![Newly appointed Palestinian judge Khouloud Al-Faqih (R) looks at documents in her office in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 23, 2009. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered last week the appointment of the first two female judges in the Palestinian Authority, one of them Al-Faqih. Picture taken February 23, 2009.
REUTERS/Fadi Arouri (WEST BANK) - RTXC0RR](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/05/RTXC0RR.jpg/RTXC0RR.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=JxxuIZuI)
Hazem Balousha is a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza City. He has worked as a news producer for BBC World Service, contributed to Deutsche Welle and has written for The Guardian, Al-Raya (Qatar) and other publications. He is the founder of the Palestinian Institute for Communication and Development (PICD). On Twitter: @iHaZeMi
![Newly appointed Palestinian judge Khouloud Al-Faqih (R) looks at documents in her office in the West Bank city of Ramallah February 23, 2009. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ordered last week the appointment of the first two female judges in the Palestinian Authority, one of them Al-Faqih. Picture taken February 23, 2009.
REUTERS/Fadi Arouri (WEST BANK) - RTXC0RR](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/05/RTXC0RR.jpg/RTXC0RR.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=JxxuIZuI)
![Palestinians shop at a market in Gaza City July 26, 2014. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into the streets on Saturday to recover their dead and stock up on food supplies after a 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Hamas took hold. Israel's military pledged to hold fire for 12 hours from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) but press on searching for tunnels used by militants. The Islamist group Hamas, which dominates Gaza, said all Palestinian factions would abide by the brief truce. REUTERS/Ahmed Zakot (GA](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/04/RTR4075C.jpg/RTR4075C.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=katP33cr)
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Hazem Balousha
![A Palestinian boy jumps into the Mediterranean Sea as he enjoys a warm day with others at the seaport of Gaza City March 27, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/04/RTR4V6C4.jpg/RTR4V6C4.jpg?h=3974e331&itok=lZACGDVM)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![A Palestinian man rides his motorcycle past a billboard with pictures depicting UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan (R), Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (C) and UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Gaza City March 15, 2015. The billboard reads, "Thanks Emirates. Gaza is on a date for celebration. Mass wedding project."
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS) - RTR4TED7](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/RTR4TED7.jpg/RTR4TED7.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=9HYkmRdB)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![<<enter caption here>> on September 16, 2014 in New York City.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/455539374.jpg/455539374.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=o2z2-o7v)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![Palestinians, whose house was destroyed by what witnesses said was Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer, sit outside their wooden shelter donated by Catholic Relief Services, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip February 16, 2015. Aid agencies struggling to shelter thousands of Gazans made homeless by war have resorted to building makeshift temporary homes out of metal and wood to evade Israeli restrictions on imports into the territory. Around 150,000 families are still homeless after](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/03/RTR4QAN6.jpg/RTR4QAN6.jpg?h=7cb15be6&itok=-cB21aLP)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![A Palestinian policeman loyal to Hamas stands guard near burning tyres during a protest by Palestinians calling for reconstruction of their houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer, outside a United Nations food distribution center in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip February 16, 2015. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTR4PQSX](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR4PQSX.jpg/RTR4PQSX.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=2J09Qa9i)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![A Palestinian boy pushes his bicycle as members of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas march on a street in Gaza City February 10, 2015.
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: MILITARY SOCIETY) - RTR4OYHX](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR4OYHX.jpg/RTR4OYHX.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=8YL_rGJq)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![GAZA CITY, -: Palestinian Prime Minister and leader of the Hamas party Ismail Haniya (L) shakes hands with Palestinian Fatah party strongman Mohammed Dahlan, following a vote by MPs approving the long awaited unity government in Gaza City 17 March 2007. The Palestinian parliament today overwhelmingly approved a coalition government uniting the radical Islamist Hamas movement with the secular Fatah of president Mahmud Abbas. Eighty-three members of the 132 member parliament voted in favor of the historic uni](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/73620003.jpg/73620003.jpg?h=e90f008b&itok=PLWXC12x)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![Members of Palestinian security forces loyal to Hamas march during a parade marking the sixth anniversary of the death of former Hamas interior minister Saeed Seyam, in Gaza City January 18, 2015. Seyam was killed by an Israeli air strike during the three-week offensive Israel launched in 2008 and 2009. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY ANNIVERSARY) - RTR4LUN5](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/RTR4LUN5.jpg/RTR4LUN5.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=_C3x_rym)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![Palestinian youth take part in military exercises during a graduation ceremony as part of a training camp run by the Hamas movement on January 29, 2015 in Gaza City. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED ABED (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/02/462457244.jpg/462457244.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=D8DX0DRz)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha
![A sign is seen at the Erez border crossing between Israel and northern Gaza Strip December 28, 2014. Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevented on Sunday a group of Palestinian children who lost parents in the July-August war with Israel from making a rare goodwill visit to the Jewish state, organisers of the trip said. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4JF9V](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR4JF9V.jpg/RTR4JF9V.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=sMdulX7W)
![Hazem Balousha](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg/HBalousha%20%282%29.jpg?h=55541bb6&itok=elKI6NtZ)
Hazem Balousha