Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is a narrow coastal strip of land that runs along the Mediterranean Sea. With a population of 1.4 million, almost all Arabs (who claim to be "Palestinians"), in an area of only 139 square miles, it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world and has been littered with refugee camps. The strip takes its name from Gaza, the main city.

History

Historically the Gaza Strip was part of the land controlled by ancient Israel after the removal of the Philistines. An Islamic area since the Islamic conquest of the 7th century, it was controlled by the British after World War I and was to be a part of an independent "Palestinian" state in 1948 based upon a UN partition, but the first Arab-Israeli War saw Israel take most of the region that would have made the Arab state and Egypt absorbed the Gaza Strip, which overflowed with refugees from the war. In 1967 Israel overran the area in the Six Day War and administered the region. They built settlements, but these never attracted many people and only 10,000 Israelis lived there by 2005 among the Arab residents. The Israeli government withdrew, with strong objections from the settlers, leaving the area under the control of the Palestinian Authority. In 2007, Hamas overran the Palestinian Authority and took de facto control for themselves.

Hostilities in late 2008-present

Terrorists are still attacking Israel from the Gaza strip with missiles. In response to this, Israel is bombarding the strip in order to prevent more threats to its population on the border. On January 3, 2009 Israel has started a ground campaign in Gaza. It was preceded by an artillery barrage to soften the border so Israeli troops could cross safer. The campaign was against Hamas targets and Israel never had any plans to reoccupy the land. Hamas, rather than stop firing rockets into Gaza has begun sabre rattling and stated that they will kidnap and kill invading Israeli soldiers and cause mental illness from the horrors they will bring them. They have also stated that they will begin suicide attacks again.[2]

Today

A very poor and desolate area, the residents of the area live in poverty and squalor, mainly due to the control of their daily lives by Hamas. The Strip is not self-sufficient and counts on outside aid, but Hamas takes most foreign aid for itself to manufacture more bombs and rockets. There is continued friction with Israel with home made rockets being fired by the Gaza residents and occasional open fighting. Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist. The Strip has been the source of many suicide missions against Israel as well Kasam rocket fire against the settlements and towns of southern Israel.

Israel controls the Gaza strip’s airspace and offshore maritime access, in order to prevent more materials being given to Hamas terrorists.

Christians in Gaza Strip

The Arab Palestinians are roughly 94% Muslim.

The Gaza Strip is currently under the control of Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization. Christians face persecution and pressure to convert and have next to no rights.^[1] There are three churches in Gaza:Baptist,Orthodox and Catholic. ^[2]^[3] ^[4]

At least since 2012, Gaza Christians sense pressure to convert to Islam ^[5]

2019 report cited "Islamic oppression" as the main source of persecution at Chrustian small minirity of Arab Palestinians.^[6]

Bigotry

In 2020, 93% of West Bank and Gaza population harbor anti-Semitic attitudes.^[7]

External links

References

↑ http://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch/palestinian_territories.php
↑ http://www.worldmag.com/2010/04/tested_by_fire
↑ http://www.explorecorps.org/Reports_From_The_Field/Entries/2009/2/15_Gazas_Church_of_Saint_Porphyrius.html
↑ http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=25263
↑ Nidal al-Mughrabi, "Gaza Christians sense pressure to convert to Islam", Reuters, July 26, 2012
↑ A Christian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post, Dec 25, 2019.
In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox.
...
“Though the Christians in the PA avoid saying so publicly, many of them fear – with good reason – that Muslim aggression against them will only escalate,” wrote Edy Cohen, a researcher at the center. “Such fears are all the stronger in light of the thunderous silence of the Western [and Israeli] media, in the face of the Christian minority’s ongoing disappearance from the PA and Islamic lands in general.”
He added, pointedly, that “the ongoing international neglect of the plight of the Christians under PA rule can only lead to the vanishing of Christianity from the place where it emerged.”
In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox...
The situation of Christians in Bethlehem has deteriorated dramatically in the last century, and especially since the PA took control of the city in 1995. In 1947, Christians comprised about 85% of the city’s population, but that figure had plunged to 16% by 2016, and is estimated since then.
Bethlehem’s mayor at the time said that, “Due to the stress – either physical or psychological – and the bad economic situation, many people are emigrating: either Christians or Muslims, but it is more apparent among Christians because they already are a minority.”
A study by the Pew Research Center found that the decline in the Arab Christian population was both a result of a lower birth rate among Christians compared to Muslims and the fact that Christians were more likely to emigrate than any other religious group. A statistical analysis of the Christian exodus cited a lack of economic and educational opportunities among a community known for its middle-class status and higher education.
↑ ADL. / Global 100 [1] West Bank and Gaza 2020: 93% Index Score, 93%. 1,900,000 People in this country harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. 2,030,259 Adult population.

"The Mufti.. concocted a new kind of antisemitism that combined traditional Muslim antisemitism, like the anti-Jewish verses you find in the Koran, with the Nazi antisemitism that demonised Jews... His whole ideology was antisemitic and from the very beginning he targeted Jews, not Zionists."

The difference between lies and reality is sometimes just a color on a map

Lord Peel to W. Ormsby-Gore as he was preparing the royal commission report, "Though I knew there was ill-feeling between Jews and Arabs, I had not realized the depth and intensity of the hatred with which the Jews are held by the Arabs..."

"It is not Israel's settlement blocks but rather the Palestinian ideological blockade that constitutes the biggest barrier to peaceful arrangements . The Jew-hatred in this region must no longer be played down as a kind of local custom ..."

The only tweet (July 2014) on the Twitter account of the late American Elan Ganeles - murdered by Arab-Islamist "Palestinian" on Feb 27, 2023 hy"d: "I think you're always going to have tension in the Middle East, when there's [are] people who want to kill Jews, and the Jews don't want to be killed, and neither side is willing to compromise."

[1] ttp://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/worldwatch/palestinian_territories.php

[2] ttp://www.worldmag.com/2010/04/tested_by_fire

[3] ttp://www.explorecorps.org/Reports_From_The_Field/Entries/2009/2/15_Gazas_Church_of_Saint_Porphyrius.html

[4] ttp://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=25263

[5] Nidal al-Mughrabi, "Gaza Christians sense pressure to convert to Islam", Reuters, July 26, 2012

[jp25dec2019-6] A Christian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post, Dec 25, 2019.
In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox.
...
“Though the Christians in the PA avoid saying so publicly, many of them fear – with good reason – that Muslim aggression against them will only escalate,” wrote Edy Cohen, a researcher at the center. “Such fears are all the stronger in light of the thunderous silence of the Western [and Israeli] media, in the face of the Christian minority’s ongoing disappearance from the PA and Islamic lands in general.”
He added, pointedly, that “the ongoing international neglect of the plight of the Christians under PA rule can only lead to the vanishing of Christianity from the place where it emerged.”
In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox...
The situation of Christians in Bethlehem has deteriorated dramatically in the last century, and especially since the PA took control of the city in 1995. In 1947, Christians comprised about 85% of the city’s population, but that figure had plunged to 16% by 2016, and is estimated since then.
Bethlehem’s mayor at the time said that, “Due to the stress – either physical or psychological – and the bad economic situation, many people are emigrating: either Christians or Muslims, but it is more apparent among Christians because they already are a minority.”
A study by the Pew Research Center found that the decline in the Arab Christian population was both a result of a lower birth rate among Christians compared to Muslims and the fact that Christians were more likely to emigrate than any other religious group. A statistical analysis of the Christian exodus cited a lack of economic and educational opportunities among a community known for its middle-class status and higher education.

[7] ADL. / Global 100 [1] West Bank and Gaza 2020: 93% Index Score, 93%. 1,900,000 People in this country harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. 2,030,259 Adult population.

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