Christians on the West Bank face more fire bomb attacks

-26/04/06

A Roman Catholic pari


Christians on the West Bank face more fire bomb attacks

-26/04/06

A Roman Catholic parish school and a Protestant Bible-study centre in the West Bank have been fire-bombed twice since the Islamist Hamas movement won a legislative election in January 2006, according to Christian clerics in the region.

According to the Presbyterian Church USA News Service, a priest at the Roman Catholic Al-Ahliyya College in the West Bank city of Ramallah says that several fire-bombs were thrown into a school sports room in early March 2006, causing serious damage and destroying equipment stored there.

About a month earlier, said the same priest, several petrol bombs were thrown into an Al-Ahliyya classroom.

In other recent incidents, a Protestant Bible-study centre in the town of Bir-Zeit near Ramallah was attacked, and phrases from the Qurían were daubed on its doors. Windows in a Lutheran church in Ramallah were also shattered by unknown assailants.

“Our college, our parish school was established in 1856, and during the history of our school such things have never happened before,” the parish priest, Father Ibrahim, told Michele Green of Ecumenical News International.

He said he did not know who was behind the violence, but he did not believe that Hamas was involved. He said leaders of the movement who visited his parish after hearing of the attacks offered to send guards to protect the compound.

One theory is that the violence is the work of the rival Fatah faction, aimed at discrediting Hamas and creating chaos in the Palestinian territories.

“We reported it to the police, and up until now we know nothing,” Father Ibrahim declared.

A Christian humanitarian worker in the Gaza Strip said a Baptist Bible-study centre that serves as a charity arm for the local Christian community was threatened with fire-bombing if it didn’t close its doors.

“Fliers handed out in downtown Gaza City ordered them to shut down their work in Gaza,” the aid worker said, “and if they didn’t do it, then their building would be burned down. They continued to work there. Some people received threats from an unknown group.”

Christians in the Holy Land account for less than 2 per cent of the population these days. There are long-term fears for the future of the historic churches in the region, and Christian leaders in other parts of the world are calling on people to support them.


Christians on the West Bank face more fire bomb attacks

-26/04/06

A Roman Catholic parish school and a Protestant Bible-study centre in the West Bank have been fire-bombed twice since the Islamist Hamas movement won a legislative election in January 2006, according to Christian clerics in the region.

According to the Presbyterian Church USA News Service, a priest at the Roman Catholic Al-Ahliyya College in the West Bank city of Ramallah says that several fire-bombs were thrown into a school sports room in early March 2006, causing serious damage and destroying equipment stored there.

About a month earlier, said the same priest, several petrol bombs were thrown into an Al-Ahliyya classroom.

In other recent incidents, a Protestant Bible-study centre in the town of Bir-Zeit near Ramallah was attacked, and phrases from the Qurían were daubed on its doors. Windows in a Lutheran church in Ramallah were also shattered by unknown assailants.

“Our college, our parish school was established in 1856, and during the history of our school such things have never happened before,” the parish priest, Father Ibrahim, told Michele Green of Ecumenical News International.

He said he did not know who was behind the violence, but he did not believe that Hamas was involved. He said leaders of the movement who visited his parish after hearing of the attacks offered to send guards to protect the compound.

One theory is that the violence is the work of the rival Fatah faction, aimed at discrediting Hamas and creating chaos in the Palestinian territories.

“We reported it to the police, and up until now we know nothing,” Father Ibrahim declared.

A Christian humanitarian worker in the Gaza Strip said a Baptist Bible-study centre that serves as a charity arm for the local Christian community was threatened with fire-bombing if it didn’t close its doors.

“Fliers handed out in downtown Gaza City ordered them to shut down their work in Gaza,” the aid worker said, “and if they didn’t do it, then their building would be burned down. They continued to work there. Some people received threats from an unknown group.”

Christians in the Holy Land account for less than 2 per cent of the population these days. There are long-term fears for the future of the historic churches in the region, and Christian leaders in other parts of the world are calling on people to support them.