Palestinian Christians Suffer & Die Under Palestinian Authority (Cont.)
These are acutely trying times for the Christian remnant residing in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority. Tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to move abroad, while those who remain do so as a beleaguered and dwindling minority Christians, who used to comprise the vast majority of the residents in the Bethlehem area, will fall past a critical point—and their community will no longer be viable.
Palestinian Christian leaders who should be protecting their co-religionists are instead abandoning them to the forces of radical Islam. Muslim religious law (Sharia) is an enormous influence on the inner workings of the Palestinian Authority. Indeed, the Palestinian Constitution states, "the Sharia will be the paramount source of legislation." By granting Islamic law primacy over every other legal source, including international human rights conventions, the minorities living in the Palestinian Authority are denied proper redress via the courts.
In fact, the Christians have little protection at all from any source, and have faced virtually uninterrupted persecution during the decade since the Oslo peace process began. They live amid a dominant (greater than 98 percent) Muslim population that is increasingly agitated and xenophobic. Intimidation is directed at Christians who dare question the political, economic and social agenda of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.
Some of the patterns of persecution include denial of employment, wide-spread sexual harassment resulting in some Christian women adopting the modest Muslim dress code, boycotting and taking over of Christian businesses, and rape and forced marriages between Muslim men and Christian women.
In this environment, it's not surprising that Canada. granted religious asylum to Jamal Rashid (a pseudonym used to protect his identity) and eventually his entire family, after he escaped a Palestinian jail. Following an investigation, the Canadian embassy in Israel concluded that Rashid was being tortured, while in custody, based solely upon his voluntary conversion to Christianitv. Even the Palestinian Authority police were unable to explain why he had been in jail in the first place.
Unlike nearly all of the other interviewed Christian victims, Ahmad El-Achwal no longer needs his identity protected by a pseudonym. His six-year ordeal ended in 2004 when masked Hamas gunmen shot him to death.
El-Achwal was a Muslim who converted to Christianity after being arrested on trumped-up charges. After being acquitted, the Palestinian Authority went after El-Achwal without mercy. In their attempts to force El-Achwal to revert to Islam, they tortured him so severely that he required lengthy hospitalization.
His Achilles tendon was cut open. Cigarettes were extinguished all over his body; he was beaten with electric cables and scalded by burning torture implements on his back and buttocks. Hiding out in Jerusalem, El-Achwal returned to visit his wife and eight children at his apartment in the Askar Refugee Camp near Nablus on the West Bank. El-Achwal was soon identified and beaten by a group of men whose faces were covered with keffeyahs. They also threatened his life. His car was torched and his apartment firebombed.
El-Achwal was promised that if he reverted to Islam, he would be freed from prison and appointed to a high-ranking Palestinian Authority job with a large office.
Despite all of this intimidation, El-Achwal continued to operate a makeshift church out of his apartment.
The human rights campaign must continue until the abuses listed above are no longer practiced. Wider support for this campaign should be forthcoming not only from Christians, but also from anyone and everyone who cares about human rights. Thanks to the International Religious Freedom Act, enacted with bipartisan support in 1998 by the U.S. Congress, a wide range of diplomatic, political and economic tools are available to the U.S. president and the State Department in fighting religious persecution. Pursuant to this statute, arrest, torture and murder on religious grounds are deemed "persecution."
It's too late to do anything for Ahmad El-Achwal, but the remaining Palestinian Christians should be able to practice their religion freely and live normal lives. It is inconceivable that in this day and age, with the global emphasis on individual rights, that Palestinian Christians are left defenseless at the mercy of their oppressors.
Justus Reid Weiner is a scholar-in-residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a Jerusalem-based institute for policy research. He is also the author of "Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society. "
Palestinian Christian leaders who should be protecting their co-religionists are instead abandoning them to the forces of radical Islam. Muslim religious law (Sharia) is an enormous influence on the inner workings of the Palestinian Authority. Indeed, the Palestinian Constitution states, "the Sharia will be the paramount source of legislation." By granting Islamic law primacy over every other legal source, including international human rights conventions, the minorities living in the Palestinian Authority are denied proper redress via the courts.
In fact, the Christians have little protection at all from any source, and have faced virtually uninterrupted persecution during the decade since the Oslo peace process began. They live amid a dominant (greater than 98 percent) Muslim population that is increasingly agitated and xenophobic. Intimidation is directed at Christians who dare question the political, economic and social agenda of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups.
Some of the patterns of persecution include denial of employment, wide-spread sexual harassment resulting in some Christian women adopting the modest Muslim dress code, boycotting and taking over of Christian businesses, and rape and forced marriages between Muslim men and Christian women.
In this environment, it's not surprising that Canada. granted religious asylum to Jamal Rashid (a pseudonym used to protect his identity) and eventually his entire family, after he escaped a Palestinian jail. Following an investigation, the Canadian embassy in Israel concluded that Rashid was being tortured, while in custody, based solely upon his voluntary conversion to Christianitv. Even the Palestinian Authority police were unable to explain why he had been in jail in the first place.
Unlike nearly all of the other interviewed Christian victims, Ahmad El-Achwal no longer needs his identity protected by a pseudonym. His six-year ordeal ended in 2004 when masked Hamas gunmen shot him to death.
El-Achwal was a Muslim who converted to Christianity after being arrested on trumped-up charges. After being acquitted, the Palestinian Authority went after El-Achwal without mercy. In their attempts to force El-Achwal to revert to Islam, they tortured him so severely that he required lengthy hospitalization.
His Achilles tendon was cut open. Cigarettes were extinguished all over his body; he was beaten with electric cables and scalded by burning torture implements on his back and buttocks. Hiding out in Jerusalem, El-Achwal returned to visit his wife and eight children at his apartment in the Askar Refugee Camp near Nablus on the West Bank. El-Achwal was soon identified and beaten by a group of men whose faces were covered with keffeyahs. They also threatened his life. His car was torched and his apartment firebombed.
El-Achwal was promised that if he reverted to Islam, he would be freed from prison and appointed to a high-ranking Palestinian Authority job with a large office.
Despite all of this intimidation, El-Achwal continued to operate a makeshift church out of his apartment.
The human rights campaign must continue until the abuses listed above are no longer practiced. Wider support for this campaign should be forthcoming not only from Christians, but also from anyone and everyone who cares about human rights. Thanks to the International Religious Freedom Act, enacted with bipartisan support in 1998 by the U.S. Congress, a wide range of diplomatic, political and economic tools are available to the U.S. president and the State Department in fighting religious persecution. Pursuant to this statute, arrest, torture and murder on religious grounds are deemed "persecution."
It's too late to do anything for Ahmad El-Achwal, but the remaining Palestinian Christians should be able to practice their religion freely and live normal lives. It is inconceivable that in this day and age, with the global emphasis on individual rights, that Palestinian Christians are left defenseless at the mercy of their oppressors.
Justus Reid Weiner is a scholar-in-residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a Jerusalem-based institute for policy research. He is also the author of "Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society. "
posted by Bird of Paradise at 1:34 AM
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