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Books and Arts; Book Review;Hamas and social services;Food not bombs
几乎没有人意想到伊斯兰教慈善团体会向残疾人士提供关于性方面的讲习班以及改善性生活的方法。但是在加沙的以色列的医院已经提供此项服务很多年了，所以这已成为司空见惯的事请了。很多人认为伊斯兰教的慈善团体“只不过是促进恐怖主义的伪装”，也正如一个在哈佛的中东学者萨拉罗伊所写那样。在关于加沙社会福利事业的新书中，基于她过去15年去加沙地带的出行，她认为现实情况更复杂。
Palestinians are pragmatic when it comes to social care. Many go from one organisation to the next—both Islamic and secular—to scavenge as much support as they can, regardless of politics or ideology. Parents often choose religious schools and hospitals because the services are better there than those provided by secular NGOs or the feeble Palestinian state. Palestinians of all social classes, including the secular and the wealthy, send their children to Islamic schools, just like many agnostic London parents send their children to church schools renowned for their discipline and education.
一提到社会福利，巴勒斯坦人就很现实。无论哪种政治还是意识形态，许多人从一个组织转向下一个组织（包括伊斯兰教和非宗教的组织）尽可能搜寻到较多的支持者。父母通常会选择宗教学校和医院，因为其服务比民间的非政府组织或低效率的的巴勒斯坦政府所提供的好。各个阶层的巴基斯坦人，包括平民和富人，都把他们的孩子送去伊斯兰学校，正如很多伦敦的不可知论者把他们的孩子送去以严格的纪律和良好的教育著称的教会学校一样。
Some employees of Islamic NGOs sound equally sanguine about the role of religion. One director of an organisation that distributes money, clothing and food to the poor tells Ms Roy that beyond appropriate dress and “respectful behaviour” (admittedly a worryingly vague term), he was not concerned with the religious purity of those he served. He is happy to help anyone in need: “if we discriminate we become fanatics.”
一些伊斯兰非政府组织的从业人员对宗教的地位的看法听起来同样也很乐观。一个给穷人分配钱、衣服和食物的组织理事告诉罗伊女士，除了合适的衣服和“恭敬的行为”（公认是一个含糊的术语），他并不在乎他服务的人的宗教虔诚度。他很高兴可以帮助任何有需要的人：“如果我们歧视他们，我们就会成为盲信者。”
The social work that Hamas does has certainly empowered the organisation. But Ms Roy argues that this indirect appeal for votes “is very different from mobilising people into collective action in support of an activist Islamist agenda”. It is not as if Hamas uses its social institutions to launch political or military activities, she adds.
哈马斯所提供的社会服务肯定已经给这个组织授予了权力。但是罗伊女士认为这种间接的请求选举的行为与动员人们参加集体行动来支持伊斯兰激进主义分子的基础的意识方案不同。她还说这不像伊斯兰抵抗派利用其社会制度来开展政治或军事活动。
When Ms Roy began conducting research in Gaza 25 years ago, she found little popular support for a political agenda built on Islam. A determined secular streak runs through Palestinian society, she maintains. Rather than Palestinians becoming more Islamist, “Hamas has had to broaden its definition of Islam and ‘Muslimness' in order to claim and maintain as large a number of adherents as possible.” As a movement that is political at heart, not religious, Hamas has been forced to “de-ideologise” Islam and appeal to more practical needs to ensure its political survival.
罗伊女士25年前开始在加沙进行研究，她发现很少人支持基于伊斯兰教的政治议程。她认为一个坚定的世俗倾向贯穿于整个巴勒斯坦社会。伊斯兰抵抗运动不得不扩大伊斯兰教和“伊斯兰人”的定义，目的在于拥有和保持尽可能多的信徒，而不是使巴勒斯坦人成为伊斯兰教主义者。作为一个本质上是政治而非宗教的运动，哈马斯被迫减少伊斯兰教的思想意识并且要求更多的实质需要来确保其政治生存。
But Hamas's hegemony is now under threat. Gaza's radical Muslim Salafists accuse the group of political and religious treason, claiming that by engaging in elections and in governing Gaza, Hamas has undermined both its nationalist and Islamic credentials. Desperate to contain the Salafists and remain the sole agent of political and social Islam in Palestine, Hamas “has encouraged, albeit carefully and cautiously, the greater Islamisation of Gazan society”. This is done largely through its social arm, by enforcing conservative dresscodes in schools, banning alcohol and warning against dating.
但是哈马斯的领导权现在受到威胁。加沙激进的穆斯林萨拉斯菲特者指控这个组织政治和宗教的不忠，声称他们通过参加选举和统治加沙，暗地里伤害其民族主义者和伊斯兰的信心。哈马斯不顾一切地牵制萨拉斯菲特人并且保持伊斯兰在巴勒斯坦的政治和社会独家代理的地位。即使哈马斯很小心和谨慎，但是他们仍然鼓励加沙社会变得更伊斯兰化。这一举动绝大部分地通过社会武装，例如在学校实施保守的服装规则，禁止喝酒和警告不准约会。
Ms Roy strives not to speak for Palestinians, but to let their voices reverberate. One woman tells her, “This is what you must teach others. That we are no different than you.” These are the book's most powerful moments, and one of its great strengths. Palestinians appear not simply as victims but as ordinary human beings with typical needs and concerns amid extraordinary circumstances. Ms Roy's work is one of academic scholarship, rigorous and precise, and not designed for the speedy turn of pages. But this is an important book, which challenges lazy views about the Palestinians and highlights how they go about securing basic services.
罗伊女士并非要设法为巴勒斯坦人说话,她只是努力让他们的声音产生广泛的影响。一位妇女告诉她，“这就是你必须教别人的东西。我们和你没什么不同。”这些就是这本书最强有力的片段了，也是它主要的优势。巴勒斯坦人不仅仅是受害者，而是在这特别的环境下有着常人的需求和忧虑的平凡人。罗伊女士的作品是一门严谨精确的学术学问，而不是用来快速浏览的书籍。但这是一本重要的书，它不仅向关于巴勒斯坦人未经深思熟虑的观点挑战，而且强调他们如何继续保卫基本社会福利事业。
