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Gaza spa offers belly dance classes

An all-female spa and salon in the conservative Gaza Strip is offering belly dance courses as a breather for women, but not everyone was happy about it.
PATRICK BAZ/AFP via Getty Images

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — At five o'clock in the afternoon of a quiet spring day, the secretary at the Soleil women’s salon and spa in Gaza received a phone call from a man booking his wife a spot in a belly dance course.

The secretary has been receiving many such calls from men interested in enrolling their wives. Men are not allowed to enter this all-women spa and the only contact they can make is via phone.

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