ARTICLE TOOLS

Print this article Bookmark this article

After Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, some analysts saw a new opportunity for peace between Israel and Palestine. But in the years since, Hamas, a terrorist group according to the U.S. and other countries, was elected to govern the Palestinian territories. More recently, Hamas defeated the rival group Fatah, once under Arafat's command, for full control of Gaza.

The strip of land—just twice the size of Washington, D.C.—bordering Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean teems with 1.4 million Palestinians. The area is often a base for attacks against Israel by either Hamas or other terrorist groups. And often, Israel responds militarily, trapping peaceful citizens in the crossfire.

Among those caught between the terrorists and the Israeli military is a handful of Christians who face an increasingly difficult situation. Already twice this year Gaza Christians have been the specific target of violent attacks. In February, Fatah police officers seized the Gaza Baptist Church to use its strategic location in fighting Hamas gunmen. "Palestinian Authority (PA) police officers of Fatah demanded Gaza Baptist's building key from the church's lone guard. The guard, who had no key, informed church leaders, who refused to hand it over. Police then broke into the building, taking up positions on the sixth floor. The pastor was powerless to remove the police, who were using the rooftop [six stories high] as a watch post and sniper nest for fighting Hamas."

Then in April, a bomb exploded in Gaza's only Christian bookstore, run by the Palestinian Bible Society. "Masked gunmen in two cars parked in front of the bookshop and kidnapped its lone security guard. … The gunmen drove the guard to a remote northern Gaza location and beat him, demanding the bookshop key. After a search confirmed the guard had no key, they left him, returned to the shop, and there detonated the bomb."

Despite their difficult situation, Christians are ministering in Gaza. The Baptist church there is growing, reported Deann Alford in 2005. It hosts an Awana program and a Purpose-Driven Life Bible study.

Its pastor, Hanna Massad, "ministers amid the poverty and political desperation that most Palestinians experience," Alford reported in 2004. "While Massad, 40, earned his Ph.D. at Fuller Theological Seminary and pastored First Baptist Church of Azusa, California, he founded the Christian Mission to Gaza (CMG). Each month CMG helps provide 300 to 500 Gaza residents with otherwise scarce food and medicine. More than 99 percent of CMG's aid recipients are Muslim."

In addition to the church, the Gaza bookstore is also reaching out to the locals. "Curious university students, older people seeking answers, even Palestinian Authority police officers drop by to ask about the Holy Injil, or New Testament, and the Christian faith they know little about. Visitors come to ask about dreams, visions, signs, or wonders they've experienced." The shop, opened in 1999, earned Yasser Arafat's personal approval. Despite the recent violence, bookstore officials intend to continue their work.

Unfortunately, their work will most likely become more difficult before they see progress. Brother Andrew, who has worked among Muslims in the Middle East for years, has talked to Hamas leaders, and his prediction is grim: "Gaza will not only be a prison camp, but also will become a concentration camp. It will become much worse."

"They have a very strong belief, and they act upon it, that in the end times in which we now live, they believe that Islam is going to conquer and rule the world," he says of Hamas leaders. "And what they see—in very concrete terms in Gaza and West Bank and the surrounding countries, across Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan—is a pan-Arabic republic. No borders. No Jews. They say that literally. That's not antagonism. That's their faith dictating them to say so."

Fortunately, Brother Andrew has suggestions for helping the Christians in Gaza and other regions where they are a persecuted minority. "We should be flocking to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and seek the Christians and help them. And then, please, for God's sake, listen to what they say. They have something to say. This should be the driving force in our lives. It's not solving political or economic problems. It's being Christian."

Next, rather than trying to defeat these apocalyptically-minded terrorists with bombs and guns, Brother Andrew believes in going to them and talking. "Get up and get going for God. It's still not too late. I can still reach them. And I'm not the only one. We can reach the Taliban. We can reach Hezbollah."

But reaching them, Brother Andrew says, begins with prayer. "'Have you prayed for bin Laden today?'" he asks. "That question should shock a lot of Christians. Of course we haven't! That is why he is what he is." May Christians start to pray for their persecuted brothers and sisters … and for their persecutors.