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CURRENT
ISSUE: February 20, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 4Oakland,
CA
Palestinian Christians worry
about the victory of Hamas
JERUSALEM
-- Moderate Muslims and Christians in the West Bank and Gaza say they
fear that Hamas, which scored a stunning victory in last month’s
Palestinian elections, will apply a strict interpretation of Islamic law
that will hinder religious freedom.
But so far, Hamas has not acted on promises to do so. And political analysts
predict Hamas is unlikely to restrict the rights of religious minorities
anytime soon, because an international backlash could hurt the movement.
Almost as soon as the Jan. 25 election results were in, Sheikh Mohammed
Abu Teir, the No. 2 candidate on the Hamas election list, announced that
the movement plans to introduce “Shariah,” the religious law
of Islam.
“The No. 1 thing we will do is take Shariah as a source for legislation,”
Abu Teir told The Globe and Mail newspaper.
The promise has set off alarms because non-Muslims face varying degrees
of discrimination in countries where Shariah is stringently practiced.
Palestinian Christians, who see themselves as a beleaguered minority within
a minority, are watching Hamas’ actions particularly closely.
The Holy Land’s struggling Christian minority has dwindled dramatically
over the decades, as those who could emigrate from the war-torn, economically
depressed region packed their bags and moved to places like the U.S.,
Canada and Australia.
Today, the community comprises less than two percent of the Palestinian
and Israeli populations, a number that could decrease even further if
Hamas pursues a path of religious exclusion.
Hamas’ reaction to cartoons, first published in Denmark, disrespecting
the Prophet Muhammed has allayed the concerns of some Christians.
In Gaza, Islamic groups distributed a pamphlet calling on “The faithful”
to attack local churches. But Mahmoud Zahar, a top Hamas official, made
a solidarity visit to the area’s only Catholic church.
“I called Zahar to tell him about the (pamphlet) and he came to
reassure the Sisters and the priests and the Christians that Hamas will
protect us and not leave us alone to suffer,” said Father Manuel
Mussalem, parish priest of the Holy Family Church.
“He assured us that we Christians are part of the Palestinian people.”
Yet some Palestinians continue to worry that their rights are now threatened
by the Hamas victory.
“There is much concern that they might use the political system
to impose restrictions on religious freedom,” warned Mohammed Dajani,
director of the American Studies Center at Al-Quds University.
Hamas, an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded during
the late 1980s, during the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising. The
movement, which advocates the destruction of Israel and Islamic domination
of the world, is on the U.S.
government’s list of terror organizations.
Founded on the strictest precepts of Islam, the movement is particularly
popular among poorer Palestinians because it provides a wide range of
social, educational and medical services not provided by the Palestinian
Authority.
Analysts say the election showed that the public widely believes that
the secular Fatah, until now the ruling party, misappropriated hundreds
of millions of dollars in overseas donations.
Hamas’ network, in contrast, is said to be run efficiently, with
little waste and even less corruption. It is largely funded by fundamentalist
Muslim governments and their fervently pious citizens.
Hamas won 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament, ushering
in a new era in Palestinian political -- and perhaps religious -- life.
Palestinian law is largely secular in nature, though it relies on Shariah
when it comes to marriage and other issues related to personal status.
Abu Teir said that Hamas will soon require girls and boys to study in
separate classes, a practice already common, but by no means universal,
in the Palestinian territories.
The cleric stressed, however, that alcohol will not be banned and that
no woman will be forced to wear a hijab, an Islamic head scarf.
“We are centrists,” Abu Teir insisted. “We are against
any kind of extremism.”
By the standards of the conservative Arab world, Palestinian society has
a long tradition of religious and political moderation. Alcoholic beverages
are available everywhere, for example, and women are encouraged to get
a good education, a job and a driver’s license.
Those who wear head scarves or long robes do so out of choice and local
social norms, and not because the law dictates it, Dajani said.
For this reason, Dajani said, Hamas will not be able to impose Shariah
law.
“That would contradict the basic constitution,” Dajani said.
“If they try, there will be a backlash, as there was in Kalkilya.”
Although Hamas won the municipal election in that West Bank city, its
efforts to forbid residents from celebrating the secular Palestinian National
Day resulted in a resounding loss for Hamas in the legislative election,
Dajani said.
Eileen Kuttab, the director of Women’s Studies at Birzeit University,
says Hamas will not push Shariah because “it isn’t ready to
promote a conflict within the society that has given it their vote. They
realize that people voted for them to end a dozen years of corruption,
not due to their religious agenda.”
In the event that Hamas does try to force women to cover their faces with
a veil, for example, “civil society will be mobilized against them,”
Kuttab said. “I don’t think this will happen during their
first term in office."
