It appears the only safe place in the Middle East for Palestinian lesbians to hold a conference is, um, Israel.
And they’re getting flack for it from the leaders of Israel’s Islamic Movement.
Last week, the movement’s heads, MKs Ibrahim Sarsur and Abas Zkoor (United Arab List-Ta’al) published a statement calling on “all respectable people from all communities and streams to stand up against preaching sexual deviance among our women and girls.”
The Haifa-based Asawat, a Palestinian gay women’s organization, most of whose 85 members hail from Israel and the territories, has called the March 28 conference to mark its five-year anniversary.
The Islamic Movement found common ground with ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups last year in opposing a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.
Haaretz reports:
The Arabic-language newspaper affiliated with Hadash [the Israeli Communist movement], Al Ittihad, last week published a harsh critique of the Islamic Movement’s stand.
I don’t usually have much complimentary to say about Hadash, but good for them.
