Islamist group Hamas has told the main Palestinian telecoms company to block access to pørnographic Internet sites in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas government official said on Monday.
Gaza's Ministry of Communications said in a statement that telecommunications firm PALTEL has agreed to block Internet users in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave from viewing adult websites starting this month. "The aim of the move is to protect the Palestinian community from cultural pollution and to protect the young generations from the misuse of the Internet through viewing pørnographic sites," Hamas government spokesman Taher al-Nono said.
| "That means no titties, goddammit!" |
An Internet provider in the Gaza Strip estimated that about 400,000 Gazans surf the Web and said almost half of them were aged 18-35.
| And now they aren't gonna have anything to look at. |
Attacks against video stores and Internet cafes have increased over the past two years. Some of the attacks had been claimed by radical Muslim groups who say such places run contrary to Islamic values. Other Muslim countries such as Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia also control access to some political, social and pørnographic websites. PALTEL could not immediately be reached for comment. |