To understand what Palestinian life might look like under Hamas, it's instructive to visit the home of Sheik Hamid al-Bitawi, high above the bustling West Bank town of Nablus. Al-Bitawi sits on the Islamic appeals court in the West Bank, the top court for all family-law matters in the region. Running as a Hamas candidate in legislative elections last month, he won a seat in the 132-member Palestinian parliament, part of a landslide victory for the militant Islamic group. Now religious conservatives like al-Bitawi find themselves in a position to promote social strictures that were only fitfully observed under the rule of...
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