| (ANSAmed) - GAZA, OCTOBER 7 - From now on, in Gaza women will no longer be allowed to ride as passengers on motorbikes and scooters: the new ban was promulgated by the Interior Ministry' of Hamas, the radical Islamic movement ruling over the Gaza strip since 2007. 'Women are not used to riding on bikes,'' said the spokesman for the movement, Ihab Alghusin, 'they move in a frenzied manner and may cause accidents''. Not mentioning that, to sit firmly on the bike, the female passengers would have to hold on to the driver: this, according to the Hamas code of conduct, is unacceptable. The new ban is only last of a series of new restrictions, based on the Islamic sharia, adopted in the Strip over the last few months, even though they may cause some discontent amongst the Palestinian population, traditionally more 'lay'' compared to other communities within the Arab world. The ban, though, is also part of a wider set of laws on motorbike safety, issued following the high numbers of accidents that occurred over the last few years: since when motorbikes, introduced in the country illegally through underground tunnels (to circumvent Israel's restrictions), have become a widespread mean of transport in the Gaza strip. (ANSAmed). |