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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3tzWjYQRqw]Hundreds rally in West Bank, Gaza for Women's Day - YouTube[/ame]
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Hundreds rally in West Bank, Gaza for Women's Day
In Gaza, an unspoken rule bans women from riding bicycles after they have hit puberty. But last Saturday, one young Palestinian woman decided to defy the taboo, sparking smiles - and a few threats - from fellow Gaza residents.
In a spur of the moment decision, 28-year-old Palestinian journalist Asmaa Alghoul decided to join three of her friends, two Italian human rights workers and an American, on a tour of Gaza by bicycle. On a warm summer's day, the two men and two women set off from the Egyptian border town of Rafah and headed north to Gaza city, along 30km of coastal road. But to Asmaa, the ride was more than a sunny day trip: women on bicycles are frowned upon in the Palestinian territories, and the young woman had not ridden a bike since she was 14 years old.
Most of the Gazans the small group came across were friendly and hospitable, as well as very helpful when it came to repairing flat tires or twisted chains. A rough encounter with a group of men on motorcycles, however, came as a harsh reminder of the domestic role women are expected to stick to in Gaza.
For my international friends, riding a bike is just a pleasant means of transportation, not a political statement. But as soon as I, a Palestinian woman, decided to join their group, the trip took on another dimension.
You just don't see women riding bikes in Muslim countries. It's not forbidden per say, but it's socially unacceptable. In addition, the Hamas government in Gaza has begun enforcing very strict, sexist rules restricting women's freedom - we can no longer smoke water pipes in cafés, for example. I find all of these rules unfair - stupid, really - so I decided to go on the bike ride as a test, to see what would happen.
Continued: http://observers.france24.com/content/20100831-gaza-woman-rides-bicycle-despite-ban-asmaa-alghoul
Hundreds rally in West Bank, Gaza for Women's Day
In Gaza, an unspoken rule bans women from riding bicycles after they have hit puberty. But last Saturday, one young Palestinian woman decided to defy the taboo, sparking smiles - and a few threats - from fellow Gaza residents.
In a spur of the moment decision, 28-year-old Palestinian journalist Asmaa Alghoul decided to join three of her friends, two Italian human rights workers and an American, on a tour of Gaza by bicycle. On a warm summer's day, the two men and two women set off from the Egyptian border town of Rafah and headed north to Gaza city, along 30km of coastal road. But to Asmaa, the ride was more than a sunny day trip: women on bicycles are frowned upon in the Palestinian territories, and the young woman had not ridden a bike since she was 14 years old.
Most of the Gazans the small group came across were friendly and hospitable, as well as very helpful when it came to repairing flat tires or twisted chains. A rough encounter with a group of men on motorcycles, however, came as a harsh reminder of the domestic role women are expected to stick to in Gaza.
For my international friends, riding a bike is just a pleasant means of transportation, not a political statement. But as soon as I, a Palestinian woman, decided to join their group, the trip took on another dimension.
You just don't see women riding bikes in Muslim countries. It's not forbidden per say, but it's socially unacceptable. In addition, the Hamas government in Gaza has begun enforcing very strict, sexist rules restricting women's freedom - we can no longer smoke water pipes in cafés, for example. I find all of these rules unfair - stupid, really - so I decided to go on the bike ride as a test, to see what would happen.
Continued: Palestinian woman breaks taboo to cycle across Gaza strip | The Observers
Palestinian feminist Asma Al-Ghoul arrived to our meeting at a Gaza coffee shop sporting blue jeans and a T-shirtin stark contrast to the Islamic headscarves and tent-like dresses worn by the vast majority of Gazan women.
It's not just clothing that sets this 28-year-old secularist apart. She once publicly chastised a senior Hamas military leaderher unclewho threatened to kill her, and she continues to publish gutsy articles, read banned books, and defy discriminatory policies. "Gaza needs all the liberal, secular people to stay here," she insisted, when I asked why she had declined opportunities to live abroad.
For three years, Israel has enforced a devastating blockade of the Gaza Strip aimed at isolating Hamas, the Islamic militant group that won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 and seized control of this Palestinian territory in a 2007 civil war. (Fatah, a more moderate Palestinian faction, retained control of the West Bank.) Since then, Hamas has introduced restrictive new laws, including prohibitions against women using male hairdressers or smoking hookah in public. Hamas police have shut down musical concerts and interrogated suspected couples. Principals at government schools have reportedly pressured even Christian girls to wear the Islamic headscarf. Through it all, Asma has remained devoted to secularism, and was recently awarded a prestigious Human Rights Watch grant for her "commitment to free expression and courage in the face of political persecution." But will she be able to help build the inclusive civil society she seeks?
Her brother Mustafa was arrested and jailed by Hamas police last week for participating in street protests against Hamas's recent shutdown of Sharek Youth Forum. The nonprofit, which organized camps and afterschool programs for more than 60,000 Gazan children, is accused of storing pornography on its computers.
These days, when Asma is not overcome with worry about her imprisoned brother's fate, she is reading, writing, and following the news, including coverage of the failing peace negotiations between Israel and Fatah. She regards these talks as a "sad fairytale where everyone knows the ending." She's acquired a smuggled Arabic copy of Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and insists, "We should read it before we judge it." She's also finishing the manuscript to her novel, titled City of Love and Taboo, which explores the Islamization of Gaza. She's hoping to publish it in both Arabic and English.
"Everything is taboo in Gaza now," she says, explaining the book's title. "Yet, at the same time, people still touch and feel and love."
Sorry, Hamas, I'm Wearing Blue Jeans | Mother Jones
Black Palestinian Girls in Israel
The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism.
Zuheir Mohsen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia