Aug 17, 2007 / 08:12 am
The Christian minority in Gaza are under increasing pressure by Hamas to become Muslims, submit to Islamic law or leave the Gaza Strip, says a report by the Cybercast News Service.
Hamas, an Islamic terrorist group that won last year's Palestinian parliamentary elections, completed a military takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, handily defeating Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Following the takeover, Hamas announced that an era of strict Islamic rule had begun in Gaza.
According to a report in Middle East Newsline last week, Hamas is moving fast against non-Muslims in the area. Fatah officials who spoke to the news service on condition of anonymity said Hamas is pressing leaders of the 2,000-member Christian community to either convert to Islam or emigrate.
The Jerusalem Post earlier reported that Prof. Sana al-Sayegh, dean of the science and technology faculty at Palestine University and a Christian, had been abducted by several of her Muslim colleagues and forced to convert and marry a Muslim man.