more bad news from Gaza

Posted: Sun, 03 Jun 2007

The AP reports that the Islamist-extremist intimidation campaign is now out in the open and in full flower. Female Palestinian TV broadcasters are now in the line of fire:

A Muslim extremist group threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don’t don strict Islamic dress, leaving the women terrified and marking a further downward spiral in Gaza’s anarchy.

The threat to “cut throats from vein to vein” was delivered by the Swords of Truth, a fanatical group that has previously claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes and music shops.

The new threat was the first time the organization targeted a specific group of people, and adds to a growing climate of extremism, fear and suspicion in Gaza.

The Jerusalem Post provides more details:

Members of the group are also responsible for splashing acid in the face of a number of young women who had been accused of “immoral behavior.” The Righteous Swords of Islam is one of three al-Qaida-affiliated groups that have popped up in the Gaza Strip over the past two years.

PA officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that the presence of the extremist groups in the Gaza Strip would “eventually lead to the transformation of the Palestinian territories into a Taliban-style entity.”

According to one official, “The day will come when we will miss Hamas. These are extremely dangerous groups that are trying to take Palestinian society back to the Dark Ages.”

The threats being issued are very specific and very close to home:

The group warned that its members would strike with an “iron fist and swords” against the women who are refusing to cover their faces. “We will destroy their homes,” it announced. “We will blow up their working places. We have a lot of information about their addresses and we are following their movements.”

The leaflet concluded by threatening to “slaughter” the women for allegedly spreading corruption in Palestinian society by appearing on the screen with their faces uncovered.

“The administration and workers at Palestine TV should know that we are much closer to them than they think,” it added. “If necessary, we will behead and slaughter to preserve the spirit and morals of our people.”

This extremism is familiar to Iranians and Afghanis, both of whom have been brutalized by fundamentalists. Now it has come to the Palestinians.
Somehow I don’t think a “binational state”—i.e., the one-state solution to the Israel/Palestine problem—is the magic cure. Three writers crocodile-feeders at The Nation do, however.