Gaza Telecom Company Forced to Block "Profane" Web Sites – Paper

Hamas does not eschew even extreme measures to enforce Islamic law in the Gaza Strip: The Hamas government has announced the total obstruction of pornographic web sites on the Internet “to protect moral values.” Hamas has tried to present the move as having been coordinated with the Palestinian telecommunication company but in effect the censorship was imposed by force and under threats. “We will know how to deal with every commercial company that chooses to ignore our policy,” senior Hamas personalities have warned.

The decision to block the Internet web sites that fall under the category of “profane web sites” was officially made on the evening of 13 May. The Communication and Information Technology Ministry in the Hamas government, situated in Gaza, issued a laconic announcement on the agreement that had been signed with Paltel, the Palestinian Telecommunication Company, which controls the Palestinian telecommunication market, saying: “The agreement includes several clauses, the most important of which is that abominable web sites on the Internet would be blocked,” states the official announcement by the Hamas government. The implementation of the decision began yesterday [17 May] and will remain in force until further notice. The technical adjustments that would enable blocking the web sites are being carried out these days.

The move was spearheaded by Yusuf al-Mansi, the minister of communication and information technology in the Hamas government, who regarded the mission as his personal task. “Our goal is to protect society and the future of our children against this danger, which lurks in every house and affects the moral and cultural aspects of society,” was how Minister al-Mansi described the matter to a Hamas newspaper in the past. A senior official in his ministry added: “We must protect the younger generation against these destructive web sites. The law authorizes us to do so.”

However, in contrast with Hamas’s claims, the closure of the web sites was not done through coordination with Paltel but against its will. “We have no information about this whatsoever,” one of the Ramallah-based company’s senior officials told Ma’ariv. “We did not sign any agreement. As far as we are concerned, there is only one Communications and Information Technology Ministry; it is located in Ramallah and is part of Salam Fayyad’s government.”Palestinian security sources have reported that the decision to block web sites was forced upon Paltel’s representatives in the Gaza Strip. “The Hamas government arrested senior directors in Gaza and threatened them so as to force them to cooperate,” a defence source in Ramallah has reported. Hamas has furthermore issued four arrest warrants against additional managers but the decision has been frozen following the capitulation of the directorate in the Gaza Strip, which had not obtained the approval of the main headquarters in Ramallah.

Paltel, a private company traded on the Palestinian stock exchange, is a fixed and cellular phone monopoly. The company’s main offices are located in Ramallah but it has a large representation also in the Gaza Strip. From the moment Hamas won the elections and set up a government, it has tried to gain a foothold in the telecommunication company. That trend increased after the violent Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Contacts vis-a-vis Paltel went on for many months, but at a certain point, Hamas understood that the commercial company had no intention of imposing censorship on the Internet. From that moment onward, the Hamas government began to spread concealed threats openly and apparently also transmitted blatant threats in a more discreet manner.

“We place the entire national and moral responsibility on Paltel’s shoulders,” warned Minister al-Mansi. “It will be held responsible for anything that happens to it as a result of its non- compliance.” On another occasion, he announced: “We will take all the necessary measures to force the telecommunication company to obey our decisions.” Minister Yusuf al-Mansi has denied that his government had used threats to pass the decision and argued that the accord was reached through an understanding with the management of Paltel in Ramallah and Gaza. “This involves the blocking of [sentence incomplete as published]

Originally published by NRG Ma’ariv website, Tel Aviv, in Hebrew 18 May 08.
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