On Saturday, the newspaper published a ridiculously optimistic forecast of interfaith relations in the Gaza Strip:
Hamas-Christian Friendship Gives Hope for Believers' Safety in Gaza
While looting, sporadic violence, and instability still plague the newly Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, a Christian persecution group [sic] hopes that a long-established friendship between it and Hamas will keep the small Christian community relatively safe from targeted attacks.
Open Doors, an international ministry working with persecuted Christians, said although it fears a worsening of living conditions for Gaza inhabitants, it does not think Christians will be attacked by the Islamic fundamentalist group.
“I am afraid it is going to get worst now that the border with Israel will be sealed tight,” Al Janssen, director of communications for Open Doors International, said to The Christian Post on Friday. “If food isn’t getting in and water isn’t getting in then there is going to be a humanitarian crisis.”
However, Janssen noted that he hopes the conversations between Hamas leaders and Open Doors founder Brother Andrew “will bear some fruit.”
Brother Andrew had built a relationship spanning over a decade with Hamas leaders. In December 1992, over a thousand Hamas leaders were deported from Israel and left on the side of a mountain in Lebanon.
Brother Andrew had flew in [sic] and visited the Hamas camp in a humanitarian way and gave Bibles and his book “God’s Smuggler” to them, who in turn invited Brother Andrew into their tent for a meal.
When the Hamas leaders later were able to return to their countries, Brother Andrew in turn hosted meals for Hamas leaders where he would testify about the Gospel. The two built a friendship where they would mutually challenge each other's religious beliefs but would do so with respect.
“Hamas are still people who need to hear the Gospel,” Janssen said. “Maybe at night, one of them would think about God and where he will go when he dies. We as Christians should spread the Gospel and not just cut them off.”
On Sunday, two Christian institutions in Gaza City were attacked.
As the Jerusalem Post story relates:
Masked gunmen in Gaza City set fire to the Latin Church and went on a rampage inside the Rosary Sisters School on Sunday. The attack was the first of its kind since Hamas took full control over the Gaza Strip last week.
Leaders of the Christian community in the Strip expressed deep concern over the fate of the Christians living under Hamas. They said most of them wanted to leave the Gaza out of fear for their lives.
An estimated 2,500 Christians live in Gaza City.
...
A group calling itself the Huda (Guidance) Army Organization threatened to target all Christians living in the Gaza Strip following remarks against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad that were made last year by Pope Benedict XVI.
“We will target all Crusaders in the Gaza Strip,” the group said in a leaflet, “until the pope issues an official apology. ”
The group also threatened to attack churches and Christian-owned institutions and homes.
“All centers belonging to Crusaders, including churches and institutions, will from now on be targeted,” it said. “We will even attack the Crusaders as they sit intoxicated in their homes.”
The Huda Army Organization said preparations had been completed “to strike at every Crusader and infidel on the purified land of Palestine."Looks like Brother Andrew might have overestimated that mutual respect.
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