Hamas has un-banned the banned book, which they’ve already pulled from the shelf and destroyed.
The Hamas-run Education Ministry on Saturday rescinded its decision to pull an anthology of Palestinian folk tales from school libraries and destroy copies, reportedly over mild sexual innuendo, following a widespread public outcry.
Education Minister Nasser Shaer, of Hamas, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he had not been informed of this week’s decision to ban the book, “Speak Bird, Speak Again.” Some 1,500 copies of the book were destroyed the most direct attempt by the militant Muslim group to impose its beliefs on Palestinian society.
“I have decided to correct the illegal measures that were taken regarding disposing the book,” Shaer said.
No word on how many more books were destroyed between the time this story was published and the time the edict went out. And my b.s. detector went off at the quote above. Shyeah. The minister didn’t know what his ministry was doing. Uh-huh.
In other, more cheerful news: The civil war is still there, seething just beneath the surface.
Palestinian gunmen on Saturday stopped a car carrying a Hamas Cabinet minister and opened fire on the vehicle, officials said, sparking a gunbattle and underscoring lingering tensions between rival movements trying to form a coalition government.
No one was hurt in the shootout, which came a day before President Mahmoud Abbas was expected to discuss the unity deal between his Fatah movement and Hamas at a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Of course it’s still beneath the surface. If it hadn’t been, the Hamasnik would be dead. Then again, the IDF does point out that the palestinians are pretty crappy shots. So maybe they just missed.
Maybe they are using blanks to fake a civil war. Then when they make up everyone is so happy that they shower the terrorists with money. Or perhaps they are practicing for real attacks on the Jews.
These people will never learn.