Morality police patrol Ramadon

[superconnected]

Source: Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank - A new squad of morality police has begun detaining Palestinians who eat or drink in public during Ramadan in the West Bank, where the Islamic month of daytime fasting was always widely observed but never imposed.

The 12-member squad appears to be an attempt by President Mahmoud Abbas' West Bank government to challenge the monopoly on religious righteousness claimed by the militant group Hamas, the rival ruler of Gaza.

The sudden deployment of Ramadan police was unexpected in Ramallah, the seat of Abbas' government and the most cosmopolitan and well-to-do of the Palestinian cities. Ramadan squads have not been set up in other West Bank towns.

Watching observers arrive at one of the town's main mosques one recent afternoon, vice squad Lt. Murad Qendah got a radio call telling him a suspect has been spotted in the street imbibing "karoub" — a local soft drink made from carob pods. He ordered his six-man squad to seize the man's papers pending investigation. Police say violators are usually held for 24 hours.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070927/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_ramallah_vice

[Kagemusha]

1. WHAT!!?? These morality police work for ABBAS!!??

I'd ask if you're kidding me but I can see that this is not a... okay, it's not an untruth. Perhaps it is a joke, however...

[Zandor]

2. They appear to have thier own religous zealot problem n/t

[msongs]

3. maybe BLACKWATER is branching out eh? nt

[superconnected]

4. I don't understand why this thread was locked an moved.

Why?

[Suich]

5. What?

Locked? Moved?

:shrug:

[Nevernose]

6. It wasn't about US involvement

So it wasn't LBN, but I/P. It was also more than 12 hours old. It was still important, though, and was posted in GD instead of I/P. Or at least that was my take on it.

Good article, too, btw.

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

7. I smell a Saturday morning cartoon.