Gaza Father Held in 'Honor Killing' of Daughter

Gaza Father Held in 'Honor Killing' of Daughter
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A Gaza man is being held on suspicion he bludgeoned his daughter with an iron chain, cracking her skull in a particularly brutal family ''honor killing,'' two human rights groups said Wednesday, citing police and forensics reports.

The assault was triggered by Jawdat Najjar's discovery that his daughter Fadia -- a 27-year-old divorced mother of five -- owned a cell phone, the groups said. He suspected she used it to speak to a man outside the family, according to the groups' reports.

Dr. Mohammed Sultan, who examined the victim, told The Associated Press that her head and face were bloodied, her body covered by bruises and that she suffered internal bleeding.

Police confirmed Wednesday that Najjar turned himself in a day after the July 23 killing but did not give details. The officer at a police station in northern Gaza spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Three of the woman's brothers were also detained on suspicion that they acted as accomplices, said the rights groups Mezan and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), citing police and forensics reports. The groups did not say how they obtained the reports.

Fadia Najjar was the 10th victim of a so-called ''honor killing'' this year in the Palestinian territories and among Arab communities in Israel, according to rights groups.

In such killings, a woman's life is taken by male relatives who suspect her of inappropriate conduct. Such killings are still widespread in the Middle East, where a woman's perceived misconduct can hurt the standing of a family and where tradition says the ''stain'' can only be removed by shedding her blood.

Traditionally, assailants have received light sentences.

But the killing of Najjar shocked even activists used to detailing such crimes.

Her father used an iron chain to beat her, while also kicking and punching her for about 40 minutes until she died of a fatal blow to the head, said Mezan and the PCHR.

''It's shocking,'' said Samir Zakout of Mezan. ''But it's not surprising because killers know they won't be punished harshly.''

In the West Bank and Gaza, ''honor killing'' assailants serve between six months and three years in prison, said Mona Shawa of PCHR. Gaza is ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas, while the West Bank is run by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Justice officials in the two territories were not available for comment.

In Jordan, officials said Wednesday they have set up special tribunals to deal with honor killings, hoping to speed up trials.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday that the Syrian government abolished a law that waived punishment for some honor killings and now allows judges to sentence perpetrators to at least two years jail.

----

Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid contributed from Ramallah, West Bank.

Hamas dress code aims to make Gaza more Islamic

Hamas dress code aims to make Gaza more Islamic

 

By DIAA HADID, The Associated Press

 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Police order a lingerie shop to hide its scantily clad mannequins. A judge warns female lawyers to wear head scarves in court. Beach patrols break up groups of singles and make men wear shirts.

 

It's all part of a new Hamas campaign to get Gazans to adhere to a strict Muslim lifestyle – and the first clear attempt by the Islamic militants to go beyond benign persuasion in doing so.

 

It suggests that having consolidated its hold on Gaza in the two years since it seized control by force, Hamas feels emboldened enough to extend its ideology into people's private lives.

 

Hamas insists compliance with its "virtue campaign" is still voluntary and simply responds to a Gazan preference for conservative ways. But the rules are vague and there are reports of alleged offenders being beaten and teachers being told to pressure girls to wear head scarves.

 

The campaign highlights the differing trajectories of the West Bank and Gaza – the two parts of the Palestinian state that the Obama administration hopes to midwife. Washington's efforts move into higher gear this week with visits by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and three top U.S. diplomats.

 

While Hamas pushes its dress code and Gaza remains impoverished under international embargo, West Bankers are enjoying an economic revival fed by foreign aid. Although most are conservative, there's more tolerance for a fairly large secular minority.

 

The West Bank's dominant party, Fatah, is making an attempt at a comeback, after suffering a stinging election defeat at the hands of Hamas in 2006.

 

Next week, Fatah will hold its first convention in 20 years, hoping to show that it has reformed itself, has shed its corruption-tainted image and makes an attractive alternative to Hamas.

 

Hamas, known for its keen sense of public opinion, pledged after its June 2007 takeover to refrain from imposing Islamic ways.

 

That is changing, says Khalil Abu Shammala, a human rights activist in Gaza.

 

"There are attempts to Islamize this society," he said. Hamas' denials "contradict what we see on the street."

 

The "virtue campaign" is being spread by the Religious Affairs Ministry in a list of do's and don'ts that feature on posters and in mosque sermons. It also calls for gender separation at wedding parties and tells teens to shun pop music with suggestive lyrics. "We have to encourage people to be virtuous and keep them away from sin," said Abdullah Abu Jarbou, the deputy religious affairs minister.

 

Another Gaza human rights activist, Hamdi Shakour, blamed the border blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas ousted the territory's Fatah rulers. He said isolation has bred "extremism and dark ideas."

 

Gaza maintains small islands of secularism. Foreigners are rarely harassed, and Gaza women in stylish clothes and hairdos, many of them Muslims, frequent a half-dozen upmarket cafes and restaurants.

 

But Abdel Raouf Halabi, Gaza's chief supreme court judge, this month ordered female lawyers to wear head scarves and dark robes or be barred from courtrooms when their work resumes Sept. 1. "We will not allow people to ruin morals," he explained.

 

Only about 10 of some 150 female lawyers are affected, reflecting how deeply Islamic values already prevail. One of the unscarved is Subhiya Juma, who said the ruling "is taking away our personal freedom."

 

Juma said she would not wear a head scarf and hoped a public outcry would pressure Hamas officials to withdraw the order.

 

In government schools, head scarves for female students are supposed to be optional. But one high school has made robes and head scarves a condition for enrollment. Teachers are now being asked to pressure the girls to put them on, said Education Ministry spokesman Khaled Radi.

 

Police are enforcing the restrictions on mannequins and salesmen say they ripped off the tags on packages of panties and bras which showed women in underwear.

 

Other shopkeepers said they were told to remove the mannequins' heads so they don't violate the Islamic ban on copying the human form.

 

Enforcement is spotty and seems restricted to working-class markets. Most traders said they moved the mannequins back after police left.

 

Lingerie seller Mohammed Helu, 23, hid his under-clad mannequins but was allowed to display an outfit of a plunging top and miniskirt with the mannequin's head covered by a plastic bag.

 

On a Gaza beach, Mohammed Amta, 18, said a plainclothes security man told him to put on a shirt, saying his appearance was un-Islamic, and to remove his two silver rings and woven bracelet because they were a sign of Western culture.

 

A lifeguard said he was told to wear an undershirt and knee-length shorts. "They said that's how Muslims should dress," he said. He declined to be named, fearing he would lose his Hamas-provided job.

 

Last month, three young men walking on the beach with a female friend said they were beaten by Hamas police, detained and ordered to sign statements promising not to engage in "immoral activities."

 

The Hamas government condemned the beatings. But it remained silent when a Hamas leader, Younis Astal, accused U.N.-run summer camps for tens of thousands of children of spreading drug use and encouraging "obscene behavior" for teaching swimming and folklore dance.

 

Abu Jarbou, the deputy minister, insisted that Hamas would move gradually and not impose its views by force. Still, Islamic law is coming, he said.

 

"In the future, it's inevitable it will be implemented," he said.

Gaza judge: Female lawyers must wear headscarf

Gaza judge: Female lawyers must wear headscarf

 

By DIAA HADID

The Associated Press

Sunday, July 26, 2009 7:20 AM

 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Gaza's top judge said Sunday that he has ordered female lawyers to wear Muslim headscarves when they appear in court, the latest sign that the Islamic militant group is increasingly imposing its strict interpretation of Islamic law on residents of the coastal strip.

 

Supreme Court chief justice Abdul-Raouf Halabi said female lawyers will be required to wear a headscarf and a long, dark colored cloak under their billowing black robes beginning September.

 

Halabi said his order was designed to ensure that women dress in accordance with Islamic law, which requires women to cover up in public, wearing loose garments and only showing their hands and faces.

 

"Showing a woman's hair is forbidden (in Islam)," the Hamas-appointed Halabi told The Associated Press. "We will not allow people to corrupt morals. This (dress code) will improve work in the courts."

 

Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007 and vowed never to impose its conservative values on others. But it has taken a series of steps in recent months that appear to be aimed at forcing residents to accept its Islamic-oriented social agenda.

 

Police have pressured store owners to cover scantily clad mannequins, and men relaxing on the beach have been ordered to cover up. One secondary girls' school has made wearing a Muslim headscarf and loose robe a mandatory uniform in the upcoming school year.

 

The Hamas government formally says it is not imposing Islamic law on the territory's 1.4 million residents. Instead, it says it is simply ensuring that residents behave in line with the territory's own conservative culture.

 

Most women already wear the headscarf, and life in the Mediterranean strip comes to a complete standstill on Fridays as men gather for communal prayers in mosques.

 

Subhiya Juma, a female lawyer, said the judge's decision would affect only 10 or so lawyers - since the vast majority of the 150 registered female lawyers already cover their hair.

 

Juma, who does not wear a headscarf, said the point wasn't the number of women, but that freedoms were being eroded.

 

"This is dangerous - it's a clear violation of the law, it is taking away our personal freedoms - and by whom? The very person who is meant to defend our freedoms," Juma said.

Hamas makes feature film about slain militant

Hamas makes feature film about slain militant

By DIAA HADID Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza movie premiere drew an exclusive crowd with local celebrities posing for jostling photographers — and that's pretty much where the similarities end between Hollywood and the fledgling film industry of Gaza's Hamas rulers.

The Islamic militants' first feature film — an action-packed homage to a top Hamas militant — cost only $200,000 to make and is being shown to segregated audiences of bearded men and veiled women.

"It's Hamaswood instead of Hollywood," Fathi Hamad, Gaza's Hamas interior minister, said after the film's first showing Friday evening at Gaza City's Islamic University. "We are trying to make quality art that is Islamic and about the resistance, without provocative (sexual) scenes."

Hamad doubled as producer, and the screenplay was penned by Mahmoud Zahar, the Gaza strongman seen as one of the architects of the group's violent takeover of Gaza two years ago.

Despite his fierce reputation, Zahar, a physician, has always has an artistic streak, with three novels and two screenplays to his credit.

The movie tells the story of Emad Akel, commander of the Hamas' military wing, who was killed in a firefight with Israeli troops in Gaza in 1993.

Akel, 23 at the time, was known as "the ghost" for his many disguises, including dressing up as a Jewish settler with a skullcap. In the early 1990s, he topped Israel's wanted list for his suspected role in killing 11 Israeli soldiers, an Israeli civilian and four Palestinian informers in a series of attacks.

In the two-hour movie, titled "Emad Akel," there's plenty of action. The hero frequently leaps out of cars to open fire on Israeli soldiers, prompting bursts of applause from the audience each time. There's no romance, however, and the female actors all wear long robes and headscarves.

The actors playing the Israeli characters — soldiers, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his army chief of staff at the time, Ehud Barak — speak in Hebrew with a heavy Arabic accent, and their dialogue is translated in Arabic subtitles.

Rabin frequently yells at an inept Barak — now Israel's defense minister — who can't stop Hamas fighters. Israeli soldiers always seem asleep. Sleazy Israeli handlers try to persuade Palestinians to collaborate by offering them women and alcohol.

The cast is made up of amateur actorsall from Gazaincluding 57-year-old carpenter Mohammed Abu Rous, who portrays Rabin, assassinated in 1995 by an ultranationalist Jew. "I wanted to serve my country just like Rabin served the Jews," said Abu Rous, who oddly resembles the Israeli leader.

The movie was shot over 10 months on a production lot that Hamas hopes will one day grow into a $200 million media city. As part of its media empire, Hamas already operates a Gaza-based satellite television station, a radio station and a dozen news Web sites. Two daily newspapers are linked to Hamas, and the group produces a Hamas newsletter and an occasional glossy for its militant wing.

Still, Gaza's isolation — its borders have been virtually sealed by Israel and Egypt since the Hamas takeover — are putting a damper on the nascent local film industry.

Hamad and Zahar want to make their next movie about Palestinian fighter Izzedine al-Qassam, after whom their military wing is named. But they can't film on location, the Israeli city of Haifa where their hero lived in the 1920s.

Gaza doesn't have movie houses, and "Emad Akel" will be screened at a cultural center. Gaza's cinemas were closed down in the late 1980s, with the outbreak of the first uprising against Israeli occupation. Activists across the Palestinian territories felt entertainment was inappropriate at a time of struggle.

But in a stark sign of the divergent paths being taken by the two separate territories the Palestinians want for a state, movie houses are reopening in the West Bank, where Hamas' more secular rival, Fatah, holds sway.

A poster in the West Bank city of Nablus shows Lebanese star Haifa Wehbe in an alluring red dress emphasizing her curvy figure in a new Egyptian movie — a sharp contrast to the stern face of Emad Akel in Gaza that peers down from billboards clutching an assault-rifle with Israeli soldiers running in the background.

At Friday's invitation-only screening, the real stars were Zahar, Hamad and Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh. They chatted with the actors and posed for photographs.

Zahar said making movies is just another way for Palestinians to fight Israeli rule.

"Resistance can be a word, a poem," he said.

_____

Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak contributed to this report from Gaza City

Anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jews visit Gaza

Anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jews visit Gaza

 

By DIAA HADID

The Associated Press

Thursday, July 16, 2009 3:39 PM

 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Representatives of an anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect paid a brief visit to the Gaza Strip on Thursday on a solidarity mission with the area's militantly anti-Israel Hamas leaders.

 

It was the first time envoys from the Neturei Karta have visited the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in June 2007.

 

The sect denounces Israel's existence and traditionally embraces its enemies - including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom Neturei Karta members famously hugged at a Holocaust denial conference in December 2006.

 

Four sect representatives from the U.S. sat down with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday, after crossing into the territory through Egypt the night before with dozens of other pro-Palestinian activists. Israel, which maintains a strict blockade of Gaza, would not let them cross through its passages with the territory.

 

"We feel your suffering, we cry your cry," said Rabbi Yisroel Weiss upon arriving Wednesday night. "It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity," said Weiss, wearing the black hat, black coat and long side-curls typical of ultra-Orthodox Jews. His delegation left early Thursday.

 

Hamas seeks the destruction of the state of Israel and has killed more than 250 Israelis in suicide bombings. Israel, along with the U.S. and European Union, considers Hamas a terrorist group.

 

During their Thursday meeting, Haniyeh told them he held no grudge against Jews, but against the state of Israel, according to a Hamas web site.

 

Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "Guardians of the City," was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem by Jews who opposed the drive to establish the state of Israel, believing only the Messiah could do that. Estimates of the group's size range from a few hundred to a few thousand.

 

Representatives of the sect had previously visited Gaza when it was ruled by Fatah, Hamas' more secular rival.

 

One acted as Yasser Arafat's adviser on Jewish affairs, and a delegation traveled to Paris in 2004 to pray for the Palestinian leader's health as he lay dying in a hospital. Months later, a group participated in a conference in Lebanon with Hamas and Hezbollah militants.

Police: Religious Jews stabbed in Jerusalem fight

Police: Religious Jews stabbed in Jerusalem fight

 

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

 

JERUSALEM - Two religious Jews were stabbed and another beaten in a Saturday altercation with secular Jewish residents of Jerusalem, said a police spokesman, in an incident that could worsen already tense relations between the city's residents.

 

The three men were moderately wounded and hospitalized in the dawn incident which took place in a conservative Jerusalem neighborhood, said spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby.

 

The police spokesman said the wounded told police that they were attacked by secular Jews but said he would have no further details until the men could be interviewed again on Saturday evening at the conclusion of the Jewish Sabbath.

 

Already tense relations between Jerusalem's religious and secular Jews have worsened since the municipality opened a parking lot on the Jewish Sabbath when religious Jews believes it violates their faith to drive vehicles.

 

Jerusalem's mayor opened the facility to ease illegal parking in the city's ancient walled quarter. But opening the parking lot has prompted weekly demonstrations by ultra-orthodox protesters offended by what they see as the municipality violating the biblical command to rest on the Sabbath.

 

Another protest is expected Saturday evening.

 

For years there's been simmering resentment as the city has become increasingly dominated by deeply conservative Jews, and thousands of secular residents leave every year.

 

Secular residents say that their religious counterparts are trying to impose their beliefs in Jerusalem. They turned out in droves last November to elect a secular mayor, Nir Barkat, defeating his challenger from Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community.

Hamas tries to detain woman walking with man

Hamas tries to detain woman walking with man

 

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM — An attempt by Hamas police to detain a young woman walking with a man along the Gaza beach has raised alarms that the Islamic militant group is seeking to match its political control of the coastal territory with a strict enforcement of Islamic law.

The incident was the first time Hamas has openly tried to punish a woman for behaving in a way it views as un-Islamic since seizing power two years ago. But it follows months of quiet pressure on Gaza's overwhelmingly conservative 1.4 million residents to abide by its strict religious mores.

Hamas officials in Gaza have publicly urged shopkeepers to take down foreign advertisements showing the shape of women's bodies and to stash away lingerie often displayed in windows. Officials search electronic shops to check if they are selling pornography on tiny flash drives.

"There's an open, public program to preserve public morals in Gaza," said local rights activist Isam Younis. "In reality that means trying to restrict freedoms."

Hamas denies any crackdown is under way. Since taking power, it has said it would only try to lead by example and not impose its views on anyone.

However, the group has taken no public action against small, shadowy groups that have attacked perceived hotbeds of Western immorality, such as the hairdressers and Internet cafes, fueling criticism that it has not been tough enough on hardline Muslim groups.

Freelance journalist Asma al-Ghoul says a group of Hamas police sent a clear message that certain behavior would not be tolerated when she went to the beach one evening in late June.

Al-Ghoul, 26, said she was spending time with a group of friends - two women and three men - on the northern Gaza shore.

Al-Ghoul is fairly exceptional in Gaza because she does not wear a Muslim headscarf. On that evening she wore jeans and a T-shirt - dress that is considered fairly provocative in Gaza's conservative society and which could have easily attracted the attention of the plain-clothed Hamas vice police who patrol the beaches.

Al-Ghoul swam, fully dressed, with a girlfriend, and then asked a male friend to walk her over to a nearby beach house rented by another couple she knew to shower and change.

Three policemen showed up and waited for al-Ghoul in the beach house garden, said an eyewitness who asked to remain anonymous because of security concerns. They took her identity card and demanded she accompany them to a nearby station - an order she refused.

The eyewitness said the police did not say why they wanted to detain al-Ghoul, but were insinuating that her behavior was unbecoming. Under Hamas' strict interpretation of Islamic law, a woman should not go out in public with men who are not related to her.

The police eventually returned al-Ghoul's identity card after the homeowner contacted a senior Hamas official who intervened and spoke to the officers by telephone. The official, Taher Nunu, was not available for comment on Tuesday.

However, al-Ghoul said her male friends were subsequently beaten by Hamas police, detained for several hours and asked to sign statements saying they would not "violate public moral standards again," she said.

Al-Ghoul said she mostly felt angry that the police made her feel like she had done something wrong.

"I'm not provocative and my dress isn't provocative, and I'm not scandalous either," she said.

Her story only became public after rights groups published excerpts on their Web sites. Her version of events was confirmed by two other witnesses, including Adham Khalil, one of the men who was detained. Khalil said he was beaten.

Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan denied the incident took place but said Gaza residents "must preserve our customs and Islamic traditions."

 

Officials: Israeli sub crosses Suez Canal

Officials: Israeli sub crosses Suez Canal

 

JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli submarine crossed through the Suez Canal last month as a part of a military training exercise, defense officials said Saturday.

The move is believed to have been made as a warning to Iran of the Jewish state's capabilities and and to show that Israel and Egypt, are cooperating against a shared threat.

 

The two countries share a peace agreement but have had cool relations for years.

By using the Suez, an Israeli submarine could reach the Persian Gulf off Iran in a matter of days, compared wiith weeks to sail around the southern tip of Africa.

The submarine participated in naval maneuvers in the Red Sea last month, said Israeli defense officials who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. They did not giive further details.

Israel owns three dolphin-grade submarines, which can carry nuclear warheads. Israeli defense officials do not discuss the type of missiles that can be fired from the submarines, nor their range.

Israeli officials have a long-standing policy of neither confirming nor denying its nuclear arsenal and would not comment Saturday. It is believed, however, to have the world's sixth-largest stockpile of atomic arms, including hundreds of warheads.

The maneuvers took place before the Iranian presidential election that set off a wave of protest demonstrations.

Israeli officials believe that Iran intends to acquire the ability to build nuclear weapons regardless of who leads the country.

Iran is under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment program _ an activity that Tehran insists is meant to generate nuclear fuel but which can also be used to produce fissile material for nuclear warheads.

Iran's nuclear program is particularly worrying for Israel because of Tehran's belligerent stance toward the Jewish state. Egypt also has tense relations with Iran which it believes is trying to spread its radical brand of militant Islam through the region.

The Jerusalem Post reported this was the first time Israeli vessels had crossed the Egyptian canal since 2005.

Egypt's relations with Iran worsened after Egyptian officials arrested members of the Lebanese Shiite guerrilla group Hezbollah in Egypt, accusing them of operating in its territory. Hezbollah is bankrolled by Iran, and Egypt accuses it of being a proxy to obtain Mideast regional influence.

Animated film tells of Gaza woman's cancer battle

In this still image made from an animated film and made available by Dar film Productions shows a scene from the Palestinian-produced 'Fatenah' animated movie. The 30-minute movie "Fatenah" is the first serious Palestinian attempt at animation and tells the story of a Gazan woman who battles against breast cancer, with inept Palestinian doctors and indifferent Israeli soldiers. The filmmakers said they used animation to make their grim subject more appealing.(AP Photo) (AP)

 

Animated film tells of Gaza woman's cancer battle

 

By DIAA HADID

The Associated Press

Wednesday, July 1, 2009 5:52 AM

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Her back to the camera, a Gaza woman ashamedly unbuttons her dress before a female Israeli soldier, revealing that her breasts were removed in a failed attempt to halt cancer.

 

In this climactic scene in "Fatenah" - the first serious Palestinian attempt at animation - the heroine flunks the security check and isn't allowed to enter Israel for treatment.

 

The 30-minute film is inspired by the story of a Gazan woman whose battle against breast cancer included fighting inept Palestinian doctors and indifferent Israeli soldiers, documented in a report by the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights after she died in 2004.

 

Filmmakers said they used animation to make their grim subject more appealing - weaving a Mideast tale whose characters crisscross the Arab-Jewish divide. An Israeli human rights activist becomes Fatenah's close friend and a love story between Fatenah and a Gazan man threads the story together. The film turns the territory into harshly colored scenes: an Israeli checkpoint, crowded buildings and the sea.

 

"Fatenah" opens Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

 

It is the first animated film for commercial release made in the Palestinian territories, on a budget of $60,000 from the World Health Organization. Producers are sending it to film festivals abroad.

 

The film highlights the strides of Palestinian filmmakers, who have made six feature-length movies in the past two years - despite no local funding, few experienced professionals and Israel's closure system that prevents Palestinians from moving between the West Bank and Gaza, and which restricts entry to Israel.

 

Director Ahmad Habash, a West Bank resident, couldn't see most of the scenes he needed to create for the film. He paid a Gazan photographer to snap pictures of the coastal territory. For Israeli hospital scenes, Habash used photos from a Web site.

 

"I wished I could have gone there (to Gaza and Israel)," Habash said. "I think I would have sketched the characters better."

 

While Palestinian films range from intense realism to oddball surrealism, most highlight life under Israel's occupation, and "Fatenah" is no different.

 

Producer Saed Andoni said he hoped to humanize the struggle of Gazans seeking medical care.

 

The gravely ill must seek treatment abroad because doctors in Gaza's ramshackle, poorly equipped hospitals cannot treat serious diseases. But it can take weeks for Palestinian bureaucrats to organize referrals and for Israel and Egypt to approve or deny entry.

 

Gazans are isolated from the world by years of prolonged closure that was tightened to a blockade after Hamas militants seized power in June 2007. Supplies are scarce and some critically ill residents are left to die in Gaza.

 

In early 2004, the 28-year-old woman who inspired "Fatenah" felt a lump in her breast but Palestinian doctors dismissed her concerns. One doctor told her having children would cure her lump, but the cancer quickly spread and she had to undergo a double mastectomy.

 

Israeli activists had to lobby courts to let the woman enter Israel, because she did not have a valid ID - Israeli officials had halted procedures for Palestinians to obtain them at the time. She often missed appointments because soldiers wouldn't let her cross into Israel.

 

The climactic scene in "Fatenah," where a female Israeli soldier demands she disrobe for a security check occurred in September 2004, according to the Physicians for Human Rights report.

 

Weakened by cancer, the Gazan woman lay on the floor because there were no chairs in the border crossing at the time, the report said. She opened her long Muslim robe to reveal a T-shirt and stuffed bra to disguise her mastectomy, but was sent back to Gaza.

 

It wasn't clear why she failed the security check, the report's author said. The Israeli military said it would look into the report's description.

 

The conservative Gazan father of Fatenah's real life inspiration said he only learned of the film after reporters contacted them.

 

He unsuccessfully asked filmmakers to cut a brief, dimly lit scene showing her breasts, fearing damage to his daughter's reputation, even years after her death. The father, who requested anonymity, also expressed concern about Fatenah's innocent romance portrayed in the film.

 

In real life, the Gazan woman hoped to marry her university sweetheart but told a reporter in 2004 that she didn't expect to live long enough to marry. The family and filmmakers were not aware of the Gazan woman's real-life relationship.

 

Habash said he didn't feel he had to tell the family about the screenplay because the film - while inspired by the Gaza woman's ordeal - was a fictionalized account. "We made a love story. It's sensitive," Habash acknowledged. "But it also allows Fatenah to be a story about a lack of access to health."