Hamas bans women from smoking water pipes in cafes

[Amelia]

Hamas bans women from smoking water pipes in cafes

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

18July2010

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gaza's Hamas rulers have banned women from smoking water pipes in cafes, calling it a practice that destroys marriages and sullies the image of the Palestinian people.

The ban marks the Islamist militant group's latest effort to impose their harsh Muslim lifestyle in the seaside strip on an often resistant public.

While Muslim law does not technically ban women from smoking the traditional tobacco-infused pipes, tradition frowns upon the habit. Hamas frequently mixes its strict interpretation of Islamic law with conservative Gaza tradition, and over the weekend, the two dovetailed to produce the smoking ban.

"It is inappropriate for a woman to sit cross-legged and smoke in public. It harms the image of our people," Ihab Ghussein, Hamas interior ministry spokesman, said in a statement released Sunday.

"Many women who smoke in public were divorced when their husbands saw them, or found out about them," said Hamas police spokesman, Ayman Batneiji, without substantiating his claim.

The ban was handed down by plainclothes security officials who marched through a strip of popular cafes by Gaza's seashore over the weekend, ordering owners not to serve water pipes to female customers.

Confused owners initially thought the ban applied to both men and women, killing most of their evening business. The Hamas government swiftly issued a statement reassuring residents the ban only applied to women.

Smoking water pipes is a popular habit among both sexes in the impoverished Gaza Strip. Although it is considered culturally inappropriate for women to be seen smoking them in public, some middle-class ladies smoke the pipes openly, often in mixed company. Even more conservative women can be seen taking an occasional puff of their husbands' water pipes.

"This is silly," fumed Haya Ahmed, a 29-year-old accountant who said she has smoked water pipes 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 have the opposite effect of its intention and make water pipes more tempting for rebellious young women. "Everything forbidden becomes desirable. The decision will lead to more smokers," Ahmed said.

Many Palestinians see the water pipe as inappropriate for women because of its sexual innuendo, and because it looks crass for ladies to smoke, said Palestinian anthropologist Ali Qleibo.

It is not clear how strict Hamas will be in enforcing the ban.

Many residents are deeply sensitive to any effort by Hamas to infringe on the few forms of entertainment available to Gaza's 1.5 million people. For three years, they have lived under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade that has penned them into the tiny coastal territory. Many Gazans pile into beach cafes in the evenings to puff on water pipes well into the early hours.

A cafe and restaurant union representative in Gaza, Ayman Abu Khair, estimated the ban would cost cafe owners some 10 percent of their income. He said owners were not warned before Hamas police barged into their establishments Friday night issuing the verbal order. Abu Khair said the union hoped to challenge the ruling.

The militant group has backed down in the past when it senses resistance to its harsh rules. A ban on men working in female 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, arguing it was culturally inappropriate. It also instructed teachers to pressure teenage girls to cover up in long, loose robes and headscarves. Last year the group cracked down on Gaza's tiny number of moonshiners and banned foreigners from bringing alcohol into the blockaded territory.

For Ahmed, the ban has been a damper. "I smoked (in public) with my family around," she said. "Now, I will smoke at home."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_hamas_crackdown/print

[Woody]

Quote:

Hamas bans women from smoking water pipes in cafes

Why do they oppose smoking water?

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

The pipe still uses tobacco. The water filters the smoke.

[phkrause]

AMELIA

WELL that is interesting the article said that

both man and women smoked the water pipes

I thought that muslims did not smoke at all???

then the band was for women only???

dgrimm60

Good point dgrimm, I hadn't thought about that, I think your right

[Guest]

I used to have a water pipe.....It never occurred to me to put tobbacco in it though.

[nuff sed]

I used to have a water pipe.....It never occurred to me to put tobbacco in it though.

No wonder it kept going out every time you tried to light it!...'nuff sed

[doug yowell]

Originally Posted By: Richard Holbrook

I used to have a water pipe.....It never occurred to me to put tobbacco in it though.

No wonder it kept going out every time you tried to light it!...'nuff sed

"BONGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!"

[phkrause]

No wonder it kept going out every time you tried to light it!...'nuff sed

good one 'nuff sed, but man could I add to this, but I will leave it as is. LOL

[Bravus]

So basically they've saved the women from mouth cancer... (at the cost of their freedom)

Hard to know how we should feel about it.

[SivartM]

They should outlaw it for men, too. And in the rest of the world, also.

I mean, if tobacco was discovered today, it would be illegal. So why not pretend that it was instead of pretending that people have a sovereign right to make themselves and everyone else miserable?

[olger]

Hah. If two-way traffic on roads was proposed today, the hand wringers in society would try to outlaw THAT.

g

[Guest]

Ain't that the truth!

[SivartM]

Do you think that toxic substances should be legal for purchase and consumption by anyone who wants them? What if we treated heroin like tobacco?

[Guest]

What if we treated heroin like tobacco?

It would probably cut way down on heroin addicts getting hooked on methadone. That would be a good thing.

[SivartM]

Yes, instead of heroin addicts getting hooked on methadone, they could stay hooked on heroin.

[bonnie]

Yes, instead of heroin addicts getting hooked on methadone, they could stay hooked on heroin.

What has the illegality done to stop heroin use? Wonder what would happen if legalized and treated as alcohol.No selling to minors,no driving a vehicle etc

[Overaged]

OOO; thats really harsh - not being able to smoke a water pipe.

[Overaged]

And of course because minors "can't" buy it, means they won't

[SivartM]

Well, minors "can't" buy cocaine either, and most don't.

[Overaged]

Well, minors "can't" buy cocaine either, and most don't.

Depends where you live. But even one is too many. Just "legalize" everything and it will all just go away - right?

[Neil D]

Originally Posted By: SivartM

Well, minors "can't" buy cocaine either, and most don't.

Depends where you live. But even one is too many. Just "legalize" everything and it will all just go away - right?

Sure...and then we can tax the heck out of it, make it terribly expensive and remove it from the poorer folk....

...what's not to like about the solution?

[/tic]

[bonnie]

And of course because minors "can't" buy it, means they won't

And of course that is not what I said.

Prohibition did prevent a lot of alcohol consumption but also made for some very "lucrative,thriving cottage industries" Many became wealthy and many became dead.

The drug industry is no different. Just read the news along our borders with Mexico. Or the amount of illegal drugs sold in our cities.Tell me what the law has done except to make many wealthy and many dead.

Since they started putting teeth into our drunk driving laws and a serious bite on the wallet,drunk driving is going down,at least here.

I would love to see some very stiff penalities for anything that violates strict enforcement of use. Caught selling you go away for a very,very long time. Driving,just as long.Someone dies as a result of what you sold it is capital 1 murder.

The illegality of drugs is what makes it the most dangerous and costly.If someone wants to live in their own home in a drug induced coma,go for it.

What is being done is not working. Prohibition did not work to prevent crime,only added to it.

[Overaged]

quote=Overaged]And of course because minors "can't" buy it, means they won't /quote]

And of course that is not what I said.

[Overaged]

quote=Overaged]On the flip side, why make drugs "legal" just to "take it away from the poor? " Make people - both rich and poor, pay 100% of the associated medical costs for the problems they will develop. That ought take most drugs away from both rich and poor.

[bonnie]

More will become dead and more will become wealthy when/if legalized. It is not the law that made drug lords wealthy. It is AK 47s and other methods of "persuasion." Including certain ones; whom I won't mention here who deliberately lace their "coke" and heroin with "meth" and other "goodies" to hook young kids hard. It works very well right under the parent's noses in some cases, and now we have those who want to just legalize this filthy garbage so that it is even easier for these freaks to ruin young lives. Nice; but you can have that where you live if you want it; I can guarantee it won't fly here.