A debate over blasphemy has broken out in the Gaza Strip after a senior academic with ties to Hamas suggested an anti-blasphemy law should be introduced.
Gaza is run by Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood-related group, but has relative freedom of religion. The small Christian community of around 1,200 believers is able to practise its faith and provide a variety of social services.
It's reported Khaled al-Khalidi, a professor of Palestinian history at the Islamic University in Gaza with ties to Hamas, has been posting statements on social media calling for the enactment of an anti-blasphemy law.
There has never been such a law in Palestine but al-Khalidi is accused of suggesting there should be consideration of punishments according to Sharia law – for those who contravene Islamic teaching.
This has sparked controversy in Gaza and among the wider Palestinian community.
Yousef Farhat, a former official in the Hamas administration said, "Calling for enacting an anti-blasphemy law is an intellectual scandal that brings us back to the medieval inquisition era in the 15th and 16th centuries, when people were persecuted and beheaded for their intellectual views. Today's calls to confront blasphemy are an extension of IS' ideology."
Gaza has been under Hamas control for almost a decade, while the West Bank is ruled by the more secular Fatah faction.
