Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Pogroms in Gaza

Palestinian Christians in Gaza are experiencing pogroms carried out by their Muslim Palestinian neighbors. An 80-year-old woman was a recent victim:

Tarazi said a masked man dressed in black clothes had knocked on her door late at night and demanded all her money.

"He was carrying a club and a sharp tool," she said. "As soon as I opened the door, he pushed me inside and shouted: 'Where is the money, you infidel?' I shouted back: 'I'm not an infidel - I'm a proud Palestinian Arab.'"

Tarazi said the assailant had beaten her on her hands with the club, demanding that she hand over all her money and jewelry.

"I was so terrified that I gave him two golden bracelets, a cellphone and a few hundred shekels," she said. "But the man said this was not enough and hit me hard on the head with a tool he was carrying until I started bleeding." He then locked her in her bedroom and started searching the house for money and valuable items, she added.

This wasn't an isolated incident of petty crime. Churches and Christian schools have been attacked and desecrated:

The assault on the elderly Christian woman is the latest in a series of attacks against Christians over the past few months. Since the Hamas takeover, a Christian school and a church have been targeted by Muslims.

Father Manuel Musalam, leader of the small Latin community in the Gaza Strip, said masked gunmen torched and looted the Rosary Sisters School and the Latin Church.

"The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church," he said. "Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the cross, the holy book, computers and other equipment."

Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, adding that the gunmen destroyed all the crosses inside the church and school.

"Those who did these awful things have no respect for Christian-Muslim relations," he said.

So much for Islam's respect for other Peoples of the Book....

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