Hamas Government In Gaza Doing Little To Protect Christian Minority

There is more evidence of the failure of the Hamas government of Gaza completely failing to protect the safety of the Christian minority among the Palestinian population. Only days after a terrorist bombing just outside of Bible Society bookstore, a clerk from the store was followed home and abducted and murdered by a hail of bullets and knife wounds. While the Hamas government officially condemned the murder, it has done little to stop a growing pattern of violence against Arab Christians.

While Lebanon and Iraq have the largest populations of Arab Chistians in the region, many Palestinian Christians also exist. And often the Palestinian police have been used by government authorites to arrest Christians and authorize torture or other abuse by claiming that their Christian faith makes them enemies of Islam.

Officially the Palestinian governments of Hamas and Fatah claim to respect the right of the Arab Chistian minority, especially in the Jerusalem area, but the continued use of the Palestinian police to act as religious police for Islam or allowing continued terrorism against Christians is a very troubling.