May 16, 2015

Pope Tries To Hold Palestinians Accountable For Murder Of Christians




[From article]
The Vatican holds no sway in most of the region, but “The State of Palestine” claims responsibility for both Gaza and the West Bank. The Vatican may believe that use of the symbolic title “State of Palestine” is a reasonable trade-off for trying to formalize the responsibility of the PA for the behavior of Hamas in Gaza, as well as for its own harassed and declining Christian population.
[. . .]
Along with mandating Islamic dress codes for all women in Gaza, Hamas has banned wine, including wine for communion; it is brewed now in secret. In 2007, the owner of the Gaza's Bible Society bookstore was murdered after being accused of proselytizing. The YMCA library in Gaza was blown up and all 8,000 books were destroyed or stolen. In 2011, Hamas cancelled Christmas, banning festivities and crucifixes.
[. . .]
The Vatican and the Palestinians, it seems, were frying different fish. The Vatican needs to worry about Christians in the region and can't talk to ISIS or Syria or Iran, so it chose the “State of Palestine” to take a stand for the “essential life of the Church.” The PA only wants to look like a state in the eyes of the media and thus further irritate Israel -- and it succeeded.


May 15, 2015
Christians in the Middle East: Sometimes it isn't About Israel
By Shoshana Bryen

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