Mu represented the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) as its vice president, where she fought for women and people in poverty. In 2017, the CNRP had won 44% of votes in local elections, which was seen as a threat to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Mu was one of the 118 members of the CNRP party to be banned from politics by the Supreme Court. She has been traveling the world in exile since, urging world leaders to demand democracy and boycott Cambodia’s upcoming July 2018 elections, which her party wasn’t allowed to register for. Credit: NOW THIS
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(7)Persecution of Palestinian Christians
Palestinian Christians are caught in the middle of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and many people are not aware that Christians exist in the region. Their faith makes them minorities within the Muslim-majority Palestinian community, and their Arab ethnicity results in numerous restrictions on the Israeli side. While the Palestinian Territories are considered a union, there are two different areas: Gaza and the West Bank. While laws in the West Bank generally protect religious freedom, those in Gaza are restrictive. Palestinian society as a whole deems that conversion from Islam to Christianity is unacceptable.
How Christians are Suffering
The degree of Christian persecution believers face in the Palestinian Territories depends on their tradition and heritage. Historical churches make up the majority of the Christian population, and generally have good relations within society. Most of their persecution comes from the Israeli side, including visa restrictions and harassment of church leaders by Jewish extremists. Evangelicals are a much smaller group, and they face denominational resistance from historical churches, as well as the same pressure on the Israeli side. Converts from Islam to Christianity bear the brunt of the persecution, as their conversions are rejected by their communities and families. Historical churches turn away converts for fear of repercussions from the Muslim majority.
In Shadow of Death, Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews Relapse on Reconciling
A Norwegian charity estimates 56 percent of children in the Palestinian territory suffer from traumatic nightmares. Suicide, rarely seen culturally, is a growing concern. Maher, an Egyptian-born Baptist pastor, says some at the border see death as the best option. Two million people are squeezed into a coastal strip roughly the size of Philadelphia. Exit is severely restricted on one side by Israel. The waiting list into Egypt is 40,000 names long. Unemployment is over 40 percent. Clean drinking water is hard to come by. And on May 14, as tens of thousands massed near a chain link fence demonstrating for their “Right to Return,” Israeli snipers picked off dozens.
