Gaza's tiny Christian community fears it will dissapear

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Attacks on an ancient church in the Gaza Strip following the pope's recent comments about Islam have shaken the area's tiny Christian minority, bringing to the surface long-simmering tensions and raising new questions about how long the community can survive in this conservative Muslim society.

Gaza Christians on Sunday said harassment is nothing new to them, but the recent outbursts of violence have left them worried about their fragile status.

Fearing for their safety, few worshippers attended Sunday services at one of the main churches, which was repeatedly attacked with homemade explosives Friday, and some parents kept their children home from school to protect them.

Violence has also hit the West Bank, where there is a larger Christian population. A stone church in Tulkarem built 170 years ago was torched before dawn Sunday and its entire inside was destroyed, local Christian officials said. In the village of Tubas, a small church was attacked with firebombs and partially burned, Christians said. Neither church is Catholic, the officials said.

On Saturday, attackers hurled firebombs and opened fire at five churches in the West Bank and Gaza, sparking concerns of a widening rift between Palestinian Muslims and Christians.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic Hamas group, called on Palestinians on Sunday to refrain from sectarian strife.

"All Palestinian citizens must prevent all harm to all Christian churches on Palestinian land. Our Christian brothers are citizens of Palestine. They are Palestinians," he said.

The violence began last week after Pope Benedict XVI, in a talk rejecting religious motivation for violence, cited the words of a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

The pope apologized Sunday following massive protests across the Muslim world, including a march by 2,000 people in downtown Gaza City on Friday.

Christians are believed to number about 50,000 people in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, about 2 percent of the Palestinian population there. Interfaith relations are generally good _ though tensions periodically flare.

In Gaza, the tiny Christian community _ estimated at several thousand people _ lives among 1.4 million mostly conservative Muslims.

The recent outbreak of violence spooked Esther Najjar, a Catholic Palestinian from Gaza who kept her two youngest girls home from school Saturday, fearing they would bear the brunt of playground hostilities.

"I was afraid. First they attacked the church, and then there was that protest against the pope," she said. "Some of the protesters tried to come down this street, and we were terrified they'd attack the houses. But our Muslim neighbors stopped the protesters."

Bishop Alexious of St. Perfidious church, a 1,425 year-old Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City, said most worshippers stayed home from Sunday services after the church was repeatedly hit by homemade explosives on Friday. Bishop Alexious said he feared for the existence of his tiny flock.

The attacks on the church were the first in recent memory, residents said, and were expected to subside. The main concern for Gaza's Christians remained keeping their dwindling community from disappearing through emigration and intermarriage, said Constantine Sabbagh, the coordinator of the Middle East Council of Churches in Gaza, a secular organization that runs development projects.

"We are Arab Palestinians who belong to the Christian faith," he said. "There must be respect of the other, and we are not going to hide in houses, or in ghettos. The Muslims we mix with accept us, but there's a lot of ignorance out there."

Rosette Sayyegh said she was publicly insulted Saturday while shopping in Gaza when she wore a knee-high blue skirt, a matching blue shirt and a large golden cross.

"An old, bearded, respectable looking man wearing a white robe stood in front of me and said, 'I spit on your cross.' What was I to do?" she asked. "I'm not going to hide my cross, and I'm not going to cover my hair."

But she said many others covered their hair to avoid being recognized as Christians.

"It's not the first time," Sayyegh said. "It's been like this for years. But I'm not going anywhere. I'm Arab and Palestinian."

Palestinian officials say 5 people, including senior security officer, killed in shooting

By DIAA HADID=
Associated Press Writer=

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ A top Palestinian security officer and four of his bodyguards were killed Friday when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on their car in Gaza City, security officials said.

¶ The attack occurred near the Beach Refugee Camp in the middle of the afternoon, not far from the home of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

¶ The gunmen, driving a sport utility vehicle, targeted a gray Audi belonging to Brig. Gen. Jad Tayeh, the head of international coordination in the Palestinian intelligence service, spraying dozens of bullets into the car, said Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Abu Hilal.

¶ Tayeh was killed along with four bodyguards.

¶ The motive for the attack was not immediately clear, although officials speculated it could be an internal feud within the intelligence service. Security officials said the attackers took a black briefcase that Tayeh was carrying.

¶ "This crime and its timing is a dangerous message. We won't accept it or stay silent," said Interior Minister Said Siyam.

¶ He said the attack appeared timed to disrupt negotiations to form a national unity government.

¶ Gaza has been wracked for much of the year by internal violence between militants from Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in January, and those affiliated with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party, which controls the security services.

¶ The internal fighting ebbed after Israel began an offensive into Gaza in response to a June 25 attack by Hamas-linked militants that led to the capture of an Israeli soldier.

¶ Earlier this week, Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, said they would form a national unity government to try to end sanctions against the Palestinian Authority. Many Palestinians hoped that the agreement would also end the internal tensions.

¶ Also Friday, two homemade explosives detonated outside a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City, church workers said. A concussion grenade was later thrown at the building.

¶ The attack caused minor damage but no injuries. Church officials worried it was in retaliation
for remarks Pope Benedict XVI made Tuesday about Islam that angered Muslims.

¶ The pope cited an obscure Medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam's founder as "evil and inhuman," touching off protests across the Muslim world.

¶ "This is the first time this has ever happened to our church," said the Rev. Artinious Alexious. "We don't know why they have done this. We are Greek Orthodox and have no relation to the pope."

¶ Hossam Taweel, a Christian lawmaker and representative of Gaza's Christians, said there was no firm link between the attacks and the pope's comments.

¶ "We deal with this incident as a criminal activity and not as a sectarian act," he said.

Palestinians protest pope's comments on Islam

By DIAA HADID=
Associated Press Writer=

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ About 2,000 Palestinians angrily protested Friday night against Pope Benedict XVI, accusing him of leading a new Crusade against the Muslim world.

¶ Earlier, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic Hamas group, said the pope had offended Muslims everywhere.

¶ Speaking at a university in Germany on Tuesday, the pope quoted from a book recounting a conversation between 14th century Byzantine Christian Emperor Manuel Paleologos II and a Persian scholar on the truths of Christianity and Islam.

¶ "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the pope said.

¶ "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,'" he quoted the emperor as saying. He did not explicitly agree with them nor repudiate them.

¶ The Vatican said the pope did not intend the remarks to be offensive, but Muslim leaders condemned his comments.

¶ "In the name of the Palestinian people who live on holy Palestinian land, we express our rejection of the comments made by the holy pope about Islam as a faith, its religious law, history and way of life," Haniyeh said Friday. "These comments hide the truth and hurt its blessed essence."

¶ "We call on the holy pope to reconsider his statement and to stop offending the Islamic religion that has a billion and a half followers," he said.

¶ On Friday night about 2,000 protesters gathered outside the Palestinian parliament building to express their anger at the pope's statement.

¶ "This is a new crusade against the Arab Islamic world. It comes in different forms, in cartoons or lectures ... they hate our religion," Ismail Radwan, a local Hamas official, told the rally.

¶ The crowd also cheered when local Greek Orthodox church leaders denounced the pope's comments.

¶ The rally came hours after a small explosion caused minor damage in a courtyard outside a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City, in an attack that church officials feared was a retaliation for the pope's remarks. The early morning blast appeared to have been caused by a small, homemade explosive device. No one was injured in the explosion, which caused only minor damage.

¶ A second explosion hit the church hours later and a concussion grenade was thrown near the church in the afternoon. Neither of those blasts caused any damage.

¶ "This is the first time this has ever happened to our church," said the church's priest, Rev. Artinious Alexious. "We don't know why they have done this. We are Greek Orthodox and have no relation to the pope."

¶ Hossam Taweel, a Christian lawmaker and representative of Gaza's Christians, said there was no firm link between the attacks and the controversy over the Pope.

¶ "We deal with this incident as a criminal activity and not as a sectarian act," he said.

Palestinian prime minister accuses U.S. of undermining efforts to form new government

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday accused the United States of undermining efforts to form a new coalition government and he called on Europe to take the lead in lifting international sanctions against the Palestinians.

¶ European diplomats visiting the West Bank indicated formation of a unity government with Palestinian moderates could lead to restoration of vital foreign aid.

¶ Haniyeh spoke a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the new Palestinian government would have to accept international demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

¶ "The U.S. administration does not want the Palestinians to be unified. It puts obstacles in the way of this political coming together," Haniyeh told reporters. "It wants to extort the Palestinian people and the Palestinian government."

¶ Hamas, which has controlled the Palestinian government since March, caved in to the intense international pressure this week and agreed to share power with moderate President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party.

¶ While refusing to give up its calls for Israel's destruction, Hamas has said it will support Abbas' efforts to seek peace. The joint government, which is expected to take several weeks to form, is to be based on a document that calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel _ effectively recognizing the Jewish state.

¶ Abbas added conditions to the timetable late Thursday. He said that before formation of a new government, the issue of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked militants in June, as well as Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, must be resolved. Also, he said, there must be "complete calm in the Palestinian territories."

¶ Palestinian leaders hope the compromise arrangement will be enough for donor nations to resume much-needed aid, which was cut off after Hamas took power. The aid halt has caused widespread hardship in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

¶ With the U.S. maintaining a tough line, the Palestinians are increasingly hopeful that the European Union will be the first to ease the economic siege. A stream of European dignitaries have visited the region this week for talks with Israel and Abbas.

¶ After meeting Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy indicated formation of such a government could lead to resumption of assistance. He welcomed the document implicitly recognizing Israel and said if the new government accepts international demands, "the international community should re-evaluate and revisit its position toward political contacts and aid."

¶ The French minister added, "It is obvious that we remain attached to the three principles of the Quartet" of Mideast peace mediators _ recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence and acceptance of previous peace accords.

¶ Abbas also received a boost Thursday from Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn.

¶ "Israel has all the interest to support this initiative and the Americans have all the interest to support it, but first, it is the responsibility of the European Union," Asselborn said after meeting with Abbas. He said he will do everything he can do to support the Palestinians at a meeting of EU ministers in Austria on Friday.

¶ The "Quartet" of Mideast peacemakers _ the U.S., EU, Russia and the United Nations _ is expected to discuss the Middle East at a meeting in New York next week. The Quartet so far has shown given no indication that it will ease its demands of the Palestinians.

¶ Haniyeh urged Europe to break with the United States. "We expect from the international community, and especially the European Union, to be more balanced and fairer in dealing with the Palestinians," he said.

¶ But in Brussels, EU officials said it was unlikely any major policy changes will take place until the new Palestinian government is formed.

¶ In other developments, the Palestinians said they are sending a senior envoy to Syria to brief President Bashar Assad on the coalition talks. "We listen to them, they listen to us," said the envoy, former Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.

¶ Syria hosts a number of Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, and could exert considerable influence over the Islamic group.

¶ Israeli police, meanwhile, said they opened an investigation into three Israeli Arab lawmakers who recently traveled to Syria. The visit came after the end of the recent war with Lebanon, infuriating many Israelis. Syria is a key ally of Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that fought Israel.

¶ In Gaza, a 30-year-old unarmed Palestinian was killed by Israeli troops near the border with Egypt, Palestinian security and medical officials said. The Israeli military said soldiers opened fire at a "suspicious" figure who approached troops.

In major shift, Hamas gives Abbas go-ahead for talks with Israel

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Hamas officials gave Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas the go-ahead Tuesday for negotiations with Israel, a major shift in the militant Islamic group's position as it works to end its international isolation.

¶ An Israeli military court, meanwhile, ordered the release of 19 Hamas officials _ including Cabinet ministers and lawmakers _ from an Israeli prison. The men, arrested by Israel after the June 25 capture of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit by Hamas-linked militants, will remain behind bars for several more days pending an appeal by prosecutors.

¶ Israel said the court decision was not meant to reward Hamas for its moves toward moderation.

¶ "I don't think that right now we would be making gestures of goodwill for the Hamas. We would be making gestures of goodwill to Abu Mazen," Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said, referring to the moderate Abbas by his nickname. Eisin said the courts were independent of the government.

¶ Hamas, whose ideology calls for Israel's destruction, reached agreement Monday with Abbas' Fatah Party to form a unity government in an effort to end the financial crisis crippling the Palestinian economy. International donors cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority when Hamas formed its Cabinet six months ago. Hamas is listed as a terror group by Israel and the West.

¶ Abbas has long pushed for a resumption of peace talks with Israel, and Hamas said Tuesday he would have full authority to hold those negotiations.

¶ Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, said the government itself would not be involved in the talks because negotiations are supposed to be handled by the PLO, headed by Abbas. The distinction could allow Hamas to retain its hard-line credentials with the Palestinian street, while the government gains international acceptance.

¶ Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government, told Israel's Army Radio in Hebrew that the Palestinians would be ready to establish a state in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War _ the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

¶ Visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos said the new Palestinian coalition could be a "positive step in principle," but he stopped short of saying whether it would persuade the EU to restore aid to the Palestinian Authority.

¶ While Hamad said Hamas would not recognize Israel's right to exist, the joint government is to be based on a platform many believe implies recognition of the Jewish state.

¶ "We have nothing against negotiations, we have nothing against a diplomatic process, but we have rights," Hamad said.

¶ Israel, the U.S. and European Union have said Hamas must renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and accept past peace agreements.

¶ With negotiations over the government guidelines continuing, no date was set for it to take office.

¶ Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was heading to Washington on Tuesday for talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

¶ Israel wants to ensure the international community does not reward Hamas for half measures, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

¶ "If the new Palestinian government reaches the three benchmarks and Gilad Shalit is released, then things could move ahead very quickly," he said. "Anything less than that is just a recipe for further stagnation."

¶ And Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Shalit's release could lead to "meaningful talks" with the Palestinians.

¶ Shalit's capture sparked a broad Israeli offensive in Gaza, and security forces arrested three dozen Hamas officials on charges of belonging to a banned group.

¶ The military judge, who ruled Tuesday that 18 of those in custody should be freed, questioned the timing of the arrests, noting the men were permitted to run for office and serve in the Palestinian government for months before their detentions. He said the politicians _ including Parliament Speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik and Religious Affairs Minister Nayef Rajoub _ should be set released. In a separate hearing, a judge ordered Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer freed.

¶ Prosecutors plan to appeal Thursday. Decisions are expected next week. In the meantime, the 19 remain in prison.

¶ Earlier this week, the court ordered the release of three other Hamas members. That appeal is to be heard Wednesday.

¶ "The arrest of the parliamentarians and ministers was from the beginning an unjust arrest," Haniyeh said. "We hope all of them will be released."

¶ Despite the apparent easing of tensions, Hamas gunmen, along with members of another militant group, battled Israeli troops operating near Gaza's border with Israel, killing one soldier early Tuesday, the army said.

¶ Israeli troops also shot and killed a 13-year-old boy during a raid in the West Bank town of Bethlehem after youths began pelting troops with stones, witnesses and hospital officials said. The Israeli military said soldiers fired after they were attacked by Palestinians. One soldier was wounded.

Abbas says agreement reached on Fatah-Hamas coalition government

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

¶ GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh agreed Monday that their moderate Fatah and militant Hamas parties would form a coalition government.

¶ There were no immediate details on the provisions of the developing coalition agreement, or whether it would go far enough to end the economic siege. Both sides said it was based on a proposal that many have interpreted to imply recognition of Israel, a key international demand.

¶ Western nations and Israel have been withholding hundreds of millions of dollars from the Hamas-led government, which swept January parliamentary elections, because of the group's refusal to disarm, recognize Israel and accept existing peace agreements.

¶ Hamas and Fatah have been negotiating for months to form such a coalition. Abbas interrupted a meeting with Haniyeh to invite Palestinian media to hear his announcement.

¶ "The continuous efforts to form a national unity government have ended successfully with the announcement of a political program for this government," Abbas told Palestinian television and the official WAFA news agency. "Efforts in the next few days will continue to complete the formation of the national unity government."

¶ "The national interest requires our people to unite in a steady march forward so we can achieve victory by establishing our independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas added.

¶ Haniyeh, who said earlier in the day that he would retain his post under such a government, confirmed that the two parties planned to rule together.

¶ "I bring good news to the Palestinian people and I feel proud and content that at this important moment we establish a national coalition government," Haniyeh said.

¶ Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said the president would dissolve the existing Hamas-led government within 48 hours to pave the way for the formation of a coalition.

¶ Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat, who is close to Abbas, said final details of the coalition agreement had to be ironed out. Those details will help to decide whether the new coalition, if formed, wins the recognition the international community has denied the Hamas-only government.

¶ Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel hoped any future Palestinian government would accept the three international demands and facilitate the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked militants more than two months ago.

¶ "If that were to happen, we would have a re-energized peace process and new momentum in the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue," Regev said.

¶ Hamas officials said the agreement did not amount to direct recognition of Israel.

¶ A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, speaking in Beirut, said the British leader regarded the Palestinian leaders' announcement as "potentially, a hugely significant statement." Blair, who arrived in the region Saturday night for talks with leaders, had met Sunday with Abbas but boycotted the government.

¶ There was no comment from the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.

¶ The agreement to join forces indicates Hamas has buckled under crushing sanctions imposed to pressure it to moderate its anti-Israel ideology.

¶ Initially, Palestinians held the West and Israel to blame for their misfortune, but in recent weeks, began directing that criticism at the Hamas-led government. Tens of thousands of civil servants launched an open-ended strike last week to protest the government's failure to pay them for the past six months.

¶ Western aid and Israeli transfer payments, now withheld, had been the main source of government salaries before Hamas took power. The payment of erratic, small stipends has done little to alleviate the plight of many Palestinians.

¶ Both Abbas and Haniyeh urged workers to return to their jobs, but a union spokesman, Bassem Hadaida, said the strike would continue.

¶ Ziad Abu Amr, an independent lawmaker who participated in the Abbas-Haniyeh meeting, said he expected the government would be formed "very quickly because the president and prime minister are eager to end the internal and external crisis that the Palestinian people are facing."

¶ The proposal that would form the basis of the coalition's political program calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, acceptance of U.N. resolutions calling for a territorial settlement, and an end to violence inside the borders of sovereign Israel. It also calls for acceptance of an Arab initiative that would lead to a comprehensive settlement of the Mideast conflict.

¶ Israel has rejected the plan, which would require a full Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
¶ ___
¶ Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.