Soccer Dad

Giving the finger

What does it mean when the Palestinians raise a finger like in this picture? (Not the whole hand, just a finger.)

According to the caption:

A Palestinian scout boy holds a copy of the Quran, Islam's holy book, and raises his index finger, a sign that Muslims do referring to their belief in only one God

Or does it? In this picture the caption is

A Palestinian raises his hand during a Hamas rally in support of the Hamas government

Nothing about one God.

One thing I'm starting to figure out is that there are there a different narratives given by AP and Reuters. I'm wondering if that's really the meaning behind the single finger. Or is it some clever idea that the AP writer came up with this time. I don't recall having seen the explanationa before.

While we're noticing things about the pictures, I have a couple of questions.

Why does the boy in the top picture look terrified? Is it my imagination?

OK so the bottom picture shows a huge crowd. But the hand in the picture is well above the crowd. Is he really part of the rally? Or just a friend of the photographer Suhaib Salem? In the latter case it would mean that the photo was staged.

Tecnorati tags: Palestinian Authority, Hamas.