The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the name for a group operating in the Gaza Strip. According to Al-Arabiya, the group is "unknown" and apparently modeled after a similar group in Saudi Arabia, though without the official status.[1] The Jerusalem Post reports that this group forms part of the police forces of the Hamas de-facto government in the Gaza Strip and is responsible for enforcing Islamic codes of behavior.[2][3]
The "Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" is mentioned in a 2007 report in Al-Arabiya. They are described as an "unknown" group that have released a statement declaring a campaign to hunt down all, "slaves of the devil who commit blasphemy and roam the streets." Their statement called upon youth to resist temptation from the devil as, "the devil's path leads to perdition [...] Young people are our main target since they commit many transgressions whether name calling that involves God or through hanging out late at night in the streets, smoking and disturbing people." The group also claimed responsibility for severely beating up two members of a Khan Younis clan, "for committing sins such as disrespect for God and disturbing people [...] That was a warning for them. Hopefully, they will come to their senses."[1] Citing a report in Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Al-Arabiya says one of the first acts of the group was to beat up a singer in Gaza after he gave a concert in Khan Younis.[1] Al-Arabiya notes that, "There was no official comment from Hamas leaders on the acts or declarations of Gaza's self-styled religious police."[1]
In 2009, The Jerusalem Post reported that the "Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" is a police force that operates under the command of the Hamas Ministry of the Waqf (Islamic Endowment), and includes dozens of plainclothes police officers who patrol public places such as beaches, parks, restaurants, hair salons and cafes to ensure that males and females are not mixing together and that the women are dressed modestly.[2][3] A special all-female unit within the force is said to number 100-150 officers who enforce female modesty and handle female suspects, with uniforms that include a niqab and gloves, "with only an eye slit visible".[3] Citing unnamed local Gaza reporters, the newspaper states that the Hamas de-facto government has not publicly acknowledged the force's existence because it fears being branded fundamentalist.[2]
Another incident attributed to the group by The Jerusalem Post concerns Asma al-Ghul, a female Palestinian journalist, who stated that policemen from the force:
attempted to arrest her under the pretext that she came to a Gaza beach dressed immodestly and was seen laughing in public..."They accused me of laughing loudly while swimming with my friend and failing to wear a hijab," Ghul told a human rights organization in the Gaza Strip. "They also wanted to know the identity of the people who were with me at the beach and whether they were relatives of mine."
Al-Ghul added that the officers confiscated her passport, and that she had received death threats from anonymous callers following the incident.[2][4] Regarding the incident, "Hamas security commanders initially said that [al-Ghul] and her friends were stopped because they were having a mixed party at the beach. Later, one of the commanders said that al-Ghul was stopped [for] not wearing a hijab while swimming. Another commander claimed" that the offense was "smoking nargilas and partying in a public place".[2]
Khaled Abu Toameh, a journalist for The Jerusalem Post writes that, "Hamas is gradually turning the Gaza Strip into a Taliban-style Islamic entity".[5]
Beginning in October 2006, during the Fatah-Hamas conflict, and continuing into mid-2007, dozens of Internet cafes and music shops in Gaza were attacked by unknown assailants who detonated small bombs outside businesses at night. Ramzi Shaheen, the Gaza police spokesman told Ha'aretz in 2007, that the method of operation was always the same but that they had no hard proof as to who was behind the attacks and had yet to make arrests. Ramzi Abu Hilao, a pool hall owner whose establishment was blown up said he had received no prior warning but that, "I received a written message after the bombing from a group called 'The Swords of Truth' that began with a verse from the Koran and said they wanted to correct the bad behavior in Palestinian society." Police said that no credible claims of responsibility had been made for the attacks, dismissing a statement that appeared on a news Web site in December from an unknown group with alleged links to Al-Qaida. Ha'aretz noted that, "There has been no conclusive proof that Al-Qaida has established a Gaza branch. Observers believe the vice squad is most likely homegrown." [6]
In October 2007, Rami Khader Ayyad, a resident of Gaza City who owned a bookshop that sold Bibles and Christian literature, was abducted, tortured and murdered, after his store was firebombed by a Muslim "vice squad" that was attacking targets associated with Western influence. According to Ayyad's family and neighbors, he had regularly received anonymous death threats from people angered by his missionary work. Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic program, asserted that his group did not carry out the murder but Christians engaging in missionary activity in Gaza would be dealt with harshly.[7]