‘Arab Spring’ becoming Nightmare for Christians

Rise of Islamic groups bringing wave of intimidation, persecution
By Aaron Klein
2/8/2012 Middle East (World Net Daily) – As Islamic groups gain power throughout the Middle East, Christians here fear for their safety and are concerned about their role with regard to the future of the volatile region.
“I fear for the Christians of the Middle East because it’s a bad situation for them,” Lebanese parliamentarian Samy Gemayel told WND.
Gemayel, a senior member of the Phalange party, said he received information last week about a specific assassination plot against him.
“I just got the information from the head of security, and he asked me not to go to a specific place, because he had information that something was going to happen there,” he said.
While the exact nature of the purported assassination plot remains unclear, Gemayel, who descends from a historic Lebanese Christian family, said he is taking the new threats seriously.
His older brother, Pierre, was a member of parliament and a government minister before his assassination Nov. 21, 2006. His uncle, former President-elect Bashir Gemayel, also was assassinated.
Christians have been a minority in numerous Middle East countries for several decades, facing routine mistreatment and occasional persecution for much of that time.
However, in the last year, the so-called Arab Spring has sparked intensified concern, with reports of an increase in attacks against Christians in some countries here.
Islamists already have ascended to power in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Yemen and other countries face similar prospects, with Muslim Brotherhood-allied group consisting of much of the opposition that stands to gain from any power-sharing system.
Since the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Coptic Christians have been facing a wave of Islamic attacks, including murders, rapes, church burnings and institutional intimidation. Some reports say more than 200,000 Copts already have fled their homes.
When Copts attempted to protest last October, security forces reportedly fired at the protesters, killing 24 and wounding more than300 people.
Last weekend, the Global Post quoted numerous Syrian Christians, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressing deep concern that if the secular regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad collapses, Islamists may gain power and persecute Christians.
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Since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, the coastal territory’s 3,000-strong Christian community has been facing rampant persecution.
One Gaza Christian leader told WND that Christians living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip held only small, quiet Christmas celebrations in December after local leaders received warnings for the fifth year in a row from Muslim groups against any public display of Christianity.
Islamists have been suspected in a string of anti-Christian attacks, including the bombing of a Christian bookstore in November 2007 and the murder of the store’s manager, local Christian resident Rami Ayyad.
After Hamas’ rise to power, Christians in Gaza repeatedly have been targeted. The Islamic extremist group Jihadia Salafiya is suspected of many of the Islamist attacks, such as a May 2007 shooting against a United Nations school in Gaza after it allowed boys and girls to participate in the same sporting event. One person was killed in the attack.
In the case of Ayyad, who managed the only Christian bookstore in Gaza, his body was discovered riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. Just before his murder, Ayyad, a Baptist, was publicly accused by Abu Islam’s group of engaging in missionary activities. Ayyad’s bookstore, owned by the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April 2007, after which, he told relatives, he received numerous death threats from Islamists.
WND quoted witnesses stating Ayyad was publicly tortured a few blocks from his store before he was shot to death.
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