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Five men face arrest and fines if they carry on styling women's hair in crackdown blamed on Hamas

Hatem Ghoul's Gaza hair salon, from which he has been banned from working. Photograph: Harriet Sherwood for the Guardian

Hatem Ghoul was on his way to work at his hairdressing salon in GazaCity earlier this week when he got word that his employees had been paid a visit by the police.

They had left a message for Ghoul: could he drop by the police station; there was something they wanted to discuss. And, it turned out, not just him. The other four male hairdressers in the city had similar requests.

Ghoul had been expecting this for almost a year, since reports thatHamas was cracking down on men cutting and styling women's hair. But Ghoul and his male colleagues in Gaza City continued to work, and no one stopped them.

This week he was left in no doubt. One by one, he told me, the men were called into a room where an unrelated detainee was chained to a wall by his wrists, and told to sign a pledge to give up their profession or face arrest and a 20,000 shekel (£3,400) fine.

"I said I didn't want to sign. They said, okay but we will take you to the cells because what you do is against Sharia [Islamic law]. Then I realised I had no choice."

Now the man who for several years tended to the locks of Suha Arafat, the wife of the late Palestinian president, is wondering how to pay his bills and feed his wife and child. His salon, Coiffure Hatem, is still open but clients are already drifting away as they realise their favourite stylist is no longer available.

It was not the first time Ghoul has run up against the disapproval of Islamists. His salon was fire-bombed twice, in 2007 and 2008, each time incurring about $6,000 worth of repairs.

Hatem Ghoul, Gaza hairdresser

"This is part of a plan to Islamise our community," he said while playing with his baby daughter in his flat near Gaza City's seafront. It was not just male hairdressers; Ghoul also pointed to a ban on women smoking nargile (shisha pipes) and an attempt to force women lawyers to wear headscarves. There have also been raids on mixed music and dancing evenings, a ban on women riding pillion on motorbikes and moves to prevent men working in lingerie shops.

None of these have been enacted in law. Rather they are capricious measures by the Hamas police intended, many people believe, to create a climate of intimidation and self-censure.

"If this was a responsible government they would consult us and compensate us," said Ghoul. "Instead they are disabling us. It is not extremist for me to do my job, it is extremist for them to stop me."

His salon has separate sections for veiled and unveiled women. Business has declined since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, 18 months after the Islamist party won elections.

Often on Fridays, there was barely a seat in the salon, he said. "Now sometimes we close because there are no customers.

"There are sick mentalities here - people imagining that wherever there are men and women together the outcome will be immoral. Since I have been doing this work" - for 17 years - "I have never faced any moral problems.

"We don't force anyone to come to us. We are professional, and as male hairdressers we have to be very careful."

What were his plans for the future? "I have a plan to leave Gaza," he replied. "If they want an Islamic state, I can choose whether to stay or leave."

That, of course, is easier said than done in Gaza, where departure requires permission from both Hamas and either Israel or Egypt. It is almost impossible for Gazans to leave via Israel, and the border with Egypt closed when the uprising there began. This week, it re-opened for limited numbers, mainly those needing urgent medical treatment.

Coiffure Hatem, Ghoul's hair salon in Gaza City

Ghoul dreams of taking his family to Europe. "I want to go somewhere that respects freedom. Nowhere in the Arab world does that. I'm sad to say that, but it's the truth."

A supporter of Fatah, the dominant party in the West Bank and Hamas's bitter rivals, Ghoul directs his anger at the rulers of Gaza.

"It's strange for Hamas to concentrate on this and not more important issues like unemployment, drug smugglers, collaborators with Israel. Hamas is not standing with the people."

Another of the targeted hairdressers, Mohammed Beltaji, the owner of the Fair Lady salon, told me: "I am nor forcing women to come to me. What is the difference between a male hairdresser and a male doctor or dentist?"

No one had given him a reason for the ban, he said, but "this is a conservative community. That's why it's happening."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/feb/23/gaza-hamas