Hamas ‘guardian’ law keeps Gaza woman from studying abroad

By FARES AKRAM
Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel and Egypt have enforced tight travel restrictions as part of a blockade of Gaza for 14 years, since the takeover of the territory by the Islamic militant group Hamas. But when a 19-year-old woman, en route to a Turkish university, was prevented from leaving Gaza two months ago, it wasn’t because of Egypt or Israel. She was blocked because of a male guardianship law enacted by Hamas earlier this year that enables her father to petition a court to freeze her travel. She is now fighting back in the courts, desperate to get the travel ban lifted before her Turkish scholarship expires by the end of the year.