Arab Lesbians against Hate (ALAH)

Arab Lesbians against Hate will launch a kickoff eevent throughout the country this Sunday, as we join together in Solidarity and say "No to Hamas. Yes to Peace". We will reject the patriachy and theocracy of Hamas, and its abuse of women, queers and minorities.

According to an investigation by The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights 87 women activists were prevented by Hamas’ Internal Security Service from leaving Gaza to attend the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) conference being convened in Ramallah on the West Bank.

Hamas used the Israeli offensive on Gaza in December 2008/January 2009 to further weaken their internal political rivals. Human Rights Watch notes that, “During Israel’s attack on Gaza, Hamas moved violently against its political opponents and those deemed collaborators with Israeli forces. The unlawful arrests, torture, and killings in detention continued even after the fighting stopped, mocking Hamas’s claims to uphold the law.”

According to the Jerusalem Post Hamas used the Israeli war to renew thousands of “house arrest orders” against Fatah officials and activists.

And the Independent Commission for Human Rights, an organisation sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, claimed masked [Hamas] gunmen shot at least 49 people in the legs in punishment shootings between 28 December and 31 January 2009.
In the Fatah-run West Bank Hamas supporters have also been rounded up. Some have been tortured. Human Rights Watch have also recorded deaths in custody, and the arrest of journalists considered pro-Hamas.

In July 2009, Hamas officials initiated what they called a "virtue" campaign, saying they were concerned about increasing "immoral" behaviour in Gaza. The main victims have been women.

In July a judge ordered that female lawyers had to wear the jilbab (a full-length robe) and the hijab (headscarves) in court. Nearly all the 150 women lawyers in Gaza wear the headscarf already, but they challenged the ruling as illegal and won. One, Dina Abu Dagga, said, “It was not the Chief Justice’s right to change the dress code. It was absolutely illegal… We are not against the hijab. I wear it myself. We are against imposing it… Today you impose the hijab, but tomorrow it will be something else.”

As the new school year began, in late August, pressure was placed on parents to dress their daughters more conservatively. Some female students have been refused entry to schools. Girls are being told they must wear a jilbab and a headscarf. Previously, the uniform typically required for female public school students was a long denim skirt and shirt.

Zeinab Ghonaimy of the Center for Women’s Legal Research and Consulting in Gaza reports that a school administrator slapped one female student in front of her schoolmates for not wearing the jilbab: "Physically assaulting students and humiliating them in front of their peers is simply unacceptable, whatever the reason, and especially to force them to wear certain religious clothing in violation of their religious freedom."