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Gaza's women-only cafe offers more than just coffee

Three sisters from Gaza decided to open an all-female cafe that they say allows patrons to be more comfortable and can serve as a venue for cultural events.

Venus_Cafe.jpg
A view of Noon, a cafe in the Nasser neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Sept. 26, 2015. — Motaz Alaaraj

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — “We have forgotten that men and women are supposed to be different. As a result, our relationships are filled with unnecessary friction and conflict,” John Gray said in his 1993 book “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.”

Noon — a letter in the Arabic alphabet that is added at the end of verbs used for females in the plural — is an all-female cafe that opened Sept. 17 in Nasser neighborhood, west of Gaza City, far from the cafes and restaurants on Omar Mukhtar Street and al-Bahr Street.

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