Paradise Is in This Life, Not the Next': The Marxists of Gaza Are Fighting for a Secular State
Swairjo completed his studies in Greece, and uses his understanding of Greek to find words with Hellenistic origins in the Koran, which Muslims consider to be entirely Arabic, in order to challenge their view of the holy book. Challenging Gaza's pervasive religiosity, this is one of the methods members of the PFLP use to encourage their fellow Palestinians to view the decades-long conflict with Israel in a different light.
This resistance to faith is institutionalized within the PFLP. Swairjo has five daughters, and his friends and colleagues often say he should take a second wife to try for a son. "Little do they know, if I were to take a second wife, I would be expelled from the Executive Committee of the PFLP," he said, referencing the central governing body of the organization in the Gaza Strip. "Things like this are not permitted."
Dr. Rabah Mohanna, the 66-year-old head of the Political Bureau of the PFLP in Gaza, further stressed this separation. "Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the heads of Hamas and Islamic Jihad," he said. "When they go to pray, I stay behind. They tell me they want me to join them in paradise, but I say that paradise is in this life, not the next. In private they respect my decision, but in public they would never do so."
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