New Arab Web site discusses taboo topics

JERUSALEM, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- An Israeli Arab has launched an online magazine that will tackle topics considered taboo in Arab culture, including articles devoted to the gay sector.

Alaa Hlehel, the founder and editor of the Qadita.net Web site said the site "will be like a cultural oasis to which a person can escape to read a short story or watch a cultural event via YouTube," Middle East Online reported Tuesday.

He said the site was named after his ancestral village, which was destroyed in the 1948 war.

"Rebellious or non-conservative' writing should not fall victim to erasure just because its dissemination angers some people or offends 'sensitivities,'" the Web site's founding statement says.

"We believe the margin of freedom in Arabic-language publishing is under siege because of political and social tensions and various groups," the statement added.

The site will publish contributions from a wide range of Arab and Palestinian writers and will devote a special section to gay writers, most of whom will write anonymously, the report said.

"We are doing this to allow gays to speak out, to leave their ghetto and to become a natural part of Palestinian and Arab culture," Hlehel said on the Web site.

When asked if he feared attacks by religious or extremist groups, Hlehel insisted the quality of the writing would speak for itself.

"It will be easy to attack us over the issue of gays, but because of this we will ensure that all our writing is of the highest quality," he said.