MIDEAST: GAZA; HAMAS WITCH HUNT, 150 ARRESTED IN 2010

[shira]

(ANSAmed) - GAZA, JANUARY 14 - Hamas leaders are committed to a systematic ''witch hunt'' and 150 women were arrested in 2010 in Gaza for having made recourse to witchcraft of some sort. During a symposium held in recent days in Gaza, it was stated that in the eyes of Hamas, the activities of these women represent a real social danger, also because they risk ''breaking up families,'' causing divorce and frittering away of money. Sometimes their activities also have criminal repercussions. One awareness campaign against ''the witches'' was launched using large posters in mosques, universities and public offices frequented by women.

The issue emerged again in August last year when a 62-year-old woman, Jabryieh Abu Ghanas, considered to be active in the field of ''witchcraft'' and the production of ''voodoo dolls'', was shot dead in a street in the centre of Gaza. This murder caused great alarm in the Palestinian human rights defence organisations al-Mezan and Pchr-Gaza. It seems however that for now Hamas are not using an iron hand in regard to the women suspected of witchcraft. They are forced to sign an undertaking to abandon their practices, consider incompatible with Islam, for good. It seems this measure has been sufficient and to date there is no news of any ''witch'' being imprisoned by Hamas. (ANSAmed).

http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME.XEF71828.html

[aquart]

1. They're picking on WOMEN?

Send 'em another flotilla.

[davidinalameda]

2. but I thought Hamas were the good guys

:shrug:

[Ken Burch]

3. Nobody was saying that

What WAS being said was that they were the guys Israel was going to have to negotiate with. It's been proven impossible(through a simple examination of what happened with the Israeli government decided to focus on discrediting Fatah-the choice that gave Hamas its big break in show business)for Israel to delegitimize ONE Palestinian leadership without causing it to be replaced by another that is worse.

Any military campaign to "crush Hamas" would have to have the same results as the insistence in isolating Fatah and trapping Arafat in his compound unless he chose to go into permanent exile: The creation of a NEW Palestinian leadership that could ONLY be more intransigent and more violent than Hamas.

History proves it isn't worth even trying it.

[shira]

4. Sari Nusseibeh says the Hamas charter sounds as if it was copied from the Nazi's Der Sturmer...

...and Hamas has repeatedly said over and over again there will never be peace with Israel.

So even if Israel were to negotiate faithfully with Hamas/Iran/Hezbollah, what do you really expect will happen as a result?

Even if Israel agrees to full RoR and the Saudi plan, Hamas/Iran/Hezbollah will still seek Israel's destruction.

[Ken Burch]

5. All the more reason Bibi and Sharon should NEVER have tried to discredit Fatah

Hamas wouldn't have anywhere near the support it has now if the Israeli government had treated the Fatah negotiators as an equal entity from the start. Instead, even though Fatah did everything it could to meet Israeli demands, Netanyahu and Sharon(and, at times the Labor governments of the Nineties as well)KEPT GREENLIGHTING SETTLEMENTS and insisted on the ridiculous and completely unjustified strategy of forcing Arafat to choose between isolation in Ramallah or permanent exile.

The Israeli government has GOT to accept that it simply isn't entitled to try to dictate who will and will NOT be the acceptable Palestinian leadership. Every time it's intervened in that question, the Israeli government has done nothing but to make the whole situation worse.

And you would HAVE to concede my point that crushing Hamas could ONLY lead to it being replaced by a MORE intransigent Palestinian leadership. If you actually wanted peace, how could you WANT that? Back in the Eighties, did you believe it was possible for Begin to get HIS way and somehow put in place a Palestinian leadership that would settle for something short of actual statehood?

Face it, shira...the Israeli government doesn't WANT peace. If it did, it wouldn't keep helping the ugliest forces in Palestinian politics. You have GOT to learn not to trust people like Netanyahu, Lieberman, and Barak. They're just politicians, and their whole political reputation rests on them NOT ending the war. A peaceful resolution of the I/P dispute would leave those three with about as much international importance as the members of the Swiss government.

They AREN'T on the side of the people of Israel. And they aren't on YOUR side as a supporter of Israel. They're in it for themselves, like any other group of politicians. And they no longer care who has to die in the service of their goals.