One of his correspondents, a Jew, wanted to know, for example, what Jamil thought about the firing of rockets on Israel from Gaza. Although Hamas is always on the lookout for gays and it monitors the social media, the organization has some blind spots – for example, Jamil assumes, they are not familiar with certain apps that gay men in Gaza can use to get to know each other and chat with people, some of them Jews, from Israel or the West Bank.Īsked what he discusses with people from Israel, Jamil says that many are anxious to hear about life in Gaza, and in particular what it’s like for a gay person there. Jamil explains that for a Gaza resident, it’s not difficult to recognize a Hamas agent when you encounter one. And he needs to convince you that he is not from Hamas.” You need to talk to this person first – for example on Skype. But the person you are talking to could be an officer from Hamas in Gaza.
After you’ve talked like this for a while, you may decide to meet. “And then, one of you will work up the courage first, and send pictures of himself.
“First of all, you talk through a fake account or on an app that keeps your identity secret,” Jamil says, in a telephone interview. He says he only came to the conclusion that his homosexuality wasn’t “some kind of a psychological disease” about two years ago, after some gay friends convinced him to accept himself. When he returned home, he started searching the web and the social networks, looking for people like himself. Jamil says he first recognized his sexual orientation at the age of 14, when he traveled abroad and met there, for the first time in his life, an openly gay person.
The 21-year-old student from the Gaza Strip is gay and lives a double life: an open one, as a diligent student, the youngest child in his family, busy helping his elderly parents with everyday tasks (shopping, making sure the electrical generator works and there’s water in the house) – and a secret one, a large chunk of which is spent on dating apps and fake accounts on social networks.
But Jamil (not his real name) says he lives in a state of constant fear, and his most cherished dream is to leave his homeland and break free from his family. On his avatar on an instant message app, Jamil looks like a happy young man, with glasses and a trendy haircut.