Hamas er i ferd med å bli upopulær blant befolkningen i Gaza. Det er den hardhendte sikkerhetskontrollen og tendenser til innføring av sharia som vekker motviljen.

But this Hamas-imposed security has come at huge cost. Only believers feel safe; supporters of Fatah, the political organisation led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, are routinely arrested and tortured. Journalists are harassed and unIslamic dress can result in a beating as well. More and more women in Gaza are covering not just their hair but their faces. Many bitterly resent Hamas.

Gaza is growing more and more isolated. Israel controls the borders, land and sea, and has closed the crossings since June. Food prices have rocketed, unemployment is at 70% because no materials can be imported and nothing can be exported. Israel cut fuel supplies last month and has said it will cut electricity supplies from Sunday.

In the latest sign of its total international isolation, Hamas, although democratically elected in 2006, has been excluded from the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday.
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Islamic fundamentalism has also begun to grate for many who may once have supported Hamas. Courts are now being convened in mosques, based on sharia (Islamic law).

Last week two university students were taken to court for having a romance. The court tried to force them to marry but their feuding families refused. In the end, the court ordered the woman’s family to keep her at home and her boyfriend to leave the city for a year.

Defiant Hamas rules by fear in isolated Gaza

Hamas er i ferd med å bli upopulær blant befolkningen i Gaza. Det er den hardhendte sikkerhetskontrollen og tendenser til innføring av sharia som vekker motviljen.

But this Hamas-imposed security has come at huge cost. Only believers feel safe; supporters of Fatah, the political organisation led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, are routinely arrested and tortured. Journalists are harassed and unIslamic dress can result in a beating as well. More and more women in Gaza are covering not just their hair but their faces. Many bitterly resent Hamas.

Gaza is growing more and more isolated. Israel controls the borders, land and sea, and has closed the crossings since June. Food prices have rocketed, unemployment is at 70% because no materials can be imported and nothing can be exported. Israel cut fuel supplies last month and has said it will cut electricity supplies from Sunday.

In the latest sign of its total international isolation, Hamas, although democratically elected in 2006, has been excluded from the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday.
..
Islamic fundamentalism has also begun to grate for many who may once have supported Hamas. Courts are now being convened in mosques, based on sharia (Islamic law).

Last week two university students were taken to court for having a romance. The court tried to force them to marry but their feuding families refused. In the end, the court ordered the woman’s family to keep her at home and her boyfriend to leave the city for a year.

Defiant Hamas rules by fear in isolated Gaza