Two articles from CNS:
The Gaza compound of the Rosary Sisters was ransacked and looted and sacred objects were destroyed during Palestinian infighting that led to the Hamas faction’s takeover of the Gaza Strip.
Msgr. Manuel Musallam, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza, said gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to break down the doors of the compound, which is located some distance from the Holy Family Parish compound in the Tenalhawa section of Gaza. He estimated damages at more than $500,000.
"This is more than vandalism," he said. "They forced open the door and entered and destroyed everything. The even put the sisters’ beds on fire."
The attack occurred June 14, but Msgr. Musallam made it public June 18. He said the attackers stole several computers, destroyed all the crosses in the compound, burned copies of the Bible and smashed a statue of Jesus. No nuns were at the compound when the attack occurred, he said.
Msgr. Musallam said he was very angry following the attack and sent seething letters to Hamas leaders.
He said he was visited by Hamas Cabinet ministers, who denounced the attack, denied Hamas involvement and promised to repair all damages. Deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, also spoke out against the attack, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose rival Fatah faction has been forced out of Gaza, called it "barbaric."
Hamas leaders also offered to provide guards for the compound, but Msgr. Musallam said he declined.
Some Christians in the Gaza Strip — including an official of Catholic Relief Services — expressed concern about their future after Islamic militants of Hamas took control of the Palestinian territory.
Omar Shaban, CRS project manager for Gaza, said he did not know how Hamas, an Islamic extremist political and military movement, would view the U.S. bishops’ international relief and development agency. CRS had been working with the unity government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before five days of infighting between the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza.
"With Fatah as a secular organization we had no problems, but with Hamas I am not sure how they will perceive us," Shaban told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview.
He also noted that CRS no longer has a governmental body to work with in the Gaza Strip, since, as a U.S. nongovernmental organization, CRS is forbidden to have contact with Hamas. The U.S. government considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
Israel has closed its borders with the Gaza enclave, which is dependent on imports and foreign aid, and fuel was beginning to run short, Shaban said in mid-June. He said Gaza’s 1.5 million residents, 80 percent of whom live under the poverty line, only had about two weeks of basic supplies left.
"I can’t predict what will happen, but one thing is for certain: There is a group within Hamas which is starting to talk of the Islamization of society. Right now they are a small group, but the more pressure is put on, the more extreme they will become," he said.
Msgr. Musallam also spoke to AsiaNews:
Father Manuel is reluctant to talk about persecution. Instead, he said that “our relations with the Muslims are not only good, they are excellent. I don’t think what happened came from a direct order from Hamas or Fatah. In the past when the Church had difficulties, they came to our defence—for example, when there were demonstrations against the Muhammad cartoons or after the Pope’s speech in Regensburg.”
As proof he said that “just this morning at least a hundred people, both Christian and Muslim, came to see me. Even Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas phoned me from Ramallah to express friendship and his strong condemnation.”
“The whole Gaza community is close to us. Two Hamas minister came to visit the convent and the school run by the sisters and promised to repair all the damage. Some religious sheikhs also came today. Whoever did it was armed. The doors of the convent were knocked open with mortars. It shows how barbaric they and their attempt to make troubles between Christians and Muslims are.”
In Gaza there are five sisters of the Rosary; three run the school (a kindergarten and an elementary school) of about 500 pupils.
“It is a service that the families appreciate very much,” said Father Manuel. “In our parish we also have a school for 1,200 pupils of every background. Even local fundamentalists send their children to our school which is considered the best in the area,” he added.
Significantly, the Church is also present with four Little Sisters of the Père de Foucauld and six missionaries of Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity.
“As Christians our presence in Gaza is discreet,” he explained, “But please pray for us. We need your spiritual support but also an answer to the difficulties people face: hunger, joblessness, tension. We are tired. The pressures under which we suffer every day are above all a burden on the heart, on families. Then we have the violence outside. To build peace, we need to heal and give peace to the heart.”
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