Gaza group: Hamas shaves heads for 'indecent' hair

Published April 07, 2013

Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip –  A rights group says police in Hamas-ruled Gaza are arresting, beating and shaving the heads of young men who sport what they consider "indecent" hair styles.

Witnesses say those targeted wore their hair long or styled into tall spikes.

Since seizing Gaza in 2007, the Islamic militant Hamas has been slowly imposing its fundamentalist version of Islam on the already-conservative Gaza. This includes getting women to cover up with headscarves and long robes.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said Sunday that the latest crackdown is over hair styles. The group quotes a young man who says he was among 13 who were detained by police and had their heads shaved

Police spokesman Ayman Batniji says the police have shaved the heads of some detainees, but denies it's a campaign.

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Hamas says it's not meddling in Egyptian affairs

Published April 04, 2013

Associated Press

CAIRO –  The leader of the Palestinian group Hamas says there is broad cooperation between his group and Egypt's security government, dismissing reports that Hamas is endangering Egypt's national security.

Khaled Mashaal's comments in a conference Thursday in Cairo follow unconfirmed Egyptian media reports linking Hamas to increased lawlessness in the Sinai Peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas.

The reports accused Hamas of orchestrating one of the bloodiest attacks against Egypt's army in decades. In August 2012, 16 soldiers were killed along the Gaza-Egypt border. Hamas has strongly denied that it was involved.

Mashaal called the accusations "defamations," and said it is Hamas' duty to protect Egypt's security.

Hamas leaders were in Cairo this week to meet with security, intelligence and military officials.

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Gaza premier elected as No. 2 in Hamas leadership

Published April 03, 2013

Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip –  Hamas says it has elected Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, as the deputy leader of the Islamic militant group.

Senior Hamas figures this week re-elected longtime leader Khaled Mashaal to another four-year term. On Wednesday, the group announced it had elected Haniyeh, 50, as Mashaal's deputy.

Hamas, founded in Gaza in 1987, also has branches in the West Bank and outside the Palestinian territories.

Haniyeh's election signals a shift in the group's center of gravity toward Gaza, the territory the group has ruled since a violent takeover in 2007. Traditionally, top Hamas leaders have been exiles. Haniyeh is the first Gazan to rise to the No. 2 spot.

Last year, Hamas hard-liners in Gaza balked at Mashaal's attempt to reconcile with his political rival, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Hamas re-elects Mashaal as its leader

Published April 01, 2013

Associated Press

CAIRO –  Two Hamas officials say the Islamic militant group has re-elected Khaled Mashaal as its leader.

Mashaal, 56, who has run the Palestinian movement since 1996 from exile, was seen as a favorite.

He is backed by regional powers Qatar, Turkey and Egypt. He is now based in Qatar.

His re-election could revive stalled reconciliation efforts between Hamas and political rival Mahmoud Abbas, the Western-backed Palestinian president.

The officials said the majority of the group's Shura council members voted for Mashaal. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the secret procedure.

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