[Editor's note:
After returning home to Gaza from London on June 26, 2008, where he
traveled to receive the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism, Mohammed
Omer was questioned for four hours and strip searched at the
Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge Crossing between Jordan and Gaza.
Mr. Omer said that after the strip search and questioning, he passed
out as he was being dragged by the legs by two officials with his head
hitting the ground. He woke up in a hospital in Jericho, Israel,
where he called the Dutch officials who had helped with his trip to
London, and the Dutch officials drove Mr. Omer to a hospital in Gaza where
he was treated for several broken ribs.
Israeli officials said Mr. Omer was
strip searched and questioned, "because of the suspicion that he had
been in contact with hostile elements and had been asked by them to
smuggle something in." Israeli officials also said,
"fair treatment and no irregular action was taken towards him.
At the end of the search, he lost his balance and fell for some reason
unknown to us. A team of medics, an ambulance and a paramedic were
summoned, and he was transferred for treatment to Jericho."]
Photo Mohammad Omer
Father Manuel Musallam, Holy Family
Church, Gaza City
As the sun rises in the east on the
first day of Advent, the bells of Gaza’s churches fill the air, mixing
amicably with the Muslim call to prayer. There is an air of quiet
serenity, spiced with excitement, as the faithful walk to their churches
and mosques, the doors swinging open, and Christians and Muslims bid each
other Good Morning on yet another Sunday.
Gaza’s oldest church, the Greek
Orthodox Saint Porphyrus, dates back to the 16th Century.
The majority of Gaza’s Christians are served by the Roman Catholic
Church on Al Zayotoun Street and the Gaza Baptist Church which offer
living room prayer groups, interfaith outreach, several schools, and
humanitarian/medical Christian charities staffed by both locals and
internationals. Today Gaza is home to approximately 3,000
Christians, the majority of whom live near these Gaza City churches.
Until November 1947, when the U. N.
General Assembly passed Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine,
Palestinian Christians lived peacefully among Muslims and the small Jewish
population in the area. With the passage of the non-binding
Resolution 181, however, Zionist forces began their ethnic cleansing
campaign in earnest. At the time, Christians represented 18% of
Palestine’s population, with many families tracing their ancestry back
to the time of Christ. Today, Christians comprise fewer than 2% of
Palestinians, with the loss of Jerusalem’s Christian community being the
most profound, plunging from a peak of 51% in 1922 to just 4% today.
By the time of the Deir Yassin Massacre in early April, 1948, over a
quarter-million Palestinians, many of them Christian, had been displaced;
either killed or made refugees.
Like their Muslim neighbors, Christian
Palestinians sought to find a safe refuge following the establishment of
Israel. Because Gaza came under Egyptian rule in 1948, Palestinians of all
faiths fled there. As the Zionist militias advanced, razing entire
towns, massacring families, and confiscating all property in their wake,
many Christians fled to Jerusalem, a divided. yet still international
city. For a time Christians and Muslims in East Jerusalem, which was
under Jordanian control, remained relatively safe.
In 1967, Israel chose to further expand
its borders, attacking Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. Within six days,
all three nations had been defeated, and Israel had tripled its territory,
rendering millions of Palestinians homeless or living under occupation or
in Israel under martial law. Along with its Muslim neighbors, Gaza’s
small Christian community found itself imprisoned between Israel and the
sea and the land swollen with additional refugees. But Gaza’s
Christians also discovered they were invisible; unacknowledged, dismissed,
denounced, or forgotten by fellow Christians throughout the world
especially in the United States.
The Bookseller's
Murder
It is well known that one of the most
effective tools for rendering a society subservient is the tactic of
divide and conquer. Thus the October kidnapping and murder of Rami
Ayyad, the manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, presented a
dangerous challenge. Speculations about the motive still abound: Was
it a hate crime or simply a random tragedy?
Father Manuel Musallam, the senior Roman
Catholic priest in Gaza, doubts the attack was religiously motivated.
“Rami was not only Christian,” the
priest explained. “He was Palestinian. Violent acts against
Christians are not a phenomenon unique to Gaza.”
Immediately upon hearing of what he
described as a “murderous crime,” Ismail Haniyeh, Palestine’s
elected prime minister, ordered the Ministry of Interior to dispatch an
investigative committee to “urgently look into the matter.”
“We are all one people who suffer
together for the sake of freedom, independence, and restoration of our
inalienable citizenship rights,” Haniyeh said publicly. “We are
waging a single struggle and refuse to allow any party to tamper with or
manipulate this historical relationship [between Muslims and Christians].”
Muslim and Christian
Students Speak
Photo Mohammad Omer
Recess at Holy Family School, Gaza City
“My life is normal, and I’ve never
felt oppressed,” said Ali Al Jeldah, a 17-year-old Christian student
attending Holy Family School. “Being Muslim or Christian is never
an issue,” he emphasized, adding, “I have many Muslim friends.
We hang out and study together with no differences at all.”
Lelias Ali, a 16-year-old Muslim who
attends Holy Family School, agrees. “We have a unity of struggle,
a unity of aim to live under the same circumstances,” she stated. “This
land is for both of us, and being a Christian or Muslim should not
separate us.”
“I have lots of friends,” said Diana
Al Sadi, 17. “Being Muslim or Christian is not an issue. I
go to my friend’s homes for happy and sad occasions including Christmas
and Easter,” she elaborated. “They visit mine during Eid.”
Asked if Christians in Gaza are being
harassed by Hamas or the Palestinian police, all the students agreed that
this is not the case.
“Every society has extremists,” Ali
observed. “Like sometimes I’m criticized for not wearing my hijab.
But that has nothing to do with being Muslim or Christian.
Those people don’t represent our Palestinian society.”
Pausing for a moment to consider the
international media’s portrayal of strife between Muslims and
Christians, she concluded, “We should not let such ideas sneak into our
minds. If we don’t unite, then we lose.”
The Thoughts of Clergy
Father Musallam explained why Christians
in Gaza do not feel singled out or oppressed. “Palestinian
Christians are not a religious community set apart in some corner.
We are part of the Palestinian people,” he asserted. “Our
relationship with Hamas is as people of one nation. Hamas doesn’t
fight religious groups. Its fight is against the Israeli occupation.”
When asked about Western media reports
that Gaza’s Christians are considering emigrating because of Islamic
oppression, Father Musallam sighed. “If Christians emigrate, it’s
not because of Muslims,” he emphasized. “It is because we suffer
from the Israeli siege. We seek a life of freedom, a life different
from the life of dogs that we are currently forced to live.”
Archimandrite Artemios, the top
clergyman in Gaza of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, chooses
to live and minister in Gaza. Though Greek by birth, he insists he
is Palestinian by heart. Asked what Christians in Gaza pray for
given the circumstances Palestinians must live under, he replied gently,
“We pray for peace, wisdom, and improvement of the situation in Gaza.”
He added that he anxiously anticipates the day when all Christians and
Muslims will have free access to all parts of Palestine. “Then we’ll
go together to Bethlehem and celebrate Christmas and Eid Al Adha.”
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was not
optimistic about the effect of *The Annapolis Conference on Gaza’s
current situation, however. “We all know that Gaza is out of the
game,” he said sadly. “I pray God will give the wisdom to President
Abbas and the Israeli side to find a solution.”
As church pews and mosque prayer halls
filled on the first Sunday of December, a pensive hope prevails as faith
in God endures. For in Gaza there are no Jews or Gentiles, no
Muslims or Christians. In Gaza there are only Palestinians.
*"As announced, President Bush and
Secretary of State Rice look forward to hosting an international
conference in
Annapolis
on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, focused on supporting the efforts of Prime
Minister Olmert and President Abbas to realize President Bush's vision of
two democratic states, Israel
and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security." - United
States Department of State
Mohammed Omer, winner of New America
Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip where he
maintains the Web site www.rafahtoday.org.
He can be reached at gazanews@yahoo.com.
First published in
Washington
Report on Middle East Affairs
Bethlehem
Doctor in Bethlehem
Crisis in The Holy Land
Going to America by Mohammed Omer
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