Hamas lifts 'beard ban' on Palestinian Authority police
New gov't 'orders mistreatment be stopped immediately and that police be allowed to grow their beards.'
By Haaretz Service and ReutersA ban has been lifted on Palestinian policemen growing beards, a symbol of Islamic piety, a spokesman for Interior Minister Sayed Sayam of Hamas has said.
Military regulations banning beards have been largely ignored anyway since a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000. But with the inauguration of a Hamas government last week, the rule has been formally ended, said spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal.
"They will have to keep their beards neat and appear well-groomed," Abu Hilal said on Monday.
Hamas, a militant Islamic group, crushed the long-dominant Fatah faction in a parliamentary election in January.
One officer, who declined to be identified, told Reuters that although no policemen had been fined or imprisoned recently for growing beards, some had received notices ordering them to shave.
Abu Hilal said Sayam "ordered that mistreatment be stopped immediately and that [policemen] be allowed to grow their beards."
Hamas plans to rebuild PA policeHamas plans to rebuild the Palestinian police force in an effort to restore law and order to the Palestinian street, several senior Palestinian Authority officials said this week.
Meanwhile, clashes between Hamas and Fatah are already under way, and expected to get worse.
The new Palestinian interior minister, Hamas' Sayed Sayam, emphasized the role of the police force outlined his short-term goals at a press conference in Gaza on Sunday.
"We must restore confidence in the police service and restore the police's deterrent power, and the nation must support police in the fulfillment of its duties," Sayam said.
Until now, the police force was considered a marginal arm of the Palestinian security services that is directly accountable to the Interior Ministry.
But Hamas plans to transform it into the primary law-enforcement authority, as well as recruit activists from the organization.
A revitalized police force is expected to bring Hamas into close contact with average Palestinians, while staying away from sensitive topics such as arresting terror suspects or activists in other Palestinian organizations, which Hamas does not plan to do, Sayam said.
Hamas may be motivated to take on the police force partly because it realizes that at this stage, it cannot take control of the stronger security services such as the Preventive Security Service in Gaza.
Sayam said the Interior Ministry would work with prominent social organizations, heads of large clans, and local media - which Sayam asked "to stop calling the government 'the Hamas government' and start calling it 'the government of the Palestinian people'."
Meanwhile, the deaths of three Palestinians in a Friday gun battle in Gaza between the Fatah-controlled Preventive Security Service and Hamas-supported Popular Resistance Committees revealed the region's power struggles.
Occurring just two days after the new Hamas government was sworn in, the shoot-out came shortly after PRC leader Abu Yusuf Abu Quka was killed by a bomb in Gaza City.
Leaders of the PRC, which serves as a Hamas front organization, transformed Abu Quka's funeral into a protest against Fatah and the Preventive Security Service, and overtly accused security services leaders of assassinating him.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
It seems as if three of the other four people that responded to this article completely missed the point. Since when does lifting a rule that limited the rights of a people considered to be the first step towards totalitarianism? JustMe hit the nail on the head. Hamas is not FORCING its police officers to grow beards. The officers are now PERMITTED to do so. It sounds like the other folks are simply voicing unfair--and, yes, racist--opinions. It must be remebered that Hamas was DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED into their currentposition. So far, by lifting a BAN against police officers wearing beards, they are taking steps towards insuring the freedoms of their people.
next they'll have to wrap their wives in burqas, chop a hand off for stealing an apple, stop laughing etc. Who doubts the palestinian society will become more strict and, therefore, more backward, impoverished and violent under Hamas? It is already happening elsewhere in muslim communities around the world. The good news is that they will inevitably self-destruct as a result of growing inflexibility and poverty.
Obviously allowing beards is much more higher in Hamas' list of preferences than feeding the starving population in Gaza, restoring order, or even peace with Israel (way down on their list!). I guess burkas and veils are also pretty high on that list. Back to the 7th century, ye sons of Allah! What a sad excuse for a religion.
It doesn't say that Hamas is 'forcing' the police staff to grow beard, but just says that Hamas will allow police staffs who *want* to grow a beard to do so. This is what you call freedom of excercing your religion....or are you calling the Jewish religious parties who won seats in the Knesset, Taliban because they allow their follwers to grow beards and wear skull caps?
Palestinians will soon realize that their vote went to an entity bent of destroying any chance of progress towards a democratic society. When that wake-up call comes, it will be too late. Democracy which brought Hamas to power will not be there a second time to take it down. But then who said that the deserve a democratic society. For decades the hysterical Left has taught the world that Palestinians should be "helped" to build a "free" and "progressive" society and that only Israel is to blame for their situation. Now it is quite hard to blame Isreal for anything that happens in "liberated" Gaza. They have a virtually free border with Egypt and their own democratically elected government. They got and they will get what they deserve. Let us get out of their way down to the Dark Ages, but still be ready to hit decisively at any sign that they might indulge in spilling that poison beyond the borders into Israe.