Hamas has been clear all along about its desire to establish a Sharia state. Qalqilya voted for Hamas, they voted for the Sharia's disapproval of music, as well as its ban on mixed gatherings. From the BBC, with thanks to LGF:
A Hamas-led town council in the West Bank has banned outdoor music and dance performances planned as part of a summertime Palestinian festival.A Qalqilya council spokesman said it was partly to avoid damaging the grass.
But he also said the council had been elected to protect the conservative values of the city, which included not approving of men and women mixing.
In May the militant Hamas won the West Bank town's elections, ousting the mainstream Fatah party.
Parliamentary challenge
Outdoor plays and concerts are being held across the West Bank this month as part of the Palestine International Festival.
"We were elected by a segment of people that wants us to preserve the conservative values of the city," council spokesman Mustafa Sabri told Reuters.
"The prevailing values reject mixing of the sexes. The people of Qalqilya have praised our move."
Does Vanessa Redgrave know that?
Sending your 16 year old child to blow themselves up in cafe = okay
Outdoor plays and concerts = not okay
Makes perfect sense...
Moose
Hey, there might be an upside to this ban on the visual and performing arts. By definition it abolishes the cultural institution of performing artist. So in Sharia states the populations will be free of the Quixotic campaigns of mindless celebrities (in really cool shades, though) to correct their perceptions of social injustice: no more protest plays, films, concerts, dance, visual arts, grand fund raisers for the poor oppressed mujahadeen who are getting whacked by AC130s and .50 cal. snipers, and no venues from which to fill the coffers of Muslim charities to pay off the families of suicide bombers.
Under Shariah, politics and art don't mix so the Shariah solution is to simply abolish art and with it, artists. Wow, a world in which artists do not exist. Ahhh, the bliss of Shariah.
"Ignorance is strength" gets a new codicil:
"Art is invisible".
As the evil witch in that 1939 cinematic work of art said:
"What a world! What a world!"
Wait until it reaches Europe.
All those infidel museums can be turned into nice empty mosques.
(I hear two Rembrandts and one Vermeer will heat the average Yemeni hut for a full day, including falafal bread baking!)