Gaza City: There are few pleasures left for Gaza's 1.5 million people, squeezed by both a blockade and Hamas efforts to impose its strict Muslim lifestyle. And women here just lost another one.
Gaza's Hamas rulers have banned women from smoking shisha in cafés, sending plain-clothes agents through popular beachside spots to enforce the edict. Some women in the Palestinian territory are grumbling.
"This is silly," said Haya Ahmad, a 29-year-old accountant who said she has smoked shisha for 10 years. "We are not smoking in the streets but in restaurants, where only a few people can enter."
She predicted the ban would actually make shisha more tempting for rebellious young women. "Everything forbidden becomes desirable. The decision will lead to more smokers," Haya said.
Frowned on
Many Gazans pile into beach cafés in the evenings to puff on shisha, well into the wee hours of the morning. Islamic law does not ban women from smoking the traditional tobacco-infused pipes, but many frown upon the practice.
The water pipe restrictions are just the latest in a year-long Hamas campaign to gradually enforce a strict Muslim life code on the people of Gaza — many of whom are conservative Muslims themselves and not entirely opposed. But the secular minority feels the crunch.
Hamas, the Islamic group that overran Gaza three years ago, has banned women from riding motorbikes — mostly impoverished women riding behind their husbands on cheaply bought Vespas. Teenage girls are pressured by their Hamas-loyal schoolteachers to cover up in loose robes and headscarves.
Men, meanwhile, are the ones mostly targeted if they are seen alongside women in public. And they too are bullied by Hamas officials if they dress in ways considered too Western.
Hamas frequently mixes its strict interpretation of Islamic law with conservative Gaza tradition. Over the weekend, the two dovetailed to produce the smoking ban.
Deeply sensitive
"It is inappropriate for a woman to sit cross-legged and smoke in public. It harms the image of our people," Ehab Gussain, Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday. Police spokesman Ayman Batneiji claimed husbands have divorced wives who smoked in public, without substantiating his claim.Many residents are deeply sensitive to any effort by Hamas to infringe on leisure activities in the territory, which already are limited. A three-year-long blockade by Israel and Egypt has depressed the economy, limiting options in entertainment and practically every other facet of life.
Some women were seen smoking hookahs on Sunday, despite the ban. Natasha Ali was taking turns puffing on a water pipe with her husband, Sulaiman, at a seaside restaurant on Sunday evening.
"I don't think that anyone could force me to do something against my freedom or my wife's freedom," said Sulaiman Ali. However, many in Gaza see the water pipe as inappropriate for women because of its sexual connotation and because it looks crass for ladies to smoke, said Palestinian anthropologist Ali Qleibo.
Some cases: Moral policing
Hamas sometimes backs down when Gazans resist new rules. A ban on men working in ladies hair salons was never enforced, and a demand that female lawyers cover their hair before they enter courtrooms was quietly rescinded.
But Hamas has successfully banned women from riding motorbikes. Last year the group swooped down on moonshiners, banned foreigners from bringing alcohol into Gaza and ordered shopkeepers to take down scantily clad mannequins.
Plain-clothes officers frequently stop couples walking in the streets, demanding to see marriage licences. Some residents say they have been interrogated, even beaten, on suspicion they are gay or had extramarital sex.
Six young men told media that they were all harassed by plain-clothes agents who demanded they move away from women they were walking with, because they weren't married. One man said he was detained and slapped around.
Human rights activist Subhiya Juma said she is aware of hundreds of similar cases.
An internet café owner said he was ordered to ban women from his establishment last year after another plain-clothes agent saw women smoking inside. Two other Gaza café owners said they asked men and women to sit at separate tables to avoid harassment by Hamas police.
In Gaza, art café owner Jamal Abu Qumsan, 43, was accused of having extramarital sex in May. The allegations were made during an interrogation that began over a hip-hop concert he wanted to host. Hamas officials are reluctant to allow Western-style music performances in Gaza, musicians say.
