'N Gaza

Members of Hamas's "Protectors of the Homeland" police band sing in Gaza Nov. 4, 2007. (REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)


Don't expect music by Protectors of the Homeland to be topping any charts anytime soon.

GAZA (Reuters) -- Wearing blue camouflage fatigues and crooning about Islamic holy war, the five members of Hamas's Protectors of the Homeland police band are trying to boost morale in Gaza with an arsenal of anti-Israel numbers.

Standing bolt upright and staring straight ahead in their Hamas uniforms, the bearded men -- in their 20s and 30s -- are not quite Gaza's answer to international boy bands like Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync.

"Our duties are to boost the spirits with entertainment and encourage the forces," Hussam Abu Abdu told Reuters after a band rehearsal at the Hamas-run Gaza Strip's police headquarters.

Hamas's top police commander, Jamal al-Jarah, who is wanted by Israel, formed the band after the Islamist group seized control of Gaza in June following violent clashes with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

...The policemen shun the bump-and-grind dancing and sugary love songs favored by boy bands around the world. They sing about heroic fighters, Islamic values and love of the homeland, all recorded over backing tracks played from a laptop computer.

"O Jerusalem, rest assured we are the sacrifice," goes one song. "I will not retreat from my Jihad, I will not back down."

...The Protectors of the Homeland hope to boost their influence by releasing a cassette of their music, and are working on a video clip to showcase work done by Gaza's police force.

"We aim to entertain," Abdu said. "To help ease the people's suffering and at the same time we deliver a message about morals and values."

Boosting morale of suffering people is a noble undertaking.

Delivering the message of Jihad and death to Israel is not.
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Watch the boys perform here.