According to Gaza’s Central Police Office, nearly 45 Internet cafes have been bombed since December 1, 2006. This has largely escaped the radar of western media due to the intense fighting between factions from Hamas and Fatah for control of Palestine.
A group calling themselves the Swords of Islamic Righteousness has claimed responsibility for the attacks. In a leaflet distributed to Al-Azhar University in February, the group said it attacked internet cafes “which are trying to make a whole generation preoccupied with matters other than jihad and worship.” Additionally, the group claimed to have blown up someone’s car for having been playing their music too loudly, and for firebombing pharmacies it accuses of peddling narcotics and recreational drugs.
Having no access to an airport or seaport without venturing across borders into another country, the internet is the only outlet to the world for about 1.4 million residents of the Gaza Strip.
“Gaza society tends toward conservatism, and some people are suspicious of the Internet, but the attacks on Internet cafes come in the context of general chaos,” said Isam Younis, director of Gaza’s independent Al-Mizan Center for Human Rights. “Simply, there’s an absence of law.”
While it is a sad and tragic act that people in Gaza are trying to prevent the advancement of their society, it provides some valuable insight into the thinking of Islamic extremists. Incidents like this should be it strikingly obvious to US government officials that no matter what you try, you cannot succeed in forcing your morals and values on another country (especially a Muslim country), whether by economic, political or even military means.