“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]
By Mohammed Omer
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 St. Porphyrus,
dates back to the 16th century. The majority of Gaza’s
Christians are served by the Roman Catholic Church
on Al Zayotoun St. 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 the Muslim and small
Jewish populations of the area. With the passage of the
nonbinding resolution, however, Zionist forces began
their ethnic cleansing campaign in earnest. At the time
Christians represented 18 percent of Palestine’s population,
with many families tracing their ancestry back to the time of
Christ. Today Christians comprise less than 2 percent of
Palestinians, with the loss of Jerusalem’s Christian
community being the most profound—plunging from a
peak of 51 percent in 1922 to just 4 percent 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
“My life is normal and I’ve never felt oppressed,”
said Ali Al Jeldah, a 17-year-old Christian student
attending a dual faith 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.
Archimandrite Artemios, the top clergyman in Gaza of
“It is because we suffer from the Israeli siege.
We seek a life of freedom—a life different from the
life of dogs we are currently forced to live.”
the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, chooses
to live and minister in Gaza. Though Greek by birth he
is Palestinian by heart, he insists. 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 situations 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 Christian leader 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.
Mohammed Omer, winner of
New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award,
reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site
He can be reached at
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