DAR AL HARB - ISRAEL: ARAB (MOSLEM) LESBIANS ATTEND A RARE PUBLIC LESBIAN MEETING IN HAIFA ISRAEL

Arab [MOSLEM, ed. A.I.] lesbians hold rare public meeting defying Islamist protests
DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer

HAIFA, Israel (AP) - Arab lesbians quietly defied Islamist protesters and a social taboo to gather at a rare public event Wednesday in a northern Israeli city.

Many of the attendees said they were sad that the only place safe enough to hold a conference for gay Arab women was in a Jewish area of Haifa, which has a mixed Arab-Jewish population. Israel's Jewish majority is generally tolerant of homosexuality

''This conference is being held, somehow, in exile, even though it's our country,'' said Yussef Abu Warda, a playwright.

Driven deep underground for the most part, only 10 to 20 Arab lesbians attended the conference, organizers said. Most blended in with Israeli lesbians and heterosexual Arab female supporters without making their presence known.

''We'd like all women to come out of the closet - that's our role. We work for them,'' said Samira, 31, a conference organizer who came with her Jewish Israeli girlfriend. Samira agreed to be identified only by her first name for fear of reprisals.

Outside the conference hall, 20 women protesters in headscarves and long, loose robes held up signs reading, ''God, we ask you to guide these lesbians to the true path.''

Security was tight. Attendance was by invitation only, and reporters were not allowed to take photographs, use tape recorders or identify people.

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1) Arab lesbians hold rare public meeting defying Islamist protests