Khan Younis, Gaza Strip - "We are defenders of homeland, we don't care about troubles," sing the six bearded men standing in a former Israeli army position in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, now used by the Executive Force (EF) of the Hamas administration in the salient. This is the Defenders of the Homeland Band, which, since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, has been giving nightly concerts of Islamic songs and supplications, mainly for the benefit of EF officers now in charge of policing the Strip, but also for the prisoners Hamas holds in its jails.
And it does so with only a digital audio mixer and a laptop computer.
"We do not use any instrument which violates the Islamic Sharia holy law," says Montasser Abdel Nabi, the band's director. "We use the computers to produce rhythmical drum sounds which are okay in Islamic terms," he adds.
The band was formed one month after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip and "is the first of its kind since it is an Islamic one and belongs to the Interior Ministry," Abdel Nabi notes.
It is part of the "Committee of Direction and Guidance," formed when the EF was set up by the then-Hamas-led government in May 2006.
As such, it participates in festivals organized by the Hamas administration, which has refused to recognize its dismissal by President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas gunmen seized security control of the Gaza Strip in mid-June.
"We select songs that can inspire the youth and raise their willingness, and other songs that remind them of Allah and Islam," says Hussam Abu Abdo, 36, the first to join the band.
A sound engineer for a number of Islamic bands, he sings for Defenders of the Homeland and runs the audio console.
At a recent concert at the Khan Younis central police station, the band serenaded the crowd with "we are on our way to Jerusalem, Jerusalem, it is the time to come," while a man distributed to the crowd a book entitled "Provisions of the Faithful - Religious and Moral Instructions to the Palestinian Security and Police Officers."
The tome, prepared by "a group of Palestine scholars," includes examples of how the Prophet Mohammed had dealt with incidents that could face the EF in their current work.
According to Abdel Nabi, the ministry also plans to form a theatre troup - "the theatre is the best way to deliver an idea to the people"- and the Executive Force is forming a marching band.
As for the Defenders of the Homeland, there are plans to release video clips of some of their songs.
