Fighting Occupation with Oppression?

As an Israeli who believes in the right of Palestine to self-determination and the need to end Israeli occupation - what should I think about the way Palestinians are handling human rights and that's effect on the political struggle?

First, I want to put one thing aside - many people talk about human rights (especially and their implementation in the Muslim world) and actually mean Western concepts of human rights. Some of those who protest against the Muslim practice of women veiling themselves in public often fail to see that the Western concepts of women sexuality tend to be as objectifying and may be as oppressive towards those who suffer from them.
But even being aware of my (and everyone's) tendency of conflating what I know and what is proper, there's an inherit problem with supporting a national aspiration of a social-national group that does not believe in personal freedom.

Those who are familiar with political activism in Israel-Palestine have probably heard of Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. I've written a little about the legal/political situation that is the source of the legal and political disputes of ownership in that part of Jerusalem (here) but did not mention the weekly demonstrations taking place in the neighborhood. These demonstrations are organized by a joint Israeli-Palestinian private initiative, that involves left-wing Israelis (who are mostly secular Jews) and the local residents of the neighborhood (who are mainly religious Muslims). Lately, the organizers of these demonstrations have issued a request addressed at the Jewish women-protesters to show-up at the demonstrations only in clothes that would respect the local traditional population - no short trousers, no tank-tops (here, in Hebrew). Apparently, the Palestinian women who took part in the demonstrations did not feel comfortable being associated with women who are immodest according to the rules of their own culture. What's more of a problem, as it turns out, is that Muslim young men see such 'immodest' clothes as an invitation to sexual harassment of the Israeli participants in the struggle (here, in Hebrew, is an opening to the many blog entries about the subject).

By giving this example I'm trying to avoid the problem of conflating Western concepts with human rights concepts. This is not about Muslim society controlling the dress code within its borders, but a clear declaration across the board that even the women who do not adhere to Muslim values must follow Muslim modesty codes - not only when they visit East Jerusalem as tourists but when they are there on a mission of joining in with local population of fighting for what is just.
Can a women, a gay person, or any liberal person fight for a just national cause at the expense of her/his personal freedom? On one hand, those sensitive to oppression should be the first to fight it when it burdens others. On the other hand, the oppressed can be just as oppressing towards other, weaker populations. Demanding those women who do not believe in the need to cover their arms to do so when they arrive at East Jerusalem is an oppressive act merely because it enforces cultural practices on those who are not members of the relevant cultural group. It is, in a sense, a cultural occupation of the neighborhood, perhaps in response to the actual Israeli occupation. I do not claim that one is as bad as the other although, if the claim that Israeli protesters are being sexually harassed in demonstrations is true - we're getting pretty close. I'm willing to assume that not every occupation is the same and that, as some say, it is wise to finish fighting one before fighting the other. But as a supporter of liberty in all forms - what can be my excuse of ignoring one kind of oppression while I'm fighting the other?

Is Gay Equality Equal?

A few days ago the Israeli Supreme Court issued a decision that forces the Jerusalem Municipality to fund the Gay Rights March organized by the local glbt (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual) organization - the Jerusalem Open House (Ynet report here, the full decision in Hebrew as a pdf file here). This decision is great news, I think, for anyone who supports glbt rights and equality. However, when I read the decision I felt troubled by it. In pragraph 54 of the decision, Justice Amit mentions that "the Israeli law regarding the gay community and its members reflects the changes that the Israeli society had gone through over the years. The Israeli society believes that the law must be indifferent to sexual orientation..." (my translation). Then Justice Amit goes over important milestones in the history of the gay struggle for legal equality in Israel and concludes, in paragraph 55, that "there's no wonder that scholars described the 1990's as the 'gay decade'... it should be mentioned that Israel's approach towards its gay population is one of the ways in which it proves it is a democratic and liberal state, unlike all other near and far states in the Middle East..." (again my translation).
Without addressing the motives of Justice Amit to compare Israel to its neighbors where such a comparison is completely irrelevant, these comments made me feel like Justice Amit, writing for the court, doesn't see glbt equality as a matter necessitated by a basic principle of justice. Rather, it is an expression of a public opinion that should be praised for its liberalism and acceptance. It should be appreciated.

And if you think that this is only an Israeli thing - yesterday the U.S. Senate voted against a bill that would allow to repeal the 'don't ask don't tell' policy of the U.S. armed forces (here). What I found amazing is not that the bill was repealed but that the bill itself made the repeal of the policy dependent on the outcome of a poll conducted by the Pentagon to survey the opinions of soldiers and find out if the change of policy would not hurt troop morale.

Somehow, glbt equality seems to be perceived as different from women's equality or racial equality. There were always people against them - but I don't think that those supporting them felt like they are doing someone a favor or that such equality depends on public opinion or the willingness of the voters to accept such equality. Is equality something that everyone deserves or does equality depend on the current beliefs of the crowd? Cause if equality should only be given to those who the public sees as equal - doesn't that make equality redundant? I mean, equality is worth something only if the political institutions are forced to provide equal rights to those that the public desires to discriminate. Otherwise, is equality a protection against discrimination at all? Is it even a right?