Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip call for ban on public prayer meetings - Haaretz

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Tue., September 04, 2007 Elul 21, 5767

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Last update - 18:12 04/09/2007

Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip call for ban on public prayer meetings

By DPA

Officials in the Hamas' administration in the Gaza Strip called Monday for a ban on holding Friday prayers in public, as rival Fatah has demanded.

Salleh al-Reggeb, formerly director of the Religious Affairs Ministry in the former administration of deposed Palestinian Authority premier Ismail Haniyeh, said such prayers would be "religiously illegal."

The dispute over public prayers has erupted after tens of thousands of Fatah supporters prayed last Friday in public in several locations in the Strip, in a direct challenge to Hamas and its executive security forces.

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More than 20 people, including two journalists, were wounded in the clashes which subsequently broke out, and dozens of people were detained.

"The public prayers that Fatah called were not serious, it included ridiculous behaviour by the worshippers. Moreover, the worshippers don't come to pray, they come for riots and violations of the law," al-Reggeb said.

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a meeting chaired by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, called on the Palestinians in Gaza to pray in public next Friday.

Haniyeh's administration accused the PLO committee and Abbas "of inciting the Palestinians to riots, violence and terror."

Relations between Fatah and Hamas have ruptured following Hamas' violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in five days of savage fighting in June.

Although Abbas reacted to the takeover by dismissing the Hamas-led unity government, the Islamist movement called his move illegal and continues to administer the Gaza Strip, while an Abbas-appointed cabinet runs the West Bank.

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1.	having failed in every front abbas is trying to stir up trouble	14:24	\|	lakshmi	03/09/07

2.	Islamofascists behavior.......	14:34	\|	maurice	03/09/07

3.	LAKSHMI AND PRAYERS	15:14	\|	Brant	03/09/07

4.	DPA report inacurate	15:45	\|	Gazan	03/09/07

5.	Abbas & Religion	15:47	\|	SinceWhen	03/09/07

6.	Political Prayer !	16:05	\|	Independent Gazan	03/09/07

7.	Hamas and Democracy	16:16	\|	Dani Harel	03/09/07

8.	Lakshmi, don`t you at least fear ridicule?	16:17	\|	martyrmaker	03/09/07

9.	D.I.M.H. - "The Democratic Islamic Movement of Hamas"	16:58	\|	e	03/09/07

10.	Lakshmi # 1	17:07	\|	ChanahS	03/09/07

11.	#6 Independent Gazan	17:08	\|	Jim	03/09/07

12.	My impression of most fatah is that they are secular,and though	17:13	\|	lakshmi	03/09/07

13.	# 5 SinceWhen	17:28	\|	Jim	03/09/07

14.	democracy in action	17:46	\|	peter	03/09/07

15.	To Jim of Murfreesboro,Tn	18:12	\|	SinceWhen	03/09/07

16.	To Lakshmi - There is something I must be telling you	18:27	\|	WWACD	03/09/07

17.	"religiously illegal."	18:30	\|	Akiva Patysh	03/09/07

18.	The palestinians are condemned by the choice of leaders	18:31	\|	Voice of Reason	03/09/07

19.	"religiously illegal"	18:40	\|	Akiva Patysh	03/09/07

20.	#12 Lakhshmi	18:46	\|	Taly	03/09/07

21.	Paliwood	18:48	\|	GZLives	03/09/07

22.	To Akiva Patysh	18:50	\|	Religious	03/09/07

23.	# 15 SinceWhen	18:51	\|	Jim	03/09/07

24.	SOCIAL STRUCTURE?	18:51	\|	GZLives	03/09/07

25.	Religious	19:09	\|	Akiva Patysh	03/09/07

26.	4 Gazan,glad to get an authentic report from someone who was	19:25	\|	lakshmi	03/09/07

27.	lakshmi tries COVERING UP the HAMAS`S BULLET HOLE on DEAD teen	19:27	\|	CK Tan	03/09/07

28.	love that arab democracy	19:38	\|	alan	03/09/07

29.	Setting the record straight	19:54	\|	Tareq	03/09/07

30.	Lakshmi and religion	20:19	\|	ChanahS	03/09/07

31.	29Tareq,the distinction you draw is interesting,but it does seem	20:32	\|	lakshmi	03/09/07

32.	27 CK Tan,even the zionists on this site don`t misrepresent my	20:37	\|	lakshmi	03/09/07

33.	#18 - The Voice of NO Reason	20:42	\|	Double Click	03/09/07

34.	hamas bans prayers, shoot teenager	20:49	\|	hamasoccupation	03/09/07

35.	failed society, failed leaders and anti-semites as much to blame	21:09	\|	ralph	03/09/07

36.	What will Hamas ban next, the Qur`an?	21:25	\|	Briton	03/09/07

37.	Isn`t Palestinian democracy just grand!	21:29	\|	Murray of Montreal	03/09/07

38.	Abbas needs to move to Gaza	21:33	\|	Palestinian	03/09/07

39.	# 15 Since when	21:47	\|	Lynn	03/09/07

40.	# 29 Tareq	21:53	\|	Lynn	03/09/07

41.	# 32 lakshmi, funny about all the past investigations	21:58	\|	Lynn	03/09/07

42.	prohibit prayer	22:38	\|	ljf-canada	03/09/07

43.	To Doubleclick	22:41	\|	Chris	03/09/07

44.	to #32 lakshmi	22:50	\|	ljf-canada	03/09/07

45.	30Chanah s,what I find distasteful is the phony attempt to use	22:56	\|	lakshmi	03/09/07

46.	lakshimi, Independent Gazan, CK Tan	03:15	\|	Nechama	04/09/07

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