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Asmaa al-Ghoul is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Palestine Pulse and a journalist from the Rafah refugee camp based in Gaza.
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![Palestinian artists perform at al-Shawa theatre in Gaza City March 9, 2010. Live theatre is rare in the Gaza Strip; public criticism of its Islamist rulers is rare too. So perhaps it was no surprise that a play which gives vent to Palestinians' frustrations with their leaders should be a hit. Picture taken March 9, 2010. To match Reuters Life! PALESTINIANS-GAZA/THEATRE REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTR2BXPS](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/RTR2BXPS.jpg/RTR2BXPS.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=GVswDkLp)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian member of the Al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, gives a speech during a rally marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, in Gaza City December 8, 2012. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, making his first ever visit to the Gaza Strip, vowed on Saturday never to recognise Israel and said his Islamist group would never abandon its claim to all Israeli territory. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR3BCKX](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR3BCKX.jpg/RTR3BCKX.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=TdsHVuCO)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas Gaza government, talks to his supporters during a Hamas rally marking the anniversary of the death of its leaders killed by Israel, in Gaza City March 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - RTR3I85L](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR3I85L.jpg/RTR3I85L.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=WVuO02Fm)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian boy waits with his family, hoping to cross into Egypt, at Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip February 4, 2014. Egyptian authorities partially opened the Rafah crossing, Gaza's main window to the world, on Tuesday for three days, Palestinian border officials said. Since July 2013, the authorities have kept the crossing largely closed; only opening it partially for humanitarian purposes. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY IMMIGRATION TPX IMAGES OF T](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTX18767.jpg/RTX18767.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=kKJDDCUp)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![A Palestinian man gestures as he inspects the scene of an Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern of Gaza Strip March 14, 2014. A small armed faction in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel on Thursday, drawing retaliatory air strikes and pushing cross-border violence into a third day despite a truce called by the more powerful Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3H1MY](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR3H1MY.jpg/RTR3H1MY.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=-o4uP6wa)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Shadows of Palestinians are cast on a wall with a cross at Gaza's Der Latin church on Christmas Eve December 24, 2009 as they wait for the Christmas mass. Less than 100 Gazans gathered in the church to take part in the Christmas celebrations. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (GAZA - Tags: RELIGION POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTR28C3I](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR28C3I.jpg/RTR28C3I.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=z8xS-m_E)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
![ColorsTreble.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/ColorsTreble.jpg/ColorsTreble.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=Ei60s4aD)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![Gaza.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/Gaza.jpg/Gaza.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=lqZrOR7F)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![cartoon.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/cartoon.jpg/cartoon.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=xqR-DsQS)
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Asmaa al-Ghoul
![FOR RELEASE WITH FEATURE BC-PALESTINIAN-EXORCISM - Ziad al-Tatar, a 38-year-old Palestinian exorcist, uses a Koran placed on a man's chest and readings from the Koran piped through earphones and honey to exorcise a demon from a patient. In his spartan clinic, adorned with framed Koranic verses, Tatar admits to a steady stream of patients stricken with ailments ranging from impotence to infiltration by devils known in Arabic as Djinn.
DPS/KM - RTRFVSJ](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTRFVSJ.jpg/RTRFVSJ.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=g5OL5lHF)
![Asmaa al-Ghoul](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2016/asmaaalghoul.jpg/asmaaalghoul.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=zoLMHrdv)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
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Asmaa al-Ghoul