 The Islamic militant group Hamas has launched a TV station in the Gaza Strip as part of its expansion into Palestinian politics, Hamas officials and analysts said Monday. Hamas has a 2-year-old radio station but the group wants a new medium, modeled on a Hezbollah station in Lebanon, to spread its ideas as it moves into politics, said Moheib Nawati, a Gaza-based expert on Islamic movements. "The aim of this step is to establish Islamic culture and an ideological, scientific and political vision that is in tandem with the spirit of Islam, and to spread information about important issues," Fathi Hamad, a Hamas leader in Gaza, told reporters.| Can't wait 'til I can get my fatwas by podcast, that's for sure. |
The station broadcast a half-hour of readings from the Quran on Sunday, but nothing else due to technical difficulties, said a Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the issue. The station, under development for the past six months, will have a three- to six-month trial period, Hamas said.| "While we try to figger out how all those knob thingies work." |
A picture of the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, one of Islam's holiest shrines, filled the screen for most of the day.| Feel free to suggest some programming in the comments. |
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