PA, Israel team up to fight mixed marriage

[ProgressiveMuslim]

Published Thursday 25/03/2010 (updated) 27/03/2010 10:25



Bethlehem – Ma'an – It wasn't the first time Israelis and Palestinians joined together in an attempt to break up a Jewish-Muslim couple, only the most recent. Years after authorities ended a similar relationship in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, they're at it again.

First it was phone calls from the woman's "family." "Hello, we represent Sima's family and we come in the name of … organization. We ask you to return the girl to her parents." "Hello, we represent Sima's father. He came to us as a clan and we demand that you return the girl." "Hello, I'm Rabbi ... . Tell your husband that we are ready to pay him half a million shekels if he returns you to your parents."

These were just a fraction of the phone calls that continued as the weeks and months went on since Muhammad Hamamra, from the Husan village west of Bethlehem, fell in love with a Jewish woman, Sima, from the neighboring settlement. Muhammad worked as a contractor in one of the Israeli houses there, and their relationship lasted four years before the two were recently married.

Then the Palestinian Authority got involved. "We're sorry Hamamra, the Islamic juridical court can't validate your Israeli marriage contract. We need the governor's approval." "The governorate can't grant you an approval; we need a decision from the security services." "Hello, you've been placed in this cell for four days because you're suspected of involvement in a criminal case."

Muhammad's psychological condition is poor; he seems distraught. His Jewish employer, at a gas station owned by Israeli settlers, fired him just for marrying one of his own, and after 10 years of loyal service. Israeli border police, meanwhile, have detained Muhammad and raided his home on more than one occasion.

They have also taken Sima more than once, bringing her before religious authorities in Israel to compel her to return, but she has refused. According to Israeli authorities, Sima was supposed to have wed a Jewish seminary student, and remains obligated to return to Israel....

read on...
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271564

[3waygeek]

1. So you're saying that

Jews & Muslims are in favor of same-sects marriage?

[Kolesar]

2. What would the parents in a mixed Norwegian-Palestinian marriage name their child?

Yassir Youbetcha

[azurnoir]

6. only if they were from NoDak

;-)

[etherealtruth]

3. How very sad

Very sad for the couple and very sad for the society that could only benefit from love and understanding that could come from the union ... heaven forbid .... they could have children that love and respect both groups .... and then other's could follow .... sadly, this could lead to peaceful coexistence :sarcasm:

[Donald Ian Rankin]

4. At last, something they can agree on... N.T.

[IndianaGreen]

5. Romeo and Juliet will be stoned to death!

Religion! How it dominates man's mind, how it humiliates and degrades his soul. God is everything, man is nothing, says religion. But out of that nothing God has created a kingdom so despotic, so tyrannical, so cruel, so terribly exacting that naught but gloom and tears and blood have ruled the world since gods began.

--Emma Goldman (1910)

[azurnoir]

7. proof that it's not just great minds

that think alike

[LeftishBrit]

8. At least they can get together on something: just sad that it is the reinforcement of segregation

Mixed marriages and mixed-culture children might actually bring the possibility of an end to the wars - and we can't have that, can we?

[Violet_Crumble]

9. That's the reason the emphasis on Jew/Arab bothers me so much....

In that region it does appear that whether someone's Jewish or Arab is of more importance than anything else, including nationality. I find it revolting that there are still people around who embrace racism* and hope that this sort of mindset will become a ugly thing of the past...

* Just to pre-empt the forum pedants who tend to focus on one word and ignore everything else. Racism, bigotry, discrimination, hatred of those who are different - these are all acceptable terms for a very ugly thing. Feel free to add other words to describe that sort of ugliness if you feel that way inclined :)

[pelsar]

10. come on..guys....proof the PA and Israel can work together.....

ok so its just to re enforce racial segregation, emphasize the differences between the two people, keep idealistic kids from crossing over...., we have here a prime example of the glass being half full.

here we have a great example of just how similar the extremists are....and to the point where they can work together!!!

if they keep this up, we'll have the settlers and hamasnikm and friends holding hands, singing "we are the world"
______


ok so im being a bit sarcastic...