Rise of Islamism creates uncertainty over shape of society t

AS HAMAS supporters were celebrating the Islamic group's shock election victory in Ramallah last Thursday, a heavily bearded young man stepped into one of the city's numerous trendy cafes where alcohol is served. "You have two days," he told the patrons menacingly, then stepped back into the crowd.

Such stories have spread in the days since the Islamic Resistance Movement — to give it its English name — won 74 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, raising the prospect that Palestinians might henceforth be subjected to sharia, or Islamic law.

As one of the dark jokes now sweeping Ramallah has it: "Drink like it's going out of fashion — it is."

One newly elected Hamas MP has already reportedly called for a new law to oblige all Palestinian women to wear headscarves and to make obligatory the already widespread segregation of boys and girls in schools.

Several senior leaders, including politburo member Mahmoud Ramahi, have talked about making sharia the source of all future legislation, stoking fears among secular and non-Muslim Palestinians that their freedoms will soon be eroded.

"I have very mixed feelings about Hamas' success," said Nahed Awad, 33, a Muslim filmmaker who does not wear hijab.

Like much of the Arab world, Palestinian towns and cities have witnessed a gradual upsurge in conservative Islamic practice in recent years. Disillusioned by the failure of the once dominant secular Arab nationalist movements to deliver freedom and prosperity — one of these, Fatah, was trounced by Hamas last week — many Arabs have sought comfort in traditional beliefs.

The hijab, uncommon in many Palestinian cities 30 years ago, is now the rule rather than the exception. Conservative disapproval and a previous wave of Hamas intimidation shut down cinemas and bars across much of the West Bank and all of Gaza. The latter, a Hamas bastion, has been 100 per cent alcohol free since anonymous gunmen — thought to be religious Fatah members — blew up a UN expatriate social club last year.

Yet Hamas strongly denies that it has any plans to alter the present social status quo, or to force people to adopt Islamic lifestyles or beliefs.

"We will not intervene in any aspect of Palestinian life … except to convince people in a polite way," said Mr Ramahi, one of the new Hamas MPs. "We are making efforts so that the sharia will be the source of legislation, but in order to implement Islamic rule, this needs a state. When we get a state, we will leave it to people to choose."

There are mixed omens from several municipalities that Hamas took over in local elections last year.

In Qalqilya, it banned an outdoor music festival last summer because it said such "Westernised" events promoted the mixing of men and women — but it then failed to take either of the two parliamentary seats there last week.

In Bethlehem it has done nothing to hinder the sale of alcohol in bars and hotels or to alarm the city's substantial Christian minority.

As for Gaza, local Christians say they are not worried about the possible introduction of Islamic law. "Here we are already used to it," joked an official at the ancient Greek Orthodox church of St Porphyrios.