Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas, seeking to win support in the West as well as
reduce unrest, has eased its campaign to enforce Islamic law.

Officials said the Hamas regime was no longer ordering operations to
enforce Islamic law in the Gaza Strip. They said women were again allowed to
smoke water pipes and be serviced by male coiffeurs.

“Some mistakes were made,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

The easing of the Hamas crackdown was first detected in the fall of 2011 after the Interior Ministry imposed restraints on security forces. Officials said most of the raids on cafes, schools, beauty parlors, beaches and hotels were initiated by Hamas clerics in cooperation with security commanders.

“They don’t represent the ideology and policy of the Hamas movement,” Barhoum said.

Officials said the unrest that spread through the Gaza Strip in February and March stunned the Hamas regime. They said Hamas leaders, including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Interior Minister Fathi Hamad, held several meetings to discuss ways to reduce the massive protests.

The Interior Ministry has sought to restrict the activities of so-called
modesty squads, which conducted most of the Islamic enforcement operations.
They said the squads, many of them aligned with senior Hamas members, were
told they could not operate without regime permission.

“Our policy is that we are not going to dictate anything to anyone,”
Barhoum said.

  Fawzi Barhoum, Gaza Strip, Hamas ‘modesty squads’ ease up on enforcement of Islamic law, Interior Ministry, Ismail Haniyeh