Sexual Harassment in Gaza Caught on Video Goes Viral
A young man was caught on video sexually harassing a woman at Rafah, raising fears that the phenomenon of sexual harassment experienced by Egypt might spread to Gaza.
On Oct. 1, Shahed Abu Salama, 23, eventually crossed through Egypt's often closed border on her way to Turkey, a week late for her scholarship studies. She had been delayed not because of the routine difficulties of crossing the border, as hard as that is today, but because she was sexually harassed on Sept. 29 by a young man among a mob of stranded students trying to storm a secured gate at the Rafah crossing point.
In a bid to demonize Hamas’ treatment of civilians, Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, exploited the incident by posting the last moments of the abuse on YouTube, showing a Hamas police officer scuffling with the offender. The video was taken down not long after Hamas released its own edited, slow-motion version showing Abu Salama pushing the offender and said that the policeman had intervened to punish the abuser. On her Facebook page, since removed, Abu Salama thanked the policeman who had hit her abuser.
After the video went viral, Hamas facilitated Abu Salama’s travel as a reward for her outspoken critique of the incident. This has been a much discussed issue in Gaza, but what stole the spotlight was not that a woman was sexually harassed, but the tit-for-tat between Hamas and Fatah.
