Empowering Women, Palestinian Gaza-Style

...Hamas wants the international community to fund the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip under the pretext that it does not have the resources to participate in the effort. But when it comes to arming and training women and teenagers, Hamas and other Palestinian groups somehow always seem to find enough money to purchase weapons and run training camps. As for the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, they continue to act as if they are living on another planet, and that what is happening in the Gaza Strip is none of their business. Yet this does not stop them from pursuing their effort to convince the world to support a Palestinian state where women and teenagers are being trained to become the next "martyrs" in the fight to destroy Israel.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
24 February '15..

It is not easy to be a woman living under the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

Women face many restrictions, including not being able to go to the beach alone or even smoke in a public place. In addition, it is forbidden for a woman to be seen in public with a man who is not her husband, father or brother.

Women are also forced to adhere to a strict Islamic dress code in public, which includes a cloak and a veil covering their hair (hijab), especially at university and college campuses and work offices.

However, these severe restrictions do not apply to women who are prepared to become "martyrs" in the fight against Israel. So while a woman is barred from smoking in a café or restaurant, or walking in public unaccompanied by a male relative, she is permitted to join a military training camp in preparation for war against Israel.

This is exactly what is happening in the Gaza Strip these days, where women are undergoing training with various types of weapons, including rifles and mortars. The women are also taught how to plant land mines and explosive devices on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

A woman at Gaza's Nasser Eddin Brigades camp trains on a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher.

So far, 40 Palestinian women have "graduated" from the military training camps, while another 40 are still being taught how to become jihadis and sacrifice their lives for the sake of wiping Israel off the face of the earth.