Hamas to 'investigate' the murder of a 'Palestinian' Christian
Hamas is to 'investigate' the murder of a 'Palestinian' Christian in Gaza City over the weekend. The victim, 31-year old Rami Ayyad, ran a Christian bookshop in Gaza City:Although no group claimed responsibility for the murder, a number of Christians in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post that Ayyad had received several death threats in the past from radical Muslims who accused him of conducting missionary activities.I'll believe that last sentence when I see it. Why does anyone have any reason to believe that the Hamas government has any interest in protecting Christians?
His bookshop and the Palestinian Bible Society had been the target of repeated attacks over the past two years.
They noted that attacks on members of the 2,500-strong Christian community in the Gaza Strip had increased in recent months, especially since Hamas took full control over the area.
Two weeks ago, an elderly Christian woman living in Gaza City was beaten and robbed by a masked man who accused her of being an "infidel."
In Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority police are investigating last week's stabbing of a 27-year-old Christian man, who was seriously injured.
Shortly after the Hamas takeover, a local Christian school and a monastery were looted and set on fire.
News of Ayyad's murder shocked members of his family and friends and raised fears that the Hamas government, despite repeated promises, was not able to protect the local Christian community.
Ayyad went missing over the weekend and his family and friends rushed to lodge a complaint with the Hamas security forces.
Ihab Ghissin, spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry, which is responsible for security, said the body was discovered in an agricultural field known as Dunum Abu Daf near the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
He refused to specify the cause of death, only saying that the body had been transferred to a local hospital for a forensic examination. However, Palestinian reporters told the Post that Ayyad had been fatally stabbed.
"This despicable crime won't pass without punishment of the perpetrators," Ghissin said. "We will pursue all those involved in this case and make sure that they are severely punished."
Here's the 'funny' part in a dispatch from al-AP:
About 3,200 Christians live in Gaza, most of them Greek Orthodox. Relations with Gaza's Muslims are generally good, and have not deteriorated since Hamas wrested control of the strip in mid-June.Huh?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:55 PM
2 Comments:
The reason the relationship is generally good, is because in Islamic ruled lands, in general, "traditional" Christians are allowed to exist, but born-agains or "evangelicals" that are "Muslim-background Christians" are not. They are underground. This distinction is what is not understood by the outside, so when they see the existence of churches in say, Syria, for ex, they think Christianity is allowed, when really it is only traditional Christians allowed, not Muslim-background Christians, not "apostasy."
Well I am glad it's "generally good" as opposed to genuinely good. A little slap, a little threat, a well-timed bomb in a christian establishment is "generally good" by anyone's standards.
The fact that anyone harassing christians in a western country would be cuffed so quick it would make his head spin is besides the point.
Then again, that probably wouldn't happen. Free speech you know. In the west the only thing you can't comment on without being slapped down is muslim fundamentalism.
So much for freedom of speech.
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