As images of jubilant Hamas supporters filling the air with gunfire splashed across the television more than two weeks ago, 50 children were huddled nearby in an evangelical church in Gaza dodging the falling bullets.
The scene paints a metaphorical picture of the political bullet-dodging one evangelical pastor in the region thinks might be the plight of churches in the coming days. The situation, he said, turned unpredictable on a dime when the Islamic militant party Hamas pulled out a surprise defeat of the ruling party, Fatah, in the Jan. 25 Palestinian elections.
Reporters in the area cited an almost palpable gloom after election results showed that Hamas won 76 seats and Fatah — formerly Yasser Arafat’s party — won 43 in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council.
Fatah, a main faction in the Palestine Liberation Organization, signed on to the 1993 Oslo accords and the roadmap to peace in 2003.
But Palestinians apparently had grown tired of the corruption and ineffectiveness associated with the party’s rule. After 10 years in power, Fatah had yet to achieve Palestinian statehood.
The victory of Hamas, a nearly 20-year-old Islamic group classified by the United States as a terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel, casts doubt on whether the Mideast peace process will proceed.
Hamas has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel since a Palestinian uprising broke out more than five years ago, according to Reuters.
President George W. Bush said Jan. 26 that the United States will not negotiate with Hamas toward Middle East peace unless the party renounces violence.
“If the West puts more pressure on Hamas and uses violence against Hamas this also becomes pressure to the local Christian because many militant Muslims connect the local Christian with the West,” said an evangelical pastor in the region, noting that with the growth of religious fanatics, the region has grown more violent and militant in the last five years “than I have ever seen.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, connected Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
“Hamas is not just another Palestinian party,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “It is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is still illegal in Egypt. In the Arab world, the Muslim Brotherhood is viewed as the main precursor for all radical Islamist groups, including Al Qaeda.”
With the world watching, Hamas said it will not dismantle its military wing and will focus first on political and education reform before moving toward issues of peace and diplomacy, The Washington Post reported.
The group also said it intends to work with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to form a political partnership, though a senior Hamas official was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as saying negotiating with Israel is “not on our agenda.”
“If Hamas forms the government, there will be no relationship with Israel and our siege will be worse,” the evangelical pastor said. In the time since the election, signs are already visible of the deeper strain on the relationship with Israel, he said — certain needed products that come from Israel, such as baby food, are nowhere to be found in the markets.
The new party in power could also install an Islamic government, ruling the region with sharia law, he said. “This would limit the personal freedom we have, affect our social life and of course affect and limit our Christian ministries in the region.”
A Southern Baptist worker from Alabama who works among Arabs in the Middle East asked for prayer for Palestinian Christians.
“This is a very fearful time for them. Pray for the believers who reach out in the name of Jesus to their Muslim neighbors — they could be facing more severe persecution,” he said.
The headline “Hamas Election Victory Shocks World” shocked him, too, he said. It’s a local shock for him, though, and a despair in which Christians there are struggling to find hope.
But in the midst of what seems to be a dismal surprise for Christians in the area, he still sees a glimmer of hope. “There has been a growing dissatisfaction with the Fatah. Palestinians’ lives in Gaza and the West Bank have steadily gotten worse,” he said. “Fatah is seen as corrupt — politicians and government officials get richer while ordinary people go hungry.”
There is no rule of law with Fatah, but Hamas is trusted because it is “religious,” he said. “Hamas has provided services like clinics and kindergartens. So I think — or perhaps just hope — that this election is mostly about food and jobs and normal life.”
But despite the victory celebrations of hard-line supporters that were splashed across the television, the Baptist worker said he thinks most people were not so much for Hamas as they were fed up with Fatah.
“I guess time will tell,” he said. (BP contributed)
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