Diaa Hadid on Arabs in Haifa: they never flirted or smoked until now

This utterly silly article has infuriated Arabs in Haifa who dismissed it as the typical Zionist propaganda of the New York Times.  What Zionists praise about Palestinians lives they credit Israel for it, and what they don't like about Palestinian lives, they blame Palestinians.  This is one of those theses.  It also leaves you with the stupid impression that Palestinians never smoked or even FLIRTED--the horrors--until a restaurant in Haifa called Fattoush opened.  In reality, Palestinian society has always been more open and progressive than Arab societies. When I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s, Palestinian women had more freedoms than Lebanese women and they openly dated while standards of conservatives among Muslim Lebanese frowned upon that.  But someone should tell Ms. Hadid that Palestinians outside of Fattoush restaurant in Haifa do manage to love and flirt and kiss and even smoke and have sex.  Just don't tell anyone: it is a secret.