Hebron, Qalqilya or Tulkarm women have generally worn headscarves. But some say the rise of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and in large West Bank cities like Nablus has prompted more women to wear veils and men to grow beards.
In Ramallah -- the West Bank's economic hub and for years a thriving secular city -- some women are adopting more modest dress. Fewer wear short skirts or sleeveless shirts in central Ramallah while more also don a headscarf and long robes.
"Women who do wear short skirts feel out of place or are harassed by comments from men on the streets," said Eman Hammouri, director of the city's Popular Arts Centre.
DEEPENING FAITH
Both Fatah and Hamas are trying to exploit Palestinians' new-found piety for their own gain. Hamas has used mosques and schools to spread its political views while Fatah has been using Friday prayers in the Gaza Strip to protest against Hamas' rule.
Some Palestinians say militant groups are using religion as an excuse to force their will on people.
Osama Khalaf, owner of Darna, one of Ramallah's best known and most fashionable restaurants, said he stopped serving alcohol during Ramadan for fear of retaliation by secular armed groups using religion as an excuse to throw their weight around.
Khalaf said both Muslim and Christian West Bankers, who make up about 2 percent of Palestinians, were becoming more religious amid tougher living conditions. Crucifixes are worn more widely and church attendance appears up.
"Not only the Muslims are becoming more religious," Khalaf said. "But the Christian minority are also adhering much more strictly to Christianity as a reaction to the more religious environment around them."
INFIGHTING
Last month, a woman wearing the hijab and covering her face with a black veil in a doctor's waiting room shouted at the secretary for watching Arab music videos on television -- many Muslims consider such material to be prohibited by Islam.
"This has never happened before in my clinic," said the doctor, who asked to remain anonymous.
Some analysts said a new sense of despair may have prompted more Palestinians to seek comfort in religion.
Fed up with corruption within the secular Fatah faction that for decades dominated the political scene, Palestinians elected a Hamas government in 2006 parliamentary elections, hoping the Islamist group would rid local politics of sleaze.
Hamas seized control of the more conservative Gaza Strip in June after violent clashes with Fatah, prompting President Mahmoud Abbas to sack the government and appoint a new Fatah-backed administration.
Despite a new U.S.-led drive for peace with Israel, the internal strife and the split between Gaza and the West Bank has for most Palestinians jettisoned hopes for an independent Palestinian state, at least for now.
"In the absence of alternatives, they turn to God for spiritual stability and security," said Mahmoud Habbash, agriculture minister in the West Bank's Fatah-backed government.
(Additional reporting by Wael al-Ahmad in Jenin and Atef Saad in Nablus)
Friday, September 21, 2007
Ramadan Begins in Jerusalem
Palestinian women lined up to try and cross through the Kalandia checkpoint near the West Bank town of Ramallah, on their way to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Photo: Emilio Morenatti/Associated PressNY Times slide show of Ramadan in Jerusalem
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Women Police: The New Veiled Face of Order in Gaza
Palestinian policewomen march in the West Bank town of Hebron in 2005. Women work as police across the Muslim world, including in Hamas's patron Iran, where women clad in black chadors are taught how to use guns, rappel down buildings, chase cars and disable bombs.
Women police: the new veiled face of order in Gaza
GAZA CITY (AFP) — Susan Aqal is a tightly veiled Palestinian mother who has a baby boy. But she has abandoned traditional domestic life to interrogate suspected drug addicts, thieves and murderers in the volatile Gaza Strip.
A university graduate who worked as a lawyer for various organisations, she leapt at the chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a police officer after the radical Islamist movement Hamas seized the territory in June.
"This is my field. This is what I studied. I wanted a job in security and used to work in other organisations, but when I got the chance I didn't hesitate to join the police force," says the 28-year-old wife of a Hamas paramilitary officer.
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