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Article: Fabric of Society; Banning headscarves is right. But it's only a start in bringing France's Muslims into the social mainstream.
- Article from:
- Newsweek International
- Article date:
- February 16, 2004
- Author:
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Byline: Gilles Kepel, Kepel is chair of Middle East Studies at Institut de Sciences Politiques in Paris and author of "Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam."
Good news. Islamist radicals and U.S. neocons have joined ranks--finally--and buried the hatchet to launch a joint jihad cum crusade aimed at... the French. What could possibly forge such a bizarre and unholy coalition of the willing? The higab --the female veil, or head-scarf--worn by some Muslim pupils in French schools.
Ever since President Jacques Chirac announced his intention to ban the wearing of "all ostensible religious signs" in state schools, firebrand Muslim clerics have taken to Al ...