Persecution of Homosexuals (Palestinian Authority area)
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[edit] Gay Palestinian men are risking their lives to cross into Israel, claiming they feel safer among Israelis than their own people. There are now 300 gay Palestinian men secretly living and working in Israel
According to some estimates, there are now 300 gay Palestinian men secretly living and working in Israel.
Their willingness to live there - despite the risk of being detained and deported as a security threat - is due to Palestinian attitudes towards gay men, they claim.
One 22-year-old gay man who fled from Gaza into Israel four years ago told BBC World Service's Outlook programme he was almost killed when his family found out about his sexuality.
. . .
many Palestinian gays say they would still rather live under house arrest in Israel, where homosexuality is not considered a crime, than at home.
The 22-year-old who fled his home in Gaza alleged that those who do stay in the occupied territories are often coerced into working for the Palestinian police.
He said that he himself had been stopped by police in Gaza, who had threatened to expose him as a homosexual. He alleged he was told by the police to sleep with another man in order to acquire damaging information about him.
The man alleged that after he refused, the Palestinian police had tortured him.
"They hit me. They put me in a pool of water with just my head sticking out," he claimed.BBC News, October 22, 2003
[edit] Gay Christian Palestinian who fled the PA for Israel, criticizes the oppressive Palestinian society and says, in contrast, Israel allows gays the “freedom to express (their) sex and take pride in it”
Ali had harsh words for the environment he said homosexuals were forced into by the Palestinian Authority. “There is no freedom to speak about my homosexuality,” he said. “That’s what I’m experiencing in my Palestinian society as in the rest of the Arab world.”
According to Ali, a word for homosexuality does not even exist in the area’s native language. He said he only discovered his sexual orientation while studying in Jerusalem.
He claimed the opportunity never presented itself under Palestinian control, where he could have potentially been “subject to random arrests, torture and random killings” if he revealed his homosexuality.
Instead, Ali said he chose to live freely as a gay man in Israel rather than hide his sexual orientation. He also revealed that most of his family does not know the truth to this day.
Ali was critical of the human rights situation in his native country saying, “My mouth was shut.” As a Christian Palestinian, Ali said that he felt he had already been subject to discrimination as a minority. He claimed that in Israel, by contrast, individuals have the “freedom to express [their] sex and take pride in it.”
Ali, however, avoided commenting on the political conflict existing in the Middle East. He said he felt homosexuals’ rights are “beyond the conflict.” “We are also part of this international human rights group,” he said. “We are also normal people. We are also human beings.”
Students also watched a video on the thriving homosexual community in Israel, “Out of the Closet and Into the Streets of Tel-Aviv.” “What I see in the gay life in Israel and Israeli society is that you are free,” Ali said following the video.
Explaining the supportive social network for gays in Israel by groups such as the Agudah and Jerusalem Open House, Ali reiterated the “open-minded” opportunities and choices available for Jews and Arabs alike within a democratic Israel.
Ali praised the legal situation for homosexuals in Israel, pointing out that homosexuals have the freedom to serve openly in the army and that Israeli courts have been issuing legislation protecting equal benefits for gay couples similar to those of married couples. None of these rights exist under the Palestinian government, he said.
Like the United States, Israel is working towards passing legislation for gay marriages. Speaking of this progress, Ali expressed his hopes of hearing such news from a Palestinian leader one day.Alex Tehranian, The Hoya, October 22, 2004
[edit] West Bank gays are more at home in Israel and fear the new wall will trap them where homosexuality is strictly taboo, sometimes violently so
So for Nawal and his friends, the only place where they can pursue a full social life is across the border in Israel.
. . .
Saturday night is Arab night at Shushan, a gay bar in central Jerusalem, featuring a drag show that is part karaoke, part cross-cultural celebration.
. . .
Freddy A., a 27-year-old bisexual Arab from East Jerusalem, a regular at Shushan, is a veteran of the Palestinian gay scene. "It's very tough being gay or bisexual because Arab behavior is still dominated by Islamic tradition, where it is forbidden," says Freddy, a hotel worker and the youngest male in a traditional Muslim family of eight children.
. . .
Matthew Kalman, San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 2007
