(Boston Globe) Thanassis Cambanis - The Islamic University is the top university in Gaza. At the same time, the university is the brain trust and engine room of Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs Gaza. The university's goal is even more radical and ambitious than that of Hamas itself, an organization devoted primarily to war against Israel and the pursuit of political power. Its mission is to Islamicize society at every level, with a focus on Gaza but aspirations to influence the entire Islamic world. In keeping with a puritanical interpretation of Islamic law, men and women aren't allowed to study together, so they switch floors every two hours. They lounge in separate student unions and eat in separate cafeterias. These university students support arranged marriage, Saudi-style morality police, and a hard-line theology that sees even their own religious parents as insufficiently pious. In neighboring Israel, the Islamic University has become a symbol of recalcitrant Palestinian hatred. Many faculty members share Hamas' most hard-line beliefs, which include denying Israel's right to exist. Israelis often talk about the university as if it were a key source of Hamas suicide bombers and missile manufacturers, a kind of clubhouse and recruiting ground.
2010-03-01 08:49:46Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive