Ma'an - A Palestinian company's announcement last week of the first-ever Miss Palestine beauty pageant sparked controversy among some who view it as contrary to Islamic tradition.
Salwa Yousef, the director of the Trip Fashion Company said the competition will include young women from the West Bank and Palestinians living inside Israel. She said it was impossible for women in Gaza to participate due to the internal Palestinian political crisis and the Israeli siege on the territory.
Yousef said the company selected 85 women, aged 18 to 22, from among 200 that applied to participate in the contest. Miss Palestine will be chosen on 26 December. The winner will be awarded 10,000 Israeli shekels and a ten-day trip to Turkey.
She said the contestants will each model four dresses. The company specifically ruled out a swimsuit competition out of respect for the mores of Palestinian society, she added.
The project has support from the Palestinian Authority, and officials from the ministries of Information and Culture will help judge the contest, Yousef said. The contestants will be judged on level of education, personality, and beauty.
Islamic politicians lined up to denounce the beauty pageant. Sheikh Hamed Al-Beitawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from Nablus issued a statement calling the contest a violation of the Palestinian traditions.
The pacifist Islamist movement Hizb Ut-Tahrir said the contest treated women as a commodity to be bought and sold. In a statement the group also said the event was "against Islam" and an affront to "women's honor."
The education ministry in the Hamas-run government in Gaza also issued a statement saying the event was contrary to tradition.
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