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Last update - 09:21 06/07/2009
Hamas arrests Palestinian woman for not wearing headscarf
By Avi Issacharoff
Tags: Hamas, Gaza, Israel News 

Hamas security forces detained a Gazan journalist at a beach over the weekend because she was not wearing a headscarf.

Asma al-Ghul, who writes for the Palestinian daily Al-Ayam, said she was at the beach near the Shati refugee camp with a mixed group of friends when men in civilian clothing asked her why she was not wearing a headscarf. When she asked them who they were, they showed her Hamas security forces identity cards.

She said that when questioning her, the men accused her of "laughing out loud" and walking around the beach without a male escort.
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They would have arrested her, Al-Ghul said, if she had not phoned the Hamas authorities. She was released after her Palestinian passport was confiscated. Al-Ghul also said the men threatened her life and that she cannot leave her home.

This is reportedly not the first attempt by Hamas security forces to enforce Islamic modesty rules. Hamas security forces are said to patrol the beach looking for lovers and to have confiscated alcohol at the Hamas checkpoint south of the Erez crossing. They also reportedly go to hotels catering to foreigners to check for unmarried couples.

Hamas has denied it enforces Islamic religious law, but it appears its security forces are trying to make the public behave traditionally, which includes women wearing the hijab, or headscarf. During Friday prayers at many mosques, imams call on parents not to allow their daughters to go to the beach without an adult male chaperone.

Fatah: Hamas men followed Abbas

Meanwhile, the Fatah spokesman in the West Bank, Fahmi Zaarir, confirmed Haaretz's report last week that detained Hamas men confessed to following PA President Mahmoud Abbas in order to observe his security arrangements. In an interview with the London-based Arabic daily Alsharq Alawsat, Zaarir said the confessions had been videotaped by Palestinian Authority security officials.

A Hamas spokesman, Mushir al-Matzri, denied the allegations, calling them "an attempt to find a pretext for the killings and arrests of opposition leaders in the West Bank.

"We have so far heard about arrests of those planning to kill senior officials, but not about any senior official who was attacked," al-Matzri said.

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      1.   observation 06:35  |  potobac 06/07/09
      2.   Proof Hamas is NOT homegrown Palestinian terrorist sect. 06:54  |  Fortuna Benmayor 06/07/09
      3.   Hamas fundamentalists and Ultra-Orthodox should get on well... 07:02  |  Hannah 06/07/09
      4.   She is one of the lucky ones 07:15  |  Dan 06/07/09
      5.   On the beach 07:16  |  mike davis 06/07/09
      6.   As always, the Left is silent when the perpetuater is a Leftist 07:52  |  Binyamin Dissen 06/07/09
      7.   Read what happened to the ABC journalist in Jerusalem... 08:12  |  Maureen Ann 06/07/09
      8.   Where are the "human rights" activists today? 09:40  |  Joe Sittizen 06/07/09
      9.   Reminds me of... 10:25  |  Rod 06/07/09
      10.   Take one to know one 10:34  |  Forever Palestinian 06/07/09
      11.   `Men in civilian clothing` 11:26  |  Borat 06/07/09
      12.   Fayad on equal rights 11:28  |  Joe 06/07/09
      13.   Haredi-Hamas comparisons 11:41  |  student 06/07/09
      14.   To # 5: And what about the Ultra-Orthodox Jews ? 11:53  |  Suad 06/07/09
      15.   To # 8: Read my comment to # 6 12:21  |  Suad 06/07/09
      16.   To # 10: Shukran. Your words are a highlight 12:30  |  Suad 06/07/09
      17.   10th of thousands of women wear no headscarf 12:30  |  David D 06/07/09
      18.   to joe in jerusalem 12:32  |  slick 06/07/09
      19.   #13 Haredi-Hamas comparisons 13:55  |  Hannah 06/07/09
      20.   Divide between secular and religious 14:29  |  Motic 06/07/09
      21.   Mmm maybe student #13 but... 14:47  |  Rod 06/07/09
      22.   Aren`t there segregated beaches in Israel? 14:58  |  American in NY 06/07/09
      23.   Big difference - respect, not witch-hunting 15:03  |  ZISD 06/07/09
      24.   student # 13 15:03  |  American in NY 06/07/09
      25.   Author a bit too desperate to have a go at Hamas? 15:27  |  gearoid 06/07/09
      26.   Hannah, you be in New Zealand and . . . 15:36  |  Zev Davis 06/07/09
      27.   Sounds more like these so called hamas security were 15:47  |  Sabra 06/07/09
      28.   This is a warning for us 16:41  |  Danny Sonedat 06/07/09
      29.   GAZA: IRAN IN THE WEST 20:45  |  Ian 06/07/09
      30.   Hamas is a fanatical religious terrorist group and is a part of a 23:31  |  live by sword 06/07/09
      31.   Palestinians 03:04  |  Michelle 07/07/09
      32.   Hamas needs to be shut down 15:54  |  Ray Hanania 07/07/09
      33.   #13 Hannah - 19:57  |  Magpie 07/07/09
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