CIC Persecution News Alert-IRAN - CHRISTIANS FEAR RENEWED OPPRESSION IN IRAN

 
NEWS ALERTS
 
PAKISTAN  -  MUSLIM MEN, WOMEN ATTACK CHURCH IN PAKISTAN
CARTOON  -  “MUSLIM INDIGNATION OR INTOLERANCE?”
PHILIPPINES  -  MILITANTS KILL 6 CHRISTIANS IN MUSLIM AREA OF PHILIPPINES
IRAQ  -  BOMBS, BUT ALSO HIDDEN PERSECUTION AIMED AT DRIVING CHRISTIANS OUT OF IRAQ
IRAN  -  CHRISTIANS FEAR RENEWED OPPRESSION IN IRAN
EGYPT  -  EGYPTIAN SISTERS WIN COURT BATTLE TO RETAIN CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
INDIA  -  INDIA: SHABRI KUMBH MELA THREATENS 8000 CHRISTIANS IN DANGS          
SRI_LANKA  -  SRI LANKAN PASTOR THREATENED WITH DEATH
PALESTINE  -  PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - 1. THE PERSECUTION OF PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS
            MORE  -  PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - 2. WHAT NOW FOR THE CHRISTIANS OF HAMASTAN?
ATTACKS  -  SOLIDARITY SHOWN AT PRIEST’S MEMORIAL SERVICE IN TURKEY
 

 
 
HEADLINE:       MUSLIM MEN, WOMEN ATTACK CHURCH IN PAKISTAN
 
Source:            www.assistnews.net
 
Date:                February 4, 2006


By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special to ASSIST News Service


ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) – Muslim men and women attacked yet another church in Pakistan in village Kanwanlit, some 3 kilometers from Daska, a sub district of Sailkot, at 10:00 am on Friday, February 3.

Some of the attackers smashed doors, window and the altar of the church. They also desecrated the Bible and hymn books in the church. The mob reportedly spat on the Bible and hymn books after trampling them upon their feet.

When local Christian residents of the area tried to stop them from desecrating the church the attackers asked accompanying Muslim women “to teach them a lesson”. A scuffled started between Christian and Muslim women. The armed Muslim men kept Christian men at gun point, foiling their effort to come to the rescue of the Christian women.

The Muslim women inflicted torture on the Christian women. Two Christian women, Verro and Salima, sustained critical injuries. Verro’s two legs were broken by the Muslim women. The village falls in the control of Daska Saddar Police Station but the police only appeared at the scene of incident after Muslim residents of the village were done with the job of ransacking, and desecrating the church.

Earlier, on November 13, churches in Sangla Hill, a tehsil (administrative division) of Nankana Sahib, were attacked. The recent incident highlights the precarious situation Pakistani Christians are faced with. More attacks on Churches in Pakistan are feared following printing and reprinting of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by European newspapers.
 
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HEADLINE:       “MUSLIM INDIGNATION OR INTOLERANCE?”
Source:            www.persecution.org
Date:                February 6, 2006

 
(February 6, 2006) - The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has been monitoring the response of Muslims to cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in a way they say is a blasphemous.  ICC is concerned that as Muslim outrage grows against the publication of these cartoons, Christians will increasingly be targeted because of their association with the Western world. 
In protest over the publication of these “offensive” cartoons, Muslims are attacking embassies, burning flags, boycotting products, and attacking Christians and others associated with the West.  The violent protests have continued to spread to Beirut, Indonesia, Palestine, and Afghanistan.  In Beirut, over the weekend, a Christian neighborhood was attacked and rampaged by Muslims, in Pakistan, a church was ransacked and Christians beaten.
 
Especially in Muslim-majority countries, Christians are now under increased threat because they are targets for retribution from radical Muslims.  Some Muslim clerics are calling for a “day of wrath,” and there seems to be no end in sight for the intolerance doled out by Muslims to Christian minorities.
Muslim indignation is understandable as they feel persecuted by having their religion mocked and ridiculed. Christians too have been ridiculed. Depictions of our Lord in artwork and in the press have often been used in a way that is less than reverent. Indignation though, is never a reason for violence.
There are two sad ironies in the response of Muslims to this indignation. One is the fact that their reaction is an illustration of exactly what the cartoons are depicting.  It is as if the protestors are saying “How dare you portray us as violent?  We will kill you for that.”
The second irony is that while Muslims are crying “persecution” in regards to a depiction of Mohammad in a cartoon, this pales in comparison to the crimes committed against Christians, Jews, and Hindus in Muslim-majority countries because of their faith. The persecution of people of minority faiths is routine in Muslim societies.  In some cases, it is even justified by law, and can often be deadly.  ICC has documented case after case of Christian suffering, maiming, torture and murders of Christians who were killed because they are infidels or apostates (one who has turned away from Islam).
In Indonesia alone, 10,000 Christians were murdered for their faith from 1998 to 2003. In Pakistan, Christians are routinely jailed and even murdered for blasphemy (speaking against Mohammed). Christians in Saudi Arabia are arrested for holding prayer meetings in private homes and in most Islamic cultures, Muslims who convert to Christianity are often murdered. 
How does the Muslim world justify their indignation over these cartoons when it routinely oppresses people of other faiths who do not conform to their dictates?
While these violent protests have received significant media coverage, the daily persecution of Christians by fundamentalist Muslims remains an obscure issue that many people know nothing about.  ICC will continue to bring to light the suffering of Christians, even when it involves Muslim intolerance.
ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.
 
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HEADLINE:       MILITANTS KILL 6 CHRISTIANS IN MUSLIM AREA OF PHILIPPINES
 
Source:            www.hcjb.org
 
Date:                February 6, 2006
 
Gunmen attacked a group of Christian families in the southern Philippines Thursday, Feb. 2, leaving at least six dead on the island of Jolo, a mainly Muslim island and a hotbed of Islamic militants, police said. The apparently sectarian violence in the town of Patikul occurred in a cluster of houses behind a Philippine military camp, and came less than three weeks before a small group of U.S. soldiers will use the island for joint military exercises. At least five unidentified gunmen opened fire on three thatch houses before dawn, killing three men. The Muslim wife of one of the victims and their eight-month old baby girl were also killed along with the teenage daughter of one of the other male victims. One child wounded in the attack told reporters that the gunmen knocked on their doors to inquire if the families were Christian or Muslim. They returned a few minutes later, firing their guns at the houses. (WorldWide Religious News/AFP)
 
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HEADLINE:       BOMBS, BUT ALSO HIDDEN PERSECUTION AIMED AT DRIVING CHRISTIANS OUT OF IRAQ
 
Source:            www.assistnews.net
 
Date:                February 6, 2006

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

IRAQ (ANS) – AsiaNews has reported that there is a “hidden reality of persecution” against Iraq’s Christians, including daily threats, kidnappings, discrimination and, at its worst, bomb attacks, such as the recent series of car bombings against Christian places of worship in Kirkuk and Baghdad.

AsiaNews says that the aim of the bombings is to feed internal divisions and the ongoing political instability, but also to “drive the Christian community out of Iraq.”

In a story, it stated that the local Chaldean Church explained that the January 29th attacks revoke “the nightmare of violence of 2004” for Iraq’s Christians, when explosions against four churches in Baghdad and three in Mosul left 12 people dead and dozens injured.

The latest death toll was three dead, one Catholic and two Muslims, with nine injured.

“Responsibility for the blasts has yet to be claimed,” the story continues. “Among the local population the theory is that the bombings were in answer to the deeply contested caricatures of Mohammad published by a Danish newspaper.”

But according to Msgr. Rabban Al Qas, Chaldean bishop of Amadiyah and Erbil (Kurdistan), there are very different motives behind the violence. “It was a well studied plan, perhaps from weeks before; car bombs are not built in a matter of days,” he declared.

The prelate hypothesizes that behind this most recent violence there are “forces intent on destabilizing and dividing the country.” He went on to add in the AsiaNews story, “Moreover, the continuing attempt by Arab fanatic’s to push the Christians out of Iraq”.

The story then says, “The bishop relays that in a meeting held on January 28th last between prelates from the Orthodox, Syrian rite Catholic and Chaldean churches in the northern diocese, the urgency of ‘the general situation for danger facing the community’ was highlighted.

“The persecution of Christians does not only manifest itself in strong and symbolic actions but also in the constant discrimination that they face in their daily lives. AsiaNews gathered just some evidence of this from the community of Mosul.”

After the December 15th legislative elections there was hope of an improvement, “but so far nothing has changed” says a young man, active in parish life of Holy Spirit Church in Mosul. “In our parish Christians are still kidnapped, we have to pay heavy ransoms so, many choose to leave.”

In Mosul local Christians tell that “in the work place, in public administration we are considered second class citizens: to get a document, for example it takes us far longer than it would a Muslim.”

“Categorically” leaving aside the possibility that a future Iraqi government could drift towards fundamentalism, some local seminarians have told AsiaNews that Christians are “more or less used to being discriminated against.”

“On the streets, in the city, they always throw the same accusations at us: ‘infidels of the cross’. Even with Muslims with whom we are on good terms we always feel the weight of this condemnation.”

A Chaldean priest says that after Sunday’s bombings “the security outside churches has been increased and we keep saying to people to keep their eyes open. No one wants to relive the nightmare of 2004.”

Msgr. Al Qas declares that the Nuncio and Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly has appealed for people to “live in prudence.”

An average 850 people took part in last Sunday’s mass in Holy Spirit in Mosul. “Everyone seemed calm and content,” says the parish priest, “but I don’t know how many will turn up next Sunday. “I hope the faithful will not be scared; we have to rebuild our community.”

Note: This story is based on material released by the Assyrian International News Agency.
 
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HEADLINE:       CHRISTIANS FEAR RENEWED OPPRESSION IN IRAN
 
Source:            www.assistnews.net
 
Date:                February 7, 2006

‘Leaders Are Now Extremists And They Decide About Life And Death’



OPEN DOORS USA
Jerry Dykstra, Media Relations Coordinator
Phone: 616-915-4117
E-Mail: JerryD@odusa.org
Web Site: www.opendoorsusa.org

For Immediate Release

SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) – Iranian Christians are frightened.

According to Open Doors sources, Muslim background believers (MBBs) are outlawed for the first time in years. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime is dealing a severe blow to Christian revival in the country.
Since mid-2004, Open Doors has noted a dangerous trend in the country. “The last 10 years were relatively calm,” said Open Doors staff worker Stefan van Velde. “Between 1990 and 2004, Christian life wasn’t easy, but we counted fewer arrests and fewer incidents of torture than in the period before 1990.
“But in the last phase of Mohammad Khatami’s presidency, the situation deteriorated for the Christian population. Almost 90 church leaders were arrested in September 2004. One of them, Hamid Pourmand, is still in prison. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment and miraculously escaped the death penalty. Persecution has worsened since Ahmadinejad took office. I heard that all mayors have been given the order to crack down on all Christian cell groups.”
Police and secret services also contribute to this persecution. Since the summer of 2005, more Christians have been temporarily arrested and beaten. Ghorban Dordi Tourani, a house church leader, was assassinated in November 2005. Van Velde said, “I fear more Christians will be murdered for their faith. The civilians have not become radical, but the leaders are now extremists and they decide about life and death.”
Iran’s new policy has brought fear to the church. Ethnic Christians are still allowed to express their faith within their own church walls, but Muslim background believers face tremendous risk. The government wants them to return to Islam. Churches are forbidden to support these MBBs. As a result, ethnic churches are removing their support from their brothers and sisters of Muslim origin.
“That is regrettable,” said Van Velde. “The MBBs now form little cell groups which only meet in secret. This makes it more difficult for the government to track them down. At the same time, it’s very hard for organizations like Open Doors to reach them, too. It’s increasingly difficult to perform our work. This is a problem, because most MBBs are new converts to Christianity. They have very little knowledge of the Bible. There is a big risk that false doctrines will arise.”
Still, a large group of Christians with a Muslim background continue to practice their newfound belief. Van Velde said, “They aren’t intimidated by the government and continue to spread the gospel. Muslims who came to the Lord in the past few years fear nothing and nobody.”
Open Doors USA President Dr. Carl Moeller says: “Islam is the official religion in Iran, and all laws and regulations must be consistent with the official interpretation of Shariah law. If you covert from the Muslim faith, you can be killed as Mr. Tourani was last fall. Please join me in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Iran as the persecution increases.”
INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY: Dr. Moeller is available for interviews on persecution and freedom issues inside Iran. Also he can talk about the violent Islamic response to “offensive” cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Dr. Moeller appeared on the Hannity & Colmes television show last fall and has done frequent media interviews. Please contact Jerry Dykstra at 616-915-4117 to set up an interview with Dr. Moeller this week. Open Doors USA is an affiliate of Open Doors International, which is celebrating 50 years of reaching out to Christians who are under fire for their faith.
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HEADLINE:       EGYPTIAN SISTERS WIN COURT BATTLE TO RETAIN CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
 
Source:            www.hcjb.org
 
Date:                February 7, 2006
 
A pair of Coptic Christian sisters whose father had converted to Islam when they were infants, have won a court battle in Egypt to retain their official religious identity as Christians. Iman and Olfat Malak Ayet, now 18 and 19 years of age respectively, picked up their new identity cards, matching their Christian birth certificates, on Saturday, Feb. 4. Although the verdict was handed down on May 31, 2005, civil authorities refused to implement the decision until late January. In the final verdict, presiding Judge Farouk Ali Abdel Kader of Cairo’s District No. 1 Administrative Court declared that the civil authorities had conducted a “non-justified intervention” by imposing upon the two plaintiffs a belief they had not chosen. “It is not in any way acceptable that the civil authorities take advantage of their authority to force the plaintiffs to embrace Islam,” the ruling specified. (Compass)
 
 
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HEADLINE:       INDIA: SHABRI KUMBH MELA THREATENS 8000 CHRISTIANS IN DANGS          
 
Source:            http://www.evangelicalalliance.org.au/rlc/
 
Date:                February 8, 2006
 
Over the weekend 11-13 February, Hindu nationalist groups and their militant factions will hold a major Kumbh (Hindu festival) in Dangs district, Gujarat, northwest India. Called ‘Shabri Kumbh Mela’, in future it is to be held every four years. Its official website openly declares the aim is to ‘…deal a death blow to such anti-dharmic and anti-national activities’ as Christian missions. The central slogan for the Kumbh is ‘Hindu Jago, Christi Bhagao’ (Hindus arise, throw out the Christians). The two main aims of the Kumbh are to convert the tribals to militant Hindu nationalism, and to get rid of Christianity because it challenges the status quo and threatens to
liberate the enslaved tribals. Dangs is being targeted because Gujarat is 0.05 percent Christian whilst Dangs is 5 percent Christian. Moreover, the Hindu elites have political and economic
interests in either co-opting or ridding themselves of the despised, sub-caste tribals. So they will co-opt as many as possible into militant Hindu nationalism, and then set them against the Christians.
 
 
The strategy the Hindu nationalists use is to convince the tribals that, though they think they are indigenous animists or Christians, historically they are Hindu forest dwellers who will be better off
returning to the Hindu fold. Hindu nationalists have been busy Hinduising tribal rituals by giving them Hindu names, saying they are just corrupted Hindu practices and then adjusting them to suit Hindu sensitivities. They have also invented a whole new mythology to justify creating a Hindu pilgrimage site and festival to the Hindu goddess Shabri in Dangs.  
 
The Hindu nationalists have produced high quality CDs that exhort the tribals to kill Christians as the Hindu god Ram killed the demon Ravana. The NGO ‘ANHAD’ (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) filed a petition concerning the CD, which suggests Christians should be attacked and beheaded. On Friday 3 February, the Supreme Court viewed the CD and sought responses from the central government, the state governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and the Shabri Kumbh Mela organising committee. According to ANHAD, the disc has been widely distributed and openly sold in Gujarat, Maharashtra and in northeastern states. ANHAD states the CD ‘makes constant references to the evil forces and foreign powers that are out to destroy the
Hindu religion, while simultaneously flashing pictures of churches and the cross on the screen as if to insinuate that the Christian community is the evil force and the foreign power that the Hindu
community has to reckon with’. They say it also encourages viewers to adopt aggressive attitudes and militant methods. The CD also has ‘a caricature of a headless Christian priest wearing a cassock and holding a cross. In place of the head is a question mark symbol. The caption on the top of this picture literally translates into church: in the name of service’. 
 
Swami Aseemanand, one of the key instigators of the Kumbh, believes the Shabri Kumbh Mela will ‘…end missionary activity in Dangs’. In 1999 Aseemanand told the Times of India, ‘Dangs cannot know peace so long as even a single tribal remains Christian.’
 
The Hindu nationalist state government in Gujarat is actively supporting this initiative. They have given Hindus saffron coloured flags to fly outside their homes, making Christian homes easy to
identify. While the government has refused to cancel the event, advocacy from Indian and foreign groups has forced them to increase security. However, when Hindus massacred Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, police with Hindu nationalist sentiments joined in the pogrom. The Dangs population of 186,000 includes 8000 Christians. The Hindu nationalists plan to bring in some half million Hindus for the festival. Please fast and pray for the safety of the Dangi Christian community this weekend.
 
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:
 
* the Spirit of God to breathe great peace into the Dangi Christians and great spiritual wisdom into their Christian leaders; may he draw them into prayer and increase their faith.
 
God to spread his protection over each Christian family and individual, surrounding them with his favour as with a shield.
 
‘Let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may
rejoice in you. Surely Lord you bless the righteous; you surround
them with your favour as with a shield.’ Psalm 5:11,12
 
* God to intervene profoundly so that wicked, exploitative, violent  schemes will be frustrated and scuttled. Psalm 146:9
 
* God to bless the advocacy of Indian and Christians worldwide, working through the Supreme Court and central government, and putting an end to the crimes of the Hindu nationalists: their incitement to violence; their forced conversion campaigns; and their intimidation and violent persecution of religious minorities.
 
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HEADLINE:       SRI LANKAN PASTOR THREATENED WITH DEATH
 
Source:            www.persecution.net
 
Date:                February 8, 2006
 
On the morning of February 6, a man came to the Dutch Reformed Church in Galle, Sri Lanka looking for the pastor.  The pastor was not there at the time, but the man spoke to the caretaker and the pastor’s wife.  The man threatened to cut off the pastor’s limbs and kill him if he ever visited the Hikkaduwa area again.  He then left after making derogatory statements against Jesus Christ and Christians.  Previous threatening letters against the pastor had also been received last month by Christians in the village of Werellana in Hikkaduwa.
 
According to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), information has been received that anti-Christian groups in the Galle area have made a list of prominent Christian pastors and could suggest the beginning of an organized plot to unleash a wider circle of violence.
 
Pray for every name on the list of potential targets. Ask the Lord to surround them with a wall of protection and to give them the strength to carry out the Great Commission without fear of what man might do. Pray especially that the Lord would protect the pastor of the Dutch Reformed
Church and his wife.
 
For more information on the persecution of Christians in Sri Lanka, go to http://www.persecution.net/country/srilanka.htm. Video reports from Sri Lanka are available on www.persecution.tv.
 
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HEADLINE:       PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - 1. THE PERSECUTION OF PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS
 
Source:            www.assistnews.net
 
Date:                February 8, 2006

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (ANS) – A detailed and scholarlydescription of the suffering of Palestinian Christians can be found in arecently published work entitled “Human Rights of Christians inPalestinian Society” by Prof. Justus Reid Weiner, under theauspices of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs. http://www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm (The monograph may be downloaded from this site, but it is also availablethrough Amazon.)
Professor Weiner commences his monograph with a brief look at the wider issue of “Christians living in a Muslim world”. He notes, “Despite the liberal and secular trends that gained strength from the middle of the nineteenth century, this statute [Islam] continues, to this day, to influence cultural, social, and legal practices. Moreover, the recent resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism entails a reversion to historical, cultural, and religious traditions that do not reflect modern social standards.”
Pros. Weiner then narrows his focus to examine the plight of Christians under Palestinian Authority (PA) rule. He notes that the Palestinian Authority’s Draft Constitution declares that “…in the State of Palestine… the religion of Islam will be the official religion”, and “the Sharia will be the primary source of legislation”. As Weiner explains, the PA’s promotion of Sharia (Islamic Law) immediately placed Christians in a precarious position, as Sharia does not afford them equality before the law. Escalating hardship and lawlessness, combined with the inequity of Sharia, makes Palestinian Christians exceedingly vulnerable, and their life increasingly unbearable. According to Prof. Weiner, while the intifada and the economy are significant factors forcing Christians to flee the Palestinian Territories, religious persecution at the hands of increasingly intolerant Muslims is the primary catalyst.

Prof. Weiner’s research indicates that the present high rate of Christian emigration out of the Palestinian Territories is not normative, but a response to a phenomenon. He believes that the phenomenon that is driving Palestinian Christians from their homeland is the escalating hostility and persecution they are experiencing due to the dramatic escalation of Islamic extremism in the PA-administered territories. He says this is a direct result of the systematic and pervasive radicalisation of Palestinian Muslim society.

School curriculum in PA-run schools is infamous for its glorification of suicide bombers, its radical Islamic fundamentalism, its denial of Israel’s right to exist, and its denigration of non-Muslims. As a pre-election Hamas video boasts, “We succeeded, with Allah’s grace, to raise an ideological generation that loves death like our enemies love life.” (Link 1) For more information on what Palestinian children and youths have been fed through PA-run schools and media, see links below.

Weirner describes the persecution of Christians as “diverse and widespread”, adding that “institutionalised discrimination pervades virtually all realms of life and has become an inexorable part of Palestinian Christian existence”.

In his monograph Prof. Weirner details the various forms this diverse, widespread, institutionalised discrimination and persecution takes. In summary, Christian communities and individuals suffer the following:

MARGINALISATION

The deliberate and strategic marginalisation of Christians in the Palestinian Territories is achieved by means of gerrymanders combined with Muslim immigration that alter the demographics of a formerly majority Christian area. This of course has drastic implications for local elections.

Bethlehem is a classic case. In 1990 Bethlehem was 60 percent Christian. After the PA acquired control of Bethlehem in 1994, Chairman Arafat extended the city’s municipal borders to include the 30,000 Muslims living in nearby refugee camps. He also encouraged Muslims in Hebron to immigrate to Bethlehem. After nine Christians members of the Bethlehem City Council were driven to resign their posts in protest of Islamisationist policies, Arafat appointed a Muslim from Hebron as Governor of the Bethlehem District. The entire political structure of Bethlehem was then gradually cleansed of Christians. Christians are leaving. By 2001, Bethlehem was only 20 percent Christian.

BOYCOTTS AND EXTORTION

Christians suffer economic hardship as Muslims boycott their businesses. Islamic militants have also forced some Christians to close their businesses. The practice of extortion of Christian businesses is so widespread that one Christian businessman interviewed told Prof. Weiner, “There isn’t a Christian businessman exempt.” He said that around 90 percent of Christian businesses in Bethlehem have been forced to close. Those that remain in business are paying protection money to militants.

Christians in business in the Palestinian Territories are also harassed, beaten and robbed by PA police. They are targeted simply because they are Christian. Refusal or inability to pay bribes can lead to torture and even death. These atrocities are committed with impunity.

NO PROPERTY RIGHTS

Prof. Weiner also explains that, in violation of international human rights norms, Palestinian Land Law prescribes the death penalty to anyone selling land to Jews. According to Weiner, Jerusalem’s Arafat-appointed mufti, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri has issued a fatwa to the effect that death will be the penalty to anyone selling land to any non-Muslim. This law extends to Christians, so that they cannot sell land to each other.

In addition, adds Weiner, “…internationally recognised holy sites in the West Bank are threatened, being vandalised and desecrated by the PA without consequence.” The impunity granted to those who attack Christians and Christian property only encourages Muslim criminals to break in to churches and monasteries to steal valuable items.

RAPE OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN

According to Weiner’s research, violence against Christian women in the Palestinian Territories was rare before the PA took control. Christian women testify that before 1993, security was such that they could walk the streets in safety. However, after the PA took control, Christian women could be attacked with impunity. Weiner gives several reasons for the sharp rise in sexual violence against Christian women since the PA took control of the Palestinian Territories: the rise is Islamist attitudes (such as Muslim superiority and contempt of infidels); the denigration and relegation of Christians to dhimmi (second class citizen) status with limited rights and no equality before the law; combined with the PA’s inaction, regardless of whether that is due to lack of authority or lack of will.

Once again, Muslim criminals know they can rape Christian women without fear of retaliation or legal consequence. Weiner reports that many Christian girls are being advised to dress as Muslims to avoid problems. “The abuse of Palestinian Christian women,” writes Weiner, “extends well beyond verbal harassment and intimidation. The widespread occurrence of rape by Muslim men against Christian women exemplifies perhaps the most blatant denial of basic human rights as a result of religious identity.”

One Palestinian Christian girl (aged 23) told Prof. Weiner that Muslim men often rape Christian women purely to render them undesirable to Christian men. “She can’t get married, at all, after that,” she said.

According to Weiner, Christian girls are also being forced into marriages with Muslim men. He retells the story of a wealthy Christian family man who had to resort to force to protect his daughter. A Muslim family came to his home, their son dressed for a wedding and accompanied by a sheikh and 15 Muslim men. They demanded that he hand his daughter over for marriage. After opening fire on the Muslim entourage, the Christian family had to immediately flee the Palestinian Territories. Other girls are less fortunate. There are even reports of PA officials leveling death threats at Christian families to force them to hand over their daughters for marriage to a Muslim.

PERVASIVE PA INCITEMENT

Prof. Weiner’s research makes it clear that the negative attitudes held by Palestinian Muslims against their Christian counterparts are supported by the overwhelmingly Muslim PA leadership. Mosques broadcast sermons that drive home the Quranic injunction not to partner with, trust or befriend Jews or Christians, providing Muslims with religious justification for their religious intolerance.

Weiner quotes Joseph Farah, a Lebanese-American Christan editor of the WorldNetDaily online, as saying of Christians under the PA, “They are being driven out. They are being murdered. They are being raped. They are being systematically persecuted. They are being harassed. They are being intimidated.” Weiner reports that Palestinian Christians under PA authority are discriminated against “…in the field of education, the receipt of medical benefits, and other government aid”. A Lutheran pastor told Weiner, “…if food aid is brought in from Saudi Arabia, Christians are told that they are not entitled to receive any because they are not Muslims.”<br><br><b>PA POLICE</b>

According to Prof. Weiner, PA security personnel frequently combine ignorance of the law with Islamist sentiment to become persecutors rather than protectors. Christians are often imprisoned on trumped up charges of collaborating with Israel. Apostates can expect to be punished mercilessly through torture in PA prisons. Weiner writes, “The attitude of the police toward Christians constitutes one of the most egregious forms of institutional persecution… When subjected to harassment and worse by Muslim extremists, Palestinian Christians usually opt not to report incidents to the PA police… Palestinian Christians remain silent because they consider the PA police to be hostile to them.”

ABUSE OF CHRISTIAN SITES

As has been well documented before, Islamic militants frequently choose to launch their attacks on Israel from Christian churches and homes, in order to draw the Israeli response to those sites.
 
CHRISTIAN DENIAL

Prof. Weiner’s monograph contains material that will help people understand why Palestinian Christians are often quick to deny their suffering. Some Christian leaders deny the sufferings of Christians in order to retain privileges from the PA: for example, access to the media, or permission to travel – privileges that are granted in exchange of the dissemination of PA propaganda. Some deny the sufferings of Christians because they are simply blinded by Palestinian nationalist aspirations. But most are simply acting (or rather, not acting) out of fear of violent retribution – they are paralysed into silence by threat of terror. Weiner reports that one Christian cleric in Jerusalem compared the behaviour of Christian dhimmis to that of battered wives and children. A vulnerable, trapped, battered wife knows she cannot afford to provoke her abuser’s wrath. For the victim it is easier, psychologically, to blame oneself (or to gain the approval of the abuser, blame the abuser’s “enemy”) and it is easier, physically, to avoid confrontation all together.

PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS: “SACRIFICIAL PAWNS”

Weiner recounts one horrific case of a Palestinian apostate and persistent evangelist named Ahmad El-Achwal, a married father of eight, who struggled for seven years with persecution that included severe torture in PA prisons (the horror of which is described in Weiner’s text), as well as frequent severe beatings and death threats from Hamas. Ahmad El-Achwal was murdered on his doorstep by Islamic militants, on 21 January 2004. US State Department officials, who were fully informed, had persistently refused to address his case.

Weiner regards Palestinian Christians as the sacrificial pawns of the Middle East peace process. He writes, “The importance of monitoring the PA’s record, even during the ongoing violent intifada, cannot be overstated… The future of the Palestinian Christian community and any other religious minority living under the PA will rest on the potential for religious tolerance…,” something Weiner fears is unlikely, at least in the short term.
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
Teach Kids Peace. http://www.teachkidspeace.com/
Teach Kids Peace is affiliated with Middle East Media Watch. It monitors and documents progress in children’s education for peace. This site contains analysis of Israeli and PA educational materials.
ALSO
2003 Palestinian Authority Textbook Calls for Jihad and Martyrdom http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR2203
Incitement in the Palestinian Authority After the Aqaba Summit http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR2003
 
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HEADLINE:       PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - 2. WHAT NOW FOR THE CHRISTIANS OF HAMASTAN?
 
Source:            www.assistnews.net
 
Date:                February 8, 2006

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (ANS) – Question: What sort of life are Palestinian Christians to expect now that Hamas has been elected to govern the Palestinian Territories?  Answer: more of the same, and worse.
MORE OF THE SAME…
Hamas’ electoral win is not a surprise result that cannot be explained. Hamas will not radicalise Palestinian Muslims. Hamas won the elections because the Palestinian Authority has already radicalised Muslim society to the extent that it freely elected a terrorist organisation as its government. Hamas’ win is the culmination of decades of growing discontent – with the economy, violence and corruption – coupled with the increased radicalisation of Palestinian Muslim society.
Institutionalised discrimination, inequality, and pervasive persecution of Christians have been escalating in the Palestinian Territories for decades. When the Palestinian Territories came under Palestinian Authority (PA) administration after the Oslo Accords, security deteriorated and Islamic zeal and radicalisation increased. This has made life in the Palestinian Territories increasingly difficult for Christians. They live in a state of fear. Those who are able, emigrate. For a detailed scholarly description of the conditions suffered by Christians in the Palestinian Territories see “Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society” by Prof. Justus Reid Weiner. (Link 1)
…AND WORSE
SECULAR ARAB NATIONALISM IS DEAD – ISLAM RULES
In a 31 January Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report, George Friedman comments on Fatah’s loss of power in the recent Palestinian National Authority (PNA) elections. “It was not simply internal Palestinian politics that drove the Hamas victory. A wave of Islamist politics is sweeping the Muslim and Arab worlds, and the Palestinians are far from immune. The Islamist movement is doing far more than simply challenging the West: It is challenging the secular Arabists who were the heirs of the Nasserite tradition… In many ways, Fatah was the embodiment of secular Arabism — the purest form of Nasserism. The Palestinians were among the most secular in the Arab world. Therefore, challenging and defeating Fatah represents a critical moment in the history of the Arab and Muslim world. It represents a new high-water mark for Islamists.”
Friedman suggests that Hamas will be primarily concerned with internal, not international politics, as it works to consolidate its position. Hamas will therefore say and do those things that will increase the fervor of their followers and discourage their opponents. They will look to the Islamic world while provoking the West. The West will react to the benefit of Hamas which, as Friedman says, “benefits from a sense of embattlement – the sense that it is confronting the enemies of Islam. As it backs the Israelis and Americans into a corner, and both start reacting, Hamas will increase its strength and authority.”
Even before its election victory, Hamas was preparing to further the Islamisation of the Palestinian Territories. In December 2005 the leader of the Hamas contingent at the municipal council of Bethlehem, Hassam El-Masalmeh, told The Wall Street Journal that Hamas intends to re-institute the “jizya”, a tax mandated by the Qur’an (sura 9:29) to be imposed on non-Muslims who have chosen not to convert to Islam and must now pay for their right to life. (Jizya is a form of systematic religious humiliation, persecution and extortion). (Link 2)
On 3 February 2006, Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al gave a fiery speech at a mosque in Damascus that demonstrated clearly Hamas is not interested in peace or any dilution of Sharia (Islamic Law). In his speech Mash’al warns that “…the law of Allah cannot be changed or replaced”, and threatens that Hamas is prepared “…to place the entire Palestinian people at the disposal of the resistance and its weapons”. (Link 3) We need to ask: what will this mean for Palestinian Christians who do not support Islamic jihad?
SO WHAT NOW?
For years, the institutionalised discrimination against and persecution of Palestinian Christians has been covered up by Christian leaders who are either afraid of the consequences of upsetting the status quo, or afraid of losing their good standing with the PA; and by Western nations and human rights organisation that are only interested in appeasing and coaxing the Palestinian Authority into peace negotiations. Well the “status quo” (as intolerable as that was) has ended, and peace is not on the table.
Writing prior to the elections, Professor Justus Reid Weiner called on the PA to crack down on Hamas and eliminate its influence and role as an enforcer of Sharia. It is too late for that now that Hamas controls the PA. But as Friedman notes in his Stratfor commentary, “Since peace is always made with enemies, better to deal with your worst enemy than with hapless moderates.” This is as good a time as any to commence advocacy on behalf of the persecuted Christians of the Palestinian Territories.
Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au
Links
1) “Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society”
by Prof. Justus Reid Weiner, Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs.
http://www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm

2) “Democrats” For Jihad and Jizya
by Andrew G. Bostrom. 30 Dec 2005
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5116

3) Hamas Leader Khaled Mash’al at a Damascus Mosque
MEMRI (No 1087). 7 Feb 2006
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD108706
 
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HEADLINE:       SOLIDARITY SHOWN AT PRIEST’S MEMORIAL SERVICE IN TURKEY
 
Source:            www.compassdirect.org
 
Date:                February 10, 2006
 
Other Christians in Muslim countries targeted with anti-cartoon anger.
by Peter Lamprecht
 
ISTANBUL, February 10 (Compass) – Amid global debate about cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad first printed in Denmark, Muslims and Christians came together in Istanbul yesterday for the memorial service of a Catholic priest who was murdered in the Turkish Black Sea city of Trabzon.
 
Andrea Santoro was shot twice while praying at the Santa Maria Catholic Church on Sunday (February 5); the suspect is a 16-year-old boy who shouted the opening lines to the Muslim call to prayer. Arrested on Tuesday (February 7), the teenager gave contradictory motives for attacking the 60-year-old priest, including vengeance for the caricatures of Muhammad, Turkish media reported.
 
At the memorial service in Istanbul’s Harbiye district, Bishop Louis Pelatre said that it was Santoro’s godly character that had caused such a public outcry over his death.
 
Quoting Pope Benedict XVI’s February 6 comments on Santoro’s death, Bishop Pelatre used imagery from the Gospel of John to compare the dead priest’s life with that of a seed that must fall to the ground and die before it can bear fruit.
 
“Let us pray that his death was not in vain,” he told leaders of the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches and members of the Muslim community who had gathered for the service in the Saint Esprit Catholic Church. “Even this terrible event can be a source of brotherhood and peace.”
 
A papal representative in Istanbul read a letter from Turkish Religious Affairs Minister Ali Bardakoglu condemning the attacks as a “grave sin.” Read at the end of the mass celebrated by Papal Nuncio Antonio Lucibello, Bardakoglu said in the letter that Turkey could only respond with “vehemence and loathing. We hope the criminal will soon be caught and receive the punishment that he deserves.”
 
In a show of solidarity with the Catholic Church, Protestant pastor Bedri Peker presented Lucibello with a letter of condolence on behalf of the Alliance of Turkish Protestant Churches (TEK). “We hope that Andrea Santoro’s death will soften the hearts of those in Turkey who are prejudiced against Christianity and will remind them that God is love,” Peker’s letter stated.
 
One TEK pastor who attended the service told Compass that he was excited over the unexpected amount of good that had come out of Santorre’s death.
 
“He was such a good man and witness that everyone is talking about the gospel now,” said the leader, who requested anonymity.
 
In a letter of condolence to Pope Benedict XVI, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Mesrob II said that he remembered Santoro for “his joyful attitude and profound love and willingness to reach out to Muslim neighbors.”
 
Speaking at his weekly general audience in Rome on the same day as Santoro’s funeral Wednesday, the pope called the deceased priest a “silent and courageous servant of the gospel.” He said he hoped Santoro’s sacrifice would contribute to “dialogue among religions and peace among peoples.”
 
More Attacks
Catholics have not been the only Christians to face problems in Trabzon, which has experienced a wave of violence in the past months. In a February 7 interview with the Turkish daily Hurriyet, TEK chairperson Ihsan Ozbek said that several Protestants have also been attacked in the Black Sea city in recent weeks. Ozbek called on the government to protect Turkey’s Christian minority.
 
Turkish government and society remain deeply suspicious of Turkey’s Christian community, which makes up less than 1 percent of the country’s population.
 
Though distribution of religious literature and conversion to another religion are both legal under Turkey’s secular laws, proselytizing is often equated with efforts to undermine the unity of the country.
 
In the wake of Santoro’s death, Turkish media published reports that the priest had been conducting missionary activity. And in yesterday’s Hurriyet, a supposed second motive for the killing appeared – that the priest had allegedly paid his attacker $100 a month to attend mass and had recently decreased the amount.
 
“There are reasons for this sort of attack,” TEK spokesperson Isa Karatas told Compass at the funeral. “Anti-Christian media reports, among other things, create an atmosphere in which this sort of [murder] is likely to occur.”
 
Yesterday Catholic Bishop of Anatolia Luigi Padavese told Asia News that another priest had been attacked by a group of youths in the Aegean city of Izmir. The boys reportedly grabbed Franciscan friar Martin Kmetec by the throat, shouting “We will kill you all.” The bishop told Asia News that the most recent attack was the “fruit of rampant fanaticism.”
 
The Turkish daily Radikal reported that the incident, which occurred at St. Helen’s Catholic Church, has been reported to Izmir’s chief prosecuter.
 
As a precautionary measure at Fr. Santoro’s memorial service, over 100 police were stationed outside the church to provide security. The event took place without opposition or incident.
 
“We weren’t really worried about bomb threats, but more about the possibility of protests,” one officer said on condition of anonymity. “We didn’t expect anything to happen, but we still needed to take measures to make sure that nothing did happen.”
 
Cartoon Backlash
Law enforcement in Middle Eastern countries has seen increased action during the past weeks as outrage over caricatures of Muhammad has turned into violence. Protests that began in the Middle East have now spread to Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.
 
First printed by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September as a test of what editor-in-chief Carsten Juste termed “the self-censorship which rules large parts of the Western world,” the 12 cartoons included a drawing of Mohammad as a terrorist with a bomb in his turban. On October 20 a group of 10 Muslim ambassadors to Denmark complained to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that the cartoons portrayed Muhammad as a terrorist. Many Muslims have protested that the cartoons violate basic tenants of Islam, which forbids any depiction of the prophet.
 
Jyllands-Posten on January 31 issued a qualified apology on its website “for the fact that the cartoons undeniably have offended many Muslims,” but the next day the cartoons were reprinted in France, Germany, Italy and Spain in the name of freedom of the press. “Yes, we have the right to caricature God,” read the banner headline of French daily France Soire.
 
Protests across the Muslim world soon followed, highlighted by attacks on the Danish embassies in Syria, Iran and Lebanon and the death of 10 people this week in Afghanistan, Reuters reported. The February 8 article said that the cartoons have been published in at least 22 countries, including Yemen and Jordan.
 
In Iraq, where six simultaneous bomb blasts outside of churches in Kirkuk and Baghdad on January 29 left three dead and at least 22 injured, distancing themselves from the cartoons has become a matter of life and death for the country’s Christians. In the days leading up to the bombings, fatwas against the cartoons had reportedly been issued by religious leaders in the local media.
 
At the funeral service for a Christian boy killed in the blasts, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk Louis Sako told a crowd of 700 Muslims and Christians that the church had nothing to do with the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, Christian organization Open Doors reported. According to Open Doors, many of Sako’s Muslim contacts told him they had received text messages calling on them to take revenge on the Christians for the Danish cartoons.
 
Among others who suffered from anti-cartoon violence were two Christian schools in Peshawar Pakistan, where anti-cartoon protestors reportedly smashed windows and beat children before police quickly moved to halt the attack. In a February 7 report, General Secretary of Pakistan’s NCC Victor Azariah called on the West to condemn the cartoons since they “create problems for Christians living in Muslim countries.”
 
Churches in Lebanon also came under attack in varying degrees of cartoon-related violence on Sunday (February 5). A Maronite Catholic church and the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox archbishop were vandalized in Beirut during an anti-cartoon protest of 30,000 people in which 29 were injured, Catholic News Service reported.
 
Muslim and Christian leaders alike condemned the attack on the Lebanese churches, located in the neighborhood of the Danish consulate. While reporting that many Lebanese believed the attacks to be motivated by outside political forces, Catholic News Service quoted Maronite Archbishop Paul Youssef Matar as saying that government’s lack of protection for the Christians was “unacceptable.”

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