Tobacco.org

• Rising tobacco prices cause stir in West Bank  

Mustafa Jum'a, who runs a coffee shop in Ramallah in the West Bank, began to worry about his business as the prices for hookah smoke rise due to an extra tariff imposed on tobacco.

Israeli authorities suddenly raised import tariffs on tobacco, a move the Palestinians have to follow because of the Paris Economic Protocol signed with Israel in 1994, which states the two must have bond import tariffs in the light with the unified customs framework.

The rise has caused a reduction of customers, said Jum'a, adding most of his customers are public employees that used to come to the coffee shop twice or three times a day. "(They) now come here only once, if not every other day," he said.

The hookah price in Jum'a's coffee shop has risen from seven shekels (around 1.8 U.S. dollars) to 12 shekels (3.4 dollars). He made money when hookah smokers order tea, coffee or other drink, so now he makes less profit due to the reduction of customers.

Head of the tobacco customs department in the Ministry of Finance Bandi Dahdah said the new customs tariff requires the payment of 279 shekels (73 dollars) per kilogram, compared with the previous 50 shekels (13 dollars). Since the best tobaccos are imported from Egypt and Bahrain, almost all hookah smokers are affected by the new regulation.

Local tobaccos, mainly produced in the north of the West Bank, are unsuccessful in competing with these Arab blends.

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• Rising Tobacco Prices Cause Stir in West Bank 

Israeli authorities suddenly raised import tariffs on tobacco, a move the Palestinians have to follow because of the Paris Economic Protocol signed with Israel in 1994, which states the two must have bond import tariffs in the light with the unified customs framework.

The rise has caused a reduction of customers, said Jum'a, adding most of his customers are public employees that used to come to the coffee shop twice or three times a day. "(They) now come here only once, if not every other day," he said.

The hookah price in Jum'a's coffee shop has risen from seven shekels (around 1.8 U.S. dollars) to 12 shekels (3.4 dollars). He made money when hookah smokers order tea, coffee or other drink, so now he makes less profit due to the reduction of customers.

Head of the tobacco customs department in the Ministry of Finance Bandi Dahdah said the new customs tariff requires the payment of 279 shekels (73 dollars) per kilogram, compared with the previous 50 shekels (13 dollars). Since the best tobaccos are imported from Egypt and Bahrain, almost all hookah smokers are affected by the new regulation.

Local tobaccos, mainly produced in the north of the West Bank, are unsuccessful in competing with these Arab blends.

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El KHOUDARY: The real situation facing women in Gaza 

A year after the Hamas government imposed a law banning women from smoking argeelah in public places in Gaza, international media agencies still raise the issue when they cover the situation of women, even though the law was cancelled. Today, news about banning male hairdressers from working in Gaza by Hamas still hits the headlines, even though the issue is restricted to the hairdressers themselves and their numbered customers, not the whole female population of the Gaza Strip.

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• Smoking Down in Palestinian Areas in 2010, PCBS 

Data by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), on smoking practice in the Palestinian Territory found out that there was a decrease in the number of smokers during 2010.

Marking the occasion of the World No Tobacco Day, the PCBS said that available data about smoking practices showed that 22.5% of people over 18 years are reported as smokers; 26.9% in the West Bank and 14.6% in Gaza Strip.

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• Women in Gaza still managing to sometimes sneak a shisha 

GAZA CITY: When the Hamas administration in Gaza imposed restrictions on shisha (water pipe) several months ago, it wasn't for health reasons - even though the habit is pervasive in the densely populated strip of land.

Rather, the ban targeted only women, and it is being widely ignored despite the firm grip of the conservative Muslim administration.

Mahmoud Hashem al-Khuzondar, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Gaza City, can attest to the popularity of smoking in Gaza.

"About 70 percent of young adults smoke cigarettes,' he said. "Some of them smoke shisha and most mix between them and other types. Many factors [contribute to] this high rate of smoking - the low income of people, high unemployment, the long Israeli siege … with all this bad news, people smoke to improve their mood and forget what's happening."

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• Woman arrested for smoking pipe in Gaza hotel restaurant 

A Gaza hotel restaurant was closed on Wednesday after a woman was caught on the premises smoking a hookah pipe.

Hamas Islamists who run the Gaza Strip are now enforcing a ban they imposed in July, banning women smoking the traditional tobacco pipes in public.

The hotel owner said he had been annoyed by the encounter as the Hamas police acted as if the woman was committing a crime.

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VIDEO: Gaza women defy Hamas shisha ban 

On Sunday, plain-clothes agents patrolled beachside cafés enforcing the edict.

However, some Gazan women are still smoking.

The BBC's Hamada Abu Qamar met Jihad, a veiled woman in her twenties, who was enjoying her shisha at sunset.

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• Hamas: Hookah Smoking Ban Only Targets Women on Beach 

A Hamas Interior Ministry official has clarified a new prohibition on women smoking flavored tobacco through a water pipe. An AOL News story on July 16, citing proprietors in Gaza City, reported that Hamas officials had informed them that shisha smoking by women was banned in restaurants across the Gaza Strip.

The ban is "just on the beach," ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein said. "All the other places it's not a problem, just the beach is forbidden."

Why the beach?

"We received many complaints from families about their children seeing some women smoking," he said. "It's a social tradition for us. So after we received the complaints, we said they should stop that. If they want that, they should go to some closed places or cafeterias."

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MOYNIHAN: The Rough Guide to Gaza City 

it would be unfair to compare the fun-destroying Bloombergians with Hamas—I wouldn’t dare—but, seeing the success of smoking bans across the United States and Europe, the coup-mongers in Gaza City have cracked down on the smoking of shisha in public. From The New York Times:

A spokesman for the Hamas police, Ayman al-Batniji, said that the ban applied only to women and that it was in line with “the Palestinian people’s customs and traditions.” But many cafe owners said they had been ordered to ban water pipes for both men and women.

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• Gaza women fume over Hamas' water-pipe ban  

There are few pleasures left for Gaza's 1.5 million people, squeezed by both a blockade and Hamas efforts to impose its strict Muslim lifestyle. And women here just lost another one.

Gaza's Hamas rulers have banned women from smoking water pipes in cafes, sending plainclothes agents through popular beachside spots Sunday to enforce the edict. Some women in the Palestinian territory are grumbling.

"This is silly," said Haya Ahmed, a 29-year-old accountant who said she has smoked water pipes for 10 years. "We are not smoking in the streets but in restaurants, where only a few people can enter."

She predicted the ban would actually make water pipes more tempting for rebellious young women. "Everything forbidden becomes desirable. The decision will lead to more smokers," Ahmed said. . . .

Ghussein, the Interior Ministry spokesman, denied claims they were trying to coerce Gazans into adopting a strictly Islamic lifestyle.

"If we wanted to make Gaza like the Taleban, then we could have done that very easily," Ghussein said.

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Hamas bans women from smoking water pipes in Gaza  

Gaza's Hamas rulers are banning women from smoking water pipes (nargilas) in cafes, claiming it violates tradition and leads to divorce.

The new order went into effect last week, and several cafe owners have been arrested for questioning in recent days under suspicion they have not been enforcing the order.

"It is inappropriate for a woman to sit cross-legged and smoke in public. It harms the image of our people," Ihab Ghussein, Hamas interior ministry spokesman, said in a statement released Sunday.

Police have warned business owners that they face heavy fines if the ban is not enforced.

Police spokesman Ayman Batneiji said Sunday that officers are enforcing Gazan traditions. He said husbands often divorce women seen smoking in public but offered no evidence to support that claim.

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In Latest Ban, Hamas Clamps Down on Hookah Smoking 

for many crowding Gaza's Mediterranean beaches, has long been shisha, flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah, or water pipe, the glowing coals of which illuminate a darkness made more frequent these days by power cuts. But now even the small pleasures of curling aromatic smoke and gurgling water pipes have come to an end.

Hamas today banned smoking shisha in restaurants across the Strip, including along the shoreline. Owners say roaming Hamas officials informed them of the new ruling, which comes into effect today but won't be penalized until Saturday. They say they were not given a reason for the new prohibition, one of a growing number of strictures introduced not by Israel, but by Hamas, the Islamist group that seized control of Gaza in 2007. . . .

Others see the latest measures against tobacco in a better light. "Maybe they are doing this because it's against our religion to harm yourself," says Iman, a young woman wearing a hijab, the Islamic headscarf, sitting on the sand. Her male relatives are gathered next to her, drawing on what may well be their last beach shisha pipe. "You want some?" one of them asks. "Get it while you can."

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Gaza's government prevents women from smoking hookahs in public 

Hamas’s De Facto Government in Gaza decided to prevent women from smoking hookahs in public and opened places in the Gaza Strip.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior affairs, Ihab al Ghoussein, said in a pres statement that that the resolution does not include indoor restaurants and places.

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Hamas bans water pipes for Gaza women 

The Hamas-run government in Gaza on Sunday said it had banned women from smoking water pipes in public, as fear of the police drove many cafe owners to extinguish the popular pastime.

"The police have decided to ban women from smoking water pipes in open, public places because it is against our customs, traditions and social norms," interior ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein told AFP.

The smoking of water pipes loaded with sweetened tobacco, also known as nargileh or shisha, is popular in cafes across the Arab world and was one of the few remaining leisure activities left in the isolated coastal strip.

The owners of several large cafes along Gaza's beachfront said that in recent days they were ordered to stop serving the water pipes altogether, before police clarified that the ban only applied to women and minors.

"We received orders from the police to stop serving shisha without any further details," said Abu Ahmad, the owner of one such cafe who asked not to be identified, adding that he is not currently serving shisha to anyone.

"We are in favour of a shisha ban for children and young people, but women should be able to smoke inside a tent," he said

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VAN ESVELD: The danger of an Islamized Gaza  

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The slim owner of Gaza City's Gallery cafe has sharp eyes and a sharp tongue. It's easy to imagine him conversing with artists and actors -- he is also a theater director -- far into the night. But he crossed a line. He allowed female patrons at his cafe to smoke hookah pipes and to talk with men. He ignored demands by plainclothes police to rein in "immoral" behavior. In early May, police interrogated and accused him of having extramarital affairs. To persuade him to confess, they beat him with a 2-inch-thick, leather-covered bamboo rod for 50 minutes, and later forced him to stand on one leg for two hours.

The blockade of the Gaza Strip -- brought into focus by Israel's deadly interception of blockade-busting ships May 31 -- is not the only problem faced by that territory's besieged and impoverished population. As Human Rights Watch documented during a trip to Gaza in May, severe violations of personal freedom and repression of civil society groups that defend that freedom appear to be sharply on the rise. The Hamas government, trying to shore up its image as an Islamic reform movement in the face of challenges from more radical Islamist groups, is consolidating its social control by upping its efforts to "Islamize" Gaza.

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