Excerpts: Iraq advances. Muslims victimize Christians 26 October 2005

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 26 Oct.'05:
"Editorial: The Voice of Iraq"
EXCERPTS"

ALL interested parties will try to extract the message that most suits them
from the overwhelming endorsement of the new Iraqi Constitution ...
regardless of any spin, the plain fact is that first the interim
parliamentary elections and now the constitutional referendum have taken
place, despite dire predictions that the men of violence would sabotage the
process. The stage is now set for final parliamentary elections in early
December at which point Iraq will have ... completed its rapid
transformation from a single-party dictatorship to a pluralist democracy.
One notable factor ... is the number of Sunnis who decided to take part.
They boycotted the interim parliamentary election, either out of fear or
because they did not believe the process really included them.
[IMRA: Some may have refused to vote because they considered the process
ivalid and did not want to legitimize it by participation."
This time it appears that they changed their minds. ... votes cast jumped
from two million to some ten million. Just how many of these extra electors
were actually Sunni, newly intent on making their views known and how many
were Shiites anxious to secure an overwhelming endorsement for the new
constitution, is bound to be a matter of considerable debate. It is
nevertheless clear that many more Sunnis did vote this time, perhaps
encouraged by the offer from Shiite and Kurdish parties to agree to further
adjustments to the new constitution once the final Parliament has been
elected.
Sunnis are, therefore, likely to go to the ballot boxes in even bigger
numbers in December in order to ensure that their community secures
sufficient representation in the new National Assembly to make their voice
heard in the reopened constitutional debate. ... for a second time, the men
of violence came nowhere in this election. Their bloody campaign appeared to
be increasing in ferocity in the weeks before the constitutional vote.
Nevertheless, in the event, they were unable to disrupt the process nor, it
seems, to dissuade an important number of voters from exercising their
democratic rights. ... .
However, in targeting the Palestine and Sheraton hotels where much of the
world's media is based, the terrorists may have hoped to pull off a
"spectacular" that would renew their claim to be the ones who should have a
say in deciding Iraq's future.
... Though 78 percent of Iraqis who voted supported the new constitution, 22
percent did not and no future government in Baghdad can afford to ignore the
concerns and suspicions of such a significant minority. ... the terrorists
are far from defeated, but yesterday the decent, peace-loving people of Iraq
clearly notched up another victory.

+++JERUSALEM POST 21Oct.'05:"Away from the manger - a Christian-Muslim
divide"
By Khaled Abu Toameh

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"Azizeh, they argue, would not have been targeted had he belonged to one
of the large and
influential Muslim clans in Bethlehem"

"accusing Israel and Jewish organizations of spreading lies about 'Muslim
persecution' of Christians."

" 'Relations between Muslims and Christians have never been better' "

" 'When one of the Christian owners refused to sell his land to a senior
Palestinian security official , he was arrested for a number of days.' "

" 'Almost all 140 cases of expropriation of land in the last three years
were committed by militant Islamic groups and members of the Palestinian
police' "

" ' In 1950 the Christian population of Bethlehem was 75%. Today we have
hardly more than 12% Christians' "
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXCERPTS:

Tourists and pilgrims who visited Bethlehem over the past decade or so must
have run into Farid Azizeh, a Christian businessman who, together with his
wife, ran a small coffee shop on Manger Square. . . .
Azizeh's coffee shop was among the few businesses in Bethlehem that had
remained open after the intifada began in September 2000. "The situation
will one day return to normal," he once said when asked about the new cycle
of violence. ... .But life will never return to normal for Azizeh, who for
many years served as a member of the Bethlehem municipal council.
About three years ago, unidentified gunmen opened fire at Azizeh's car on
one of the main streets of the city, hitting him in the head. ... with the
help of Israeli friends, he was transferred to Hadassah University Hospital
in Jerusalem, where doctors managed to save his life. However, several
surgeries failed to save his eyesight.
Since then, the coffee shop has closed and Azizeh, who was known as a
socialite, rarely leaves his home.
Azizeh's attackers remain at large, although their identity is known to
many. Only days before the shooting, Azizeh had refused to withdraw a
complaint he had filed against a Muslim driver who killed two of his
relatives in a car accident. The driver's family is said to have sought the
help of local Fatah militiamen in "persuading" Azizeh to back off.
... the case of Azizeh, 72, is seen by many Christians in the context of a
campaign allegedly waged by Muslims against the Christian minority in the
city. Azizeh, they argue, would not have been targeted had he belonged to
one of the large and influential Muslim clans in Bethlehem.
"The Christians here are perceived as easy prey," complains a prominent
Christian businessman. "In recent years there has been an upsurge in the
number of attacks on Christians in Bethlehem."
Muslim and Christian political leaders in the city strongly deny the
existence of an organized anti-Christian campaign, insisting that the
violence is mostly the result of "personally motivated" disputes that are
unrelated to religion. The victims of crime include both Muslims and
Christians, they add, accusing Israel and Jewish organizations of spreading
lies about "Muslim persecution" of Christians.
[IMRA: Naturally.]
"Reports of Muslim attacks on Christians are wildly exaggerated and you
should be careful not to play into the hands of the Israeli propaganda
machine," advises Omar al-Khatib, the imam of a mosque in Bethlehem.
"Relations between Muslims and Christians have never been better."
Yet off the record, many Christians in Bethlehem who were interviewed during
the past week expressed deep concern over increased attacks by Muslims on
members of their community. Moreover, most of them said that they were
seriously considering moving to the US, Canada and Latin America, where many
of their relatives already live.
Jihad, a Christian merchant from the nearby town of Beit Jala, who has been
dealing in antique furniture for over 30 years, says he is planning to leave
for good to Chile, where at least 80,000 of his townsfolk now live. "There
are less than 10,000 Christians living in Beit Jala today," he explains.
"There's no future here because of the deteriorating economic conditions."
His friend, George, who used to own a souvenir shop, says he's planning to
move next week to Peru, where his brothers and sisters have been living for
the past 15 years. The two, who asked to be identified only by their first
names, are extremely cautious when the issue of Muslim-Christian relations
is raised. "It's true that there have been a number of cases of violence
against Christians, but generally speaking the situation is not that bad,"
George stresses.
Other Christians in Beit Jala disagree. According to a local physician, the
plight of the Christians has been aggravated over the past decade in general
and since the outbreak of the intifada in particular. "After the Palestinian
Authority arrived here in 1995, many Muslim families from Hebron and other
parts of the West Bank have moved to Beit Jala," he says. "What's worrying
is that some of them have illegally seized privately-owned lands. When one
of the Christian owners refused to sell his land to a senior Palestinian
security official, he was arrested for a number of days."
In another case, a 60-year-old Christian man was briefly detained by one of
the Palestinian security forces because he had forbidden his daughter to
date a Muslim security officer. Other Christians who tried to stop Fatah
gunmen in Beit Jala from firing into the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo in
the first years of the intifada later reported that they had been beaten or
threatened by the gunmen.
The same gunmen are also responsible for the rape and murder of two
Christian teenage sisters from the Amr family. The assailants then claimed
that the sisters had been murdered because they were "prostitutes" and had
been "collaborating" with Israeli security forces - a claim that has been
strongly denied by the victims' relatives and many residents of the town.
"The gangsters murdered the two sisters so that they would not tell anyone
about the rape," says a family member. "Some of the murderers were later
killed by the Israeli army, but others are now living in Europe after they
had sought refuge in the Church of Nativity. It's absurd that Muslim men who
rape and murder Christian girls are given political asylum in Christian
countries like Ireland, Spain and Italy."
Last week Beit Jala was once again the scene of religious tensions after a
Christian woman complained that she had been harassed by Muslim men from the
village of Beit Awwa in the Hebron area. "Such incidents have become a daily
phenomenon," says Mary, who runs a small grocery in the town. "Many
Christian families have sent their daughters abroad for fear they would come
under attack by Muslim men."
Earlier this year tensions between Muslims and Christians in Bethlehem
reached a peak after a Christian family complained that their 16-year-old
daughter had been kidnapped by a Muslim man. Following the intervention of
senior Palestinian officials and Muslim leaders, the girl was reunited with
her family after spending a few days in a village near Hebron. With the help
of American diplomats, the girl was flown immediately to the US to begin a
new life with relatives and friends.
Some Christians point a finger at the foreign media and diplomatic missions
in Israel, accusing them of ignoring their predicament for "political"
reasons. "Although most of the foreign journalists and diplomats are
Christians, they don't seem to pay enough attention to what's happening to
the Christians in Bethlehem," says Bishara, a Christian tourist guide.
"They're obviously afraid of damaging their relations with the Palestinian
Authority."
While it's almost impossible to find a Christian who's prepared to go public
in airing such grievances, Samir Qumsiyeh, a journalist from Beit Sahur, is
a notable exception. Last month he was quoted by the Italian newspaper
Corriere della Sera as saying that Christians were being subjected to rape,
kidnapping, extortion and expropriation of land and property.
Qumsiyeh, who was not available this week for an interview because he was
out of the country, heads a local TV station called Al-Mahd [Nativity]. In a
daring step, Qumsiyeh drew up a list of 93 cases of anti-Christian violence
between 2000 and 2004.
"This file is incomplete ... ," he told the Italian newspaper. "Look at the
case of Rawan William Mansour, a 17-year-old girl from Bet Sahur. She was
raped two years ago by four members of Fatah. Even though the family
protested, none of the four was ever arrested. Because of the shame her
family was forced to move to Jordan.
"Almost all 140 cases of expropriation of land in the last three years were
committed by militant Islamic groups and members of the Palestinian police."
Qumsiyeh said he was now preparing a book on the conditions of the Christian
minority. "I will call it 'Racism in Action,'" he says. "The racism against
us is gaining pace in staggering ways. In 1950 the Christian population in
Bethlehem was 75%. Today we have hardly more than 12% Christians. If the
situation continues, we won't be here any more in 20 years."

Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA