By Ali Al-Bassam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Education Ministry of Hamas published a law last Monday which will bar men from teaching at girls’ schools and ban children of different sexes over the age of nine from attending the same school together. The law, known as Article 46, was issued on February 10, was approved by Hamas’ legislative council, and went into effect last Sunday. It will apply to all public, private, Christian-led, and United Nations schools throughout the Gaza Strip.
Previously, Hamas tried to instill conservative religious values through laws, including telling schoolgirls in the region to adorn traditional full-length robes and headscarves.
In practice, virtually all public schools in the strip segregate children by sex in grade seven, and proponents say that the act is a codification of conservative Palestinian values into law. Critics believe that this is an attempt by Hamas to force an Islamist ideology onto society.
A majority of Palestinians in Gaza see segregated schools as a symbol of their culture. “We are a Muslim people. We do not need to make people Muslims, and we are doing what serves our people and their culture,” said Waleed Mezher, the Education Ministry’s legal advisor.
Hamas has been in control of the Gaza Strip since 2007, after it won a surprise majority against the secular Fatah Party in Palestinian parliamentary polls. There was a split between the polarized parties within the parliament, which led to a civil war within the region. Unable to come to an agreement, laws were unable to be passed in Gaza and the West Bank. Because of this, critics accused Hamas Parliamentarians of acting alone in pushing this law forward, and accused the group of trying to build “a separate state” in Gaza. Zeinab Al-Ghoneimi, a Gaza activist for women’s rights, called the new law an imposition of Hamas’ values on the residents of Gaza. “To say that the old law did not respect the community’s traditions and that they (Hamas) wanted to reform people now is an insult to the community,” said Ghoneimi. “Instead of hiding behind traditions, why don’t they say clearly they are Islamists and they want to Islamize the community.”
It has been questioned as to whether Hamas will enforce the new law. In the past, Hamas had approved laws that appeased conservatives, such as a ban on men cutting women’s hair or making it illegal for women to smoke water pipes (shishas). Such laws, however, have never been fully enforced, and it is possible that this law will similarly not be enforced.
Hamas has repeatedly denied accusations from human rights groups that they are trying to enforce Islamic laws on the people of Gaza.
For further information, please see:
ABC News — Hamas Orders Gender Segregation at Younger Age — 1 April 2013
BBC News — Hamas in Mixed-Sex School ‘ban’ — 1 April 2013
Global Post — Hamas Same Sex Schools ban Takes Effect — 1 April 2013
Haaretz — Hamas to ban Mixed-Sex Schools in Gaza Strip — 1 April 2013
The Jerusalem Post — Hamas law bans Mixed Sex Schools in Gaza Strip — 1 April 2013
