By Rory McCarthy
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has banned women in Gaza from riding on motorbikes.
The ban, posted on the movement's interior ministry website, said it sought "to preserve citizen safety and the stability of Palestinian society's customs and traditions". Given that few women ride on motorbikes in Gaza the proclamation seems unlikely to have much effect, but it raises concerns that a new Islamisation campaign is under way.
Hamas won the Palestinian elections in early 2006 and in mid-2007 took full security control over Gaza after a near-civil war with its rival faction, Fatah. For the first three years that Hamas was in power in Gaza there was little sign of any effort to Islamise society. Instead the group focused on exerting its military control, confronting armed criminal clans and preventing Fatah from rebuilding itself.
However, since the summer there have been signs of a socially conservative campaign.
In July, a senior judge announced a dress code under which female lawyers would have to wear conservative robes and headscarves in court. Human rights groups said the decision was illegal and undermined personal freedoms. Read more ...
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas has banned women in Gaza from riding on motorbikes.
The ban, posted on the movement's interior ministry website, said it sought "to preserve citizen safety and the stability of Palestinian society's customs and traditions". Given that few women ride on motorbikes in Gaza the proclamation seems unlikely to have much effect, but it raises concerns that a new Islamisation campaign is under way.
Hamas won the Palestinian elections in early 2006 and in mid-2007 took full security control over Gaza after a near-civil war with its rival faction, Fatah. For the first three years that Hamas was in power in Gaza there was little sign of any effort to Islamise society. Instead the group focused on exerting its military control, confronting armed criminal clans and preventing Fatah from rebuilding itself.
However, since the summer there have been signs of a socially conservative campaign.
In July, a senior judge announced a dress code under which female lawyers would have to wear conservative robes and headscarves in court. Human rights groups said the decision was illegal and undermined personal freedoms. Read more ...
Source: Guardian
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