The Eudaimonia Blog

As a reminder, all excerpts on Bishara Awad’s story are taken from his book Yet in the Dark Streets Shining. This book was recommended to me by Dr. James Houston former principal and founder of Regent College here in Vancouver.

Leaving the Islamic Center in Hebron, in the taxi ride, Salim was the first to speak up, “I know the scripture must have been hard for them to hear, and I can’t believe how respectfully they listened.” Andrew replied, “I’m troubled by their statement that they will avenge the massacre though.” Bishara and Salim agreed. Salim shared, “I’ve learned something powerful tonight. All this time we thought that Islamic fundamentalists would never listen to us and so we didn’t even try. What I’ve seen is that we were the ones who built the walls around ourselves, not them. They are open and willing to engage. It just goes to show that we can never make assumptions about people.” Andrew responded, “As I have always said, there is no such thing as a closed door.”

The next day, the men drove to the Gaza Strip. While teachers of the college held intensives every Friday evening, it was becoming increasingly difficult for residents of the West Bank to travel to “the Strip.” The college also had a partnership with Gaza’s Baptist church, the only Protestant church in the Strip as Pastor Hanna Massad discipled the Gazan students.

But rather than meet with their Gazan Bible students, this trip was an extension of the one in Hebron. The men would meet with Dr. Mahmoud Zahar who was a co-founder of Hamas. Dr. Zahar was an Egyptian-trained doctor and established a medical clinic serving one of the poorest sections of Gaza. He was also a lecturer at the Islamic University. As a reminder, from an earlier blogpost of mine (Mike), the beginnings of the growth of Hamas began with a civil wing of doctors, engineers and academics and a much smaller militant wing. Bishara says of Dr. Zahar, “Despite our ideological differences, he (Dr. Zahar) struck me as a gentle man, and it was easy to enter into dialogue with him. It was no wonder he often appeared on television as a spokesperson for Hamas.” So Dr. Zahar had gathered about four hundred members of Hamas to a lecture hall in Gaza, to hear from “Brother Andrew.” Remember, Andrew had gained credibility from the men, having visited them, bringing them food, supplies and letters from loved ones, during their year-long exile to Marj al Zubour. Andrew proclaimed the Gospel to the men and as was the case in Hebron, the men listened quietly and respectfully. They then distributed materials and Bibles, but to everyone’s disappointment, ran out of Bibles, since they had not anticipated such a large gathering.

Nonetheless, Bishara writes, that as the men drove back to Bethlehem that evening, they were all euphoric. Dr. Zahar had invited Andrew to return to Gaza to teach about Christianity at the Islamic University. He also offered the support of Hamas for the Palestinian Bible Society to open a Christian bookstore in Gaza City. Because of travel restrictions and difficult border crossings, Christian reading material was not easy to find in Gaza. Again, the men were quite euphoric. Yet, as Bishara writes, “Our jubilation was mingled with a sense of foreboding though.” Despite the warm welcome and heartfelt exchange, as the men were leaving Gaza, Dr. Zahar said to them, “We will avenge the massacre in Hebron five times. We are just waiting for our forty days of mourning to end” (following the Ibrahimi Mosque killings). I (Mike) do not know enough about the development of Hamas to know when the civil and humanitarian goals of many in the group would converge with the militant agenda of Hamas. It does seem though that this development came about over time with a growing seed of resentment and bitterness among the group tracing its way back to the 1948 British Mandate and displacement of many Palestinians from their homes. From Bishara’s book, it does seem that the Marj al Zubour exile in 1992 as well as the Goldstein Mosque murders in 1994, does represent something of a breaking point for the group. At the end of this post, Bishara will comment that a new precedent was now set as a result of the Goldstein murders, that the civilian population was no longer off limits as a target. So there seems to be stages of development, the progressive hardening of the heart towards bitterness among the group, or as the Apostle Paul speaks of the wrath of God in Romans 1 as being displayed in God giving men over to their wickedness and a kind of progressive hardening of the heart.

Bishara writes that when Hebron was let out of their curfew, Shuhada Street which was the Main Street in town leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque had been “cleansed” by Israelis, meaning that Palestinians were no longer allowed to enter the street. Those who owned homes along the street were not permitted to come in and out of their houses by their front doors, so would do so through back doors and windows. Stars of David slogans that read “death to Arabs” would be spray painted over many of the forbidden front doors that faced Shuhada Street. And those from the more militant Israeli settler population, some with automatic weapons, would walk freely down the empty street. Bishara says that “it was an almost impossible living situation” and that most Palestinians eventually left Shuada Street, which was to the delight of the settlers. Bishara continues that “Though the Israeli government publicly condemned Baruch Goldstein and designated him as a terrorist, it was clear his actions had been amply rewarded.” And for the settlers, Goldstein was a martyr, an honoured hero who laid down his life for his people.

Upon curfew lifting and a period of mourning passing, a suicide bomber would detonate a car bomb in a small Jewish town south of Nazareth, killing eight and wounding forty-six others. A week later, another would detonate a bomb in a bus station in a small seacoast town of Hadera, killing himself and five others. Hamas would claim responsibility for both.

Bishara writes, “Prior to the Goldstein massacre, the attacks were confined within the Occupied Territories and aimed at soldiers. This was the first time that they dispatched suicide bombers inside of Israel itself, targeting civilians. It set a whole new precedent.”

Brother Andrew called Bishara from the Netherlands deeply distraught and with his voice breaking, “Was our work in vain? I understand their anger. I understand their sense of honour. I know they would rather die standing on their feet rather than sitting down meekly. But killing more innocent people will not help anyone!” Bishara write that Andrews voice was shaking with emotion, “We were just with them! Did we fail Bishara?” Bishara responded, “Do you think we could have done anything differently to prevent this? All we can do is plant the seeds. Only God can make them grow.” Brother Andrew paused, calmed down a bit and reaffirmed his commitment to bringing the Gospel to this difficult part of the world, “I cannot let discouragement overwhelm me. I’m not going to give up. I am going to continue to build relationships with Hamas and Israelis. God is not done here.”