Hamas and Palestinian feminist movement
By Dr. Islah Jad

The rise of Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to government raised “fears and concerns” among some people out of the feeling of what Hamas could do to women and abolish all of the achievements of Palestinian feminist movement and application of Islamic “Shari’ah”. Many of these fears actually arise from picturing Hamas with “Western or Orientalist eyes”; some may be attributed to inaccurate understanding of Hamas’s ideology and women. However, part of such “fears” could be justified, but preempting events will not be wise. I will try to illustrate the forms of such “fears” and explicate briefly their causes.  more