Since Hamas violently ousted the Palestinian Fatah faction from the strip in June 2007, the Islamist group has established a security presence that has brought Gaza residents a level of security unseen during the days of Fatah, despite Gaza’s crumbling judicial system. This helps account for the popularity of Hamas—designated as terrorists by Israel, the United States and the European Union—in the Gaza Strip. …
For many Gazans, however, the security has come at a heavy price: limits on individual rights and an international embargo of Gaza, which has shattered the area’s economy. … Women and young people feel pressured by the police presence to conform to Hamas’ religious norms. … “Security has been achieved through fear,” said political analyst Talal Okal, a member of the board of trustees at Al-Azhar University, a Fatah bastion in Gaza. “But we do not want the corrupt leaders back.” …
Gaza’s courts also have suffered under Hamas. “After Hamas took control, the attorney general in Ramallah ordered all district attorneys and administrative staff in Gaza to stay at home, threatening to withhold their salaries if they returned to work,” said Hamdi Shaqqura, the director of democratic development at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza. “The criminal court system stopped.” Access the full article>>