The Christian community in the areas administered by the Palestinian
Authority (PA) is a small but symbolically important one. About 35,000
Christians live in the West Bank and 3,000 in Gaza,1 representing about 1.3 percent of
Palestinians. In addition, 12,500 Christians reside in eastern Jerusalem.
This population is rapidly dwindling, however, and not solely as a result of
the difficult military and economic situation of the past two years. Rather,
there are numerous indications that the Christian population is beleaguered due
to its Christianity. Taken in context of the condition of Christians in other
Middle Eastern countries, this picture is especially credible and troubling.
A Second-Class People
Under Islam, Christians are considered dhimmi, a tolerated but second
class who are afforded protection by Islam. Dhimmitude is integral to
Islam; it is a "protection pact" that suspends "the [Muslim] conqueror's initial
right to kill or enslave [Jews and Christians], provided they submitted
themselves to pay tribute."2
However, the reality of Christianity under Islam has often been difficult.
"Over the centuries, political Islam has not been too kind to the native
Christian communities living under its rule. Anecdotes of tolerance aside, the
systematic treatment of Christians...is abusive and discriminatory by any
standard....Under Islam, the targeted dhimmi community and each
individual in it are made to live in a state of perpetual humiliation in the
eyes of the ruling community."3 As described by a Christian
Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayil: "a Christian...is not a full citizen and
cannot exercise political rights in any of the countries which were once
conquered byIslam."4
Palestinian Christians have suffered as dhimmis for centuries. An
English traveler in the Holy Land in 1816, for example, remarked that Christians
were not permitted to ride on horseback without express permission from the
Muslim Pasha.5
Other European travelers to the Holy Land mentioned the practice whereby "a
dhimmi must not come face to face with a Muslim in the street but pass
him to the left, the impure side," and described how Christians were humiliated
and insulted in the streets of Jerusalem until the mid-1800s. The British consul
in Jerusalem wrote that in the Holy Land, particularly in Jerusalem until 1839,
Christians were pushed into the gutter by any Muslim who would swear: "turn to
my left, thou dog." They were forbidden to ride on a mount in town or to wear
bright clothes.6
In the early 1900s, sporadic attacks on Christians by bands of Muslims
occurred in many Palestinian towns.7 During the Palestinian Arab revolt
in the late 1930s, which involved very few Christians, if Christian villagers
refused to supply the terrorist bands with weapons and provisions, their vines
were uprooted and their women raped. The rebels forced the Christian population
to observe the weekly day of rest on Friday instead of Sunday and to replace the
tarboosh with the kaffiyeh for men, whereas women were forced to wear the veil.
In 1936, Muslims marched through the Christian village of Bir Zayt near Ramallah
chanting: "We are going to kill the Christians."8
In the early 1900s, with the Jewish return to the area, Palestinian
Christians began to band with the Muslims to oppose Jewish immigration, at least
in part as a way to deflect Muslim hostility away from themselves. As Sir John
Chancellor, British High Commissioner in Palestine, put it in 1931: "Christian
Arab leaders, moreover, have admitted to me that in establishing close relations
with the [Palestinian] Moslems the Christians have not been uninfluenced by
fears of the treatment they might suffer at the hands of the Moslem majority in
certain eventualities."9
From 1953 until 1967, Jordan undertook to Islamize the Christian quarter in
the Old City of Jerusalem by laws forbidding Christians to buy land and
houses....It ordered the compulsory closure of schools on Muslim holidays and
authorized mosques to be built near churches, thus preventing any possibility of
enlargement.10
Regional Repression of Christians
The current Christian reality in many Middle Eastern countries is also
difficult. In Egypt, "Muslim, but not Christian, schools receive state
funding....It is nearly impossible to restore or build new
churches....Christians are frequently ostracized or insulted in public, and laws
prohibit Muslim conversions to Christianity....Islamic radicals have frequently
launched physical attacks on [Christian] Copts."11
Saudi Arabia "is one of the most oppressive countries for Christians. There
are no churches in the whole country. Foreign workers make up one-third of the
population, many of whom are Christians. For their entire stay, which may be
years, they are forbidden to display any Christian symbols or Bibles, or even
meet together publicly to worship and pray. Some have watched their personal
Bibles put through a shredder when they entered the country."12
An official Saudi cleric, Sheik Saad Al-Buraik, pronounced in a Riyadh
government mosque, "People should know that...the battle that we are going
through is...also with those who believe that Allah is a third in a Trinity, and
those who said that Jesus is the son of Allah, and Allah is Jesus, the son of
Mary."13
In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from
Islam are liable to be killed, and most evangelical churches must function
underground."14 Christians are not allowed to testify in an Islamic court when a Muslim
is involved and they are discriminated against in employment. A 1992 UN report
cites cases of imprisonment and torture of Muslims who converted to Christianity
and of Armenian and Assyrian pastors, the dissolution of the Iranian Bible
Society, the closure of Christian libraries, and the confiscation of all
Christian books, including 20,000 copies of the New Testament in
Farsi.15
In Israel, too, Muslim fundamentalists seek to assert dominance over
Christian Arabs. "Attacks against and condemnation of Christians are also often
heard in mosques, in sermons and in publications of the Muslim
Movement."16 In Nazareth, a significant clash developed in recent years when Muslims
sought to build a grand mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation, the
dominant Christian landmark in the town.17
Official PA Domination of Christians
Islam is the official religion of the Palestinian Authority.18 In addition,
fundamentalist Hamas and Islamic Jihad have promoted Islamic influence on
Palestinian society.
Officially, the PA claims to treat Palestinian Christians equally and
pointedly seeks to display this publicly. Christmas is an official holiday.
Arafat has stated as his mission "the protection of the Christian and Muslim
holy places,"19 and several Christians have held prominent PA positions.
Occasionally, however, contrary messages slip through. In a Friday sermon on
October 13, 2000, broadcast live on official Palestinian Authority television
from a Gaza mosque, Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya proclaimed: "Allah the almighty has
called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them,
not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements
with them."20
In addition, no PA law protects religious freedom.21 While asserting that
all Palestinians' "liberty and freedom to worship and to practice their
religious beliefs are protected," a PA Information Ministry statement also
stresses that: "The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari'a
law...with regard to issues pertaining to religious matters. According to
Shari'a Law, applicable throughout the Muslim world, any Muslim who [converts]
or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by
capital punishment...the [Palestinian Authority] cannot take a different
position on this matter."22
In attempting to assuage Christians, the statement goes on to say that
capital punishment for conversion "has never happened, nor is it likely to
happen" in the Palestinian territories, but that "norms and tradition will take
care of such situations should they occur."
The PA's judicial system also does not ensure equal protection to Christians.
For example, an Israeli government report noted the failure of the judicial
system in Bethlehem to provide protection to Christian land-owners.
The Comtsieh family (a Christian family) has a plot of land with a
building that serves as a business center in the city. Several years ago a
Moslem family from Hebron took possession of the building and started to use it
without permission.
The Comtsieh family filed a claim with the judicial
system and after long and arduous court hearings, the court ruled in the
claimant's favor.
However, the verdict was never enforced by the police and
representatives of the family from Hebron later appeared with a new court
verdict (signed by the same judge who ruled in the claimants' favor previously),
canceling the previous verdict and ratifying the Hebron family's ownership of
the property.23
An Israeli government report in 1997 asserted more direct harassment of
Christians by the PA.
In August 1997, Palestinian policemen in Beit Sahur opened fire on a
crowd of Christian Arabs, wounding six. The Palestinian Authority is attempting
to cover up the incident and has warned against publicizing the story. The local
commander of the Palestinian police instructed journalists not to report on the
incident....
In late June 1997, a Palestinian convert to Christianity in the
northern West Bank was arrested by agents of the Palestinian Authority's
Preventive Security Service. He had been regularly attending church and prayer
meetings and was distributing Bibles. The Palestinian Authority ordered his
arrest....
The pastor of a church in Ramallah was recently warned by
Palestinian Authority security agents that they were monitoring his evangelistic
activities in the area and wanted him to come in for questioning for spreading
Christianity.
A Palestinian convert to Christianity living in a village near
Nablus was recently arrested by the Palestinian police. A Muslim preacher was
brought in by the police, and he attempted to convince the convert to return to
Islam. When the convert refused, he was brought before a Palestinian court and
sentenced to prison for insulting the religious leader....
A Palestinian
convert to Christianity in Ramallah was recently visited by Palestinian
policemen at his home and warned that if he continued to preach Christianity, he
would be arrested and charged with being an Israeli spy.24
Another report in 2002, based on Israeli intelligence gathered during
Israel's Defensive Shield operation, asserts that "The Fatah and Arafat's
intelligence network intimidated and maltreated the Christian population in
Bethlehem. They extorted money from them, confiscated land and property and left
them to the mercy of street gangs and other criminal activity, with no
protection."25
Similar findings were reported in the Washington Times following the
PA takeover of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in April 2002.
Residents of this biblical city are expressing relief at the exile
to Cyprus last week of 13 hard-core Palestinian militants, who they said had
imposed a two-year reign of terror that included rape, extortion and executions.
The 13 sent to Cyprus, as well as 26 others sent to the Gaza Strip, had taken
shelter in the Church of the Nativity, triggering a 39-day siege that ended
Friday.
Palestinians who live near the church described the group as a
criminal gang that preyed especially on Palestinian Christians, demanding
"protection money" from the main businesses, which make and sell religious
artifacts.
"Finally the Christians can breathe freely," said Helen, 50, a
Christian mother of four. "We are so delighted that these criminals who have
intimidated us for such a long time are now going away."26
Adding insult to injury, during this reign of terror, the PA's Al Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades (declared a terrorist organization by the United States) sent a
letter to the Bethlehem municipality "requesting" aid in the form of monetary
contributions for military operations. Cynically adding a symbol of Christianity
to their extortion demand, the letter was signed "Fatah/Al Aqsa Martyrs (and
Church of) Nativity Brigades" [emphasis added].27
PA Disrespect for Christian Holy Sites
The PA has shown contempt for certain Christian holy sites, and there has
been significant desecration as well. For example, without prior consent of the
church, Yasser Arafat decided to turn the Greek Orthodox monastery near the
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into his domicile during his visits to the
city.28
On July 5, 1997, the PLO seized Abraham's Oak Russian Holy Trinity Monastery in
Hebron, violently evicting monks and nuns.29
After the outbreak of Palestinian violence in September 2000, the PA's Tanzim
militia chose the Christian town of Beit Jala to shoot at Jerusalem over other
locations from which they could have similarly targeted communities built on
land captured in 1967. They specifically positioned themselves in or near
Christian homes, hotels, churches (e.g., St. Nicholas), and the Greek Orthodox
club, knowing that a slight deviation in Israeli return fire would harm
Christian institutions or homes.30
At one point, Andreas Reinecke, head of the German Liaison office to the PA,
protested:
I would like to draw your attention in this letter to a number of
incidents which occurred at "Talitakoumi" school in Beit Jala...which is funded
mainly by the Protestant Church in Berlin.
Over the last few days the school
staff noticed attempts on the part of several armed Palestinians to use the
school premises and some of its gardens for their activities. If they succeed in
doing this, an Israeli reaction will be inevitable. This will have a negative
impact on the continuation of the functioning of the school, in which no less
than 1,000 [Christian] Palestinians study....You cannot imagine the kind of
upheaval which will be provoked among the supporters of this school [in Germany]
should they discover that the school premises are used as a battle
ground.31
The most glaring example of PA disregard for the holiness of Christian
shrines, however, was the April 2002 takeover of the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem by PA forces and their taking over 40 Christian clergy and nuns as
hostages. As confirmed by a senior Tanzim commander, Abdullah Abu-Hadid, "The
idea was to enter the church in order to create international pressure on
Israel....We knew beforehand that there was two years' worth of food for 50
monks. Oil, beans, rice, olives. Good bathrooms and the largest wells in old
Bethlehem. You didn't need electricity because there were candles. In the yard
they planted vegetables. Everything was there."32
The PA Takeover of the Church of the Nativity
On April 2, 2002, as Israel implemented its Defensive Shield operation to
combat the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure, in Bethlehem "a number of
terrorists took over St. Mary's Church grounds and...held the priest and a
number of nuns there against their will. The terrorists used the Church as a
firing position, from which they shot at IDF soldiers in the area. The
soldiers did not return fire toward the church when fired upon [emphasis
added]. An IDF force, under the command of the Bethlehem area regional
commander, entered the Church grounds today without battle, in coordination with
its leaders, and evacuated the priest and nuns."33
That same day, "More than 100 Palestinian gunmen...[including] soldiers and
policemen, entered the Church of the Nativity on Tuesday, as Israeli troops
swept into Bethlehem in an attempt to quell violence by Palestinian suicide
bombers and militias."34 The actual number of terrorists was between 150 and 180,
among them prominent members of the Fatah Tanzim. As the New York Times
put it, "Palestinian gunmen have frequently used the area around the church as a
refuge, with the expectation that Israel would try to avoid fighting near the
shrine" [emphasis added].35
And in fact this was the case. The commander of the Israeli forces in the
area asserted that the IDF would not break into the church itself and would not
harm this site holy to Christianity. Israel also deployed more mature and more
reserved reserve-duty soldiers in this sensitive situation that militarily
called for more agile, standing-army soldiers.36
On the other hand, the Palestinians did not treat it the same way. Not only
did they take their weapons with them into the Church of the Nativity and fire,
on occasion, from the church, but also reportedly booby-trapped the entrance to
the church.37
On April 7, "one of the few priests evacuated from the church told Israeli
television yesterday that gunmen had shot their way in, and that the priests,
monks and nuns were essentially hostages....The priest declined to call the
clergy 'hostages,' but repeatedly said in fluent English: 'We have absolutely no
choice. They have guns, we do not.'"38
Christians clearly saw the takeover as a violation of the sanctity of the
church. In an interview with CWNews, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's
Undersecretary of State and the top foreign-policy official, asserted that "The
Palestinians have entered into bilateral agreements [with the Holy See] in which
they undertake to maintain and respect the status quo regarding the Christian
holy places and the rights of Christian communities. To explain the gravity of
the current situation, let me begin with the fact that the occupation of the
holy places by armed men is a violation of a long tradition of law that dates
back to the Ottoman era. Never before have they been occupied - for such a
lengthy time - by armed men."39 On April 14, he reiterated his
position in an interview on Vatican Radio.40
On April 24, the Jerusalem Post reported on the damage that the PA
forces were causing:
Three Armenian monks, who had been held hostage by the Palestinian
gunmen inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, managed to flee the church
area via a side gate yesterday morning. They immediately thanked the soldiers
for rescuing them.
They told army officers the gunmen had stolen gold and
other property, including crucifixes and prayer books, and had caused
damage....
One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, later told reporters: "They
stole everything, they opened the doors one by one and stole everything....They
stole our prayer books and four crosses...they didn't leave anything. Thank you
for your help, we will never forget it."
Israeli officials said the monks
said the gunmen had also begun beating and attacking clergymen.41
When the siege finally ended, the PA soldiers left the church in terrible
condition:
The Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity seized
church stockpiles of food and "ate like greedy monsters" until the food ran out,
while more than 150 civilians went hungry. They also guzzled beer, wine, and
Johnnie Walker scotch that they found in priests' quarters, undeterred by the
Islamic ban on drinking alcohol. The indulgence lasted for about two weeks into
the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by
four Greek Orthodox priests who were trapped inside for the entire
ordeal....
The Orthodox priests and a number of civilians have said the
gunmen created a regime of fear.
Even in the Roman Catholic areas of the
complex there was evidence of disregard for religious norms. Catholic priests
said that some Bibles were torn up for toilet paper, and many valuable
sacramental objects were removed. "Palestinians took candelabra, icons and
anything that looked like gold," said a Franciscan, the Rev. Nicholas Marquez
from Mexico.42
A problem that arose during the siege again shows Christian fear of Muslim
domination. Two Palestinian gunmen in the church were killed, and the PA wanted
to bury them in the basilica. "With two Muslim bodies inside the Church of the
Nativity, Christianity could be facing an absolute disaster in Bethlehem," said
Canon Andrew White, the special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury
in the Middle East. "It would be catastrophic if two Muslim martyrs were buried
in the church. It could lead to a situation like that in Nazareth," he
said.43
Only after intensive mediation efforts were plans to bury the bodies inside
abandoned.
The PA and Jerusalem Christians
Despite having no legal standing in Jerusalem, PA officialdom has acted
similarly there. The PA, in fact, denies historic Jewish - and thus Christian -
ties to Jerusalem. Walid M. Awad, Director of Foreign Publications in the
Palestinian Ministry of Information, asserted: "The location of the [Jewish]
Temple on the Temple Mount is in question....There are scholars who say that it
might be in Jericho or somewhere else 4 kilometers outside of Jerusalem." Asked
"The New Testament talks of Jesus going to the Temple in Jerusalem. Are you
suggesting that Jesus went to Jericho rather than Jerusalem?" he responded, "It
depends on what temple you think he went to."44 U.S. Ambassador Dennis Ross
asserted: "The only new idea [Arafat] raised at Camp David was that the temple
didn't exist in Jerusalem."45
A Christian leader, Father Marun Lahham, worries, "Frequent Muslim
declarations that...Jerusalem is [an] Islamic [city] trouble
Christians."46
The PA has begun to interfere with Jerusalem Christians:
[T]he Palestinian Authority-appointed Waqf (Moslem religious
property) authorities attempted to break through into the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher from the adjacent al-Hanaqa Mosque. [They] decided to install a
latrine on the roof of the Church. According to a May 11, 1997, report in
Ha'aretz, "A Waqf internal report, written two weeks ago by the Waqf's
Jerusalem engineer, 'Isam 'Awad, confirms many of the Christians' claims in the
conflict that has emerged adjacent to the Holy Sepulcher Church regarding
construction in the Church. The Church's claim [is] that the Waqf has harmed the
historical and architectural substance of the Holy Sepulcher, as a result of a
construction addition to the courtyard of the 'Hanaqa,' which leans on the wall
of the Holy Sepulcher and even darkens it by its height."
Israel attempted to
calm down the conflict after the Churches complained and issued a work stoppage
order against it, which was promptly ignored. The same Ha'aretz story
reported that "The Jerusalem district archeologist in the Antiquities Authority,
John Zeligman, wrote to the Waqf director, 'Adnan Husayni, pointing out to the
Waqf the damage to a site that is declared to be an antiquity and threatens to
go to law if work is not halted immediately." Finally, the illegal construction
was halted due to Israeli and world pressure, but we can be certain that without
such pressure the desecration would have continued.47
The PA-appointed Waqf is also working feverishly to convert the Temple Mount,
a site holy to Christians and Jews, into a mosque and erase any traces of the
Temple. In June 2000, Ha'aretz reported that "the Islamic Movement in
Israel has a master plan to build a fourth mosque on the eastern side of the
Temple Mount" and that, in fact, according to a head of the movement, "the
entire area of the Temple Mount is an inseparable and integral part of the Al
Aqsa Mosque."48
The Wakf made a mockery of the laws of the State of Israel. Wakf
officials [had] requested and received a permit to open an emergency exit in the
new mosque in Solomon's Stables. [But], in fact, the Wakf tried to break through
four of the underground arches in the northern part of Solomon's Stables. To do
so, it dug a huge hole 60 meters long and 25 meters wide in the earth of the
Temple Mount...6,000 tons of earth [were] removed. Some of it was scattered at
dumpsites. Some was dumped in the Kidron River. Antiquities dating back to [the
first and second Temple eras] were tossed on garbage heaps.49
Israel Antiquities Authority Director-General Shuka Dorfman affirms
"categorically" and "in an unequivocal manner, that there is archeological
damage being done [by the Waqf] to antiquities on the Temple
Mount."50 Under the "guardianship" of the Waqf, "Palestinian pirates are brazenly
digging up Jewish artifacts from the holy Temple Mount site and trying to sell
them on the black market for as much as $1 million."51
More recently, since the start of the Palestinian violence, the Waqf has
precluded Christians from visiting the Temple Mount, despite the fact that no
security considerations whatsoever are involved.
Reduction of Christian Political Power
Historically, not only has Bethlehem been a Christian city governed primarily
by Christians, but, with its sister towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahur, it has
been the largest enclave of Christians in the West Bank.
Since assuming control in 1995, however, the PA has been Islamizing
Bethlehem. The city's municipal boundaries were changed to incorporate 30,000
Muslims from three neighboring refugee camps, severely tipping the demography.
The city also added a few thousand Bedouins of the Ta'amra tribe, located east
of Bethlehem, and encouraged Muslim immigration from Hebron to Bethlehem. The
net result is that the area's 23,000 Christians were reduced from a 60 percent
majority in 1990 to a minority by 2001.
Also, defying tradition, Arafat appointed a Muslim from Hebron, Muhammed
Rashad A-Jabari, as governor of Bethlehem. He fired the existing Bethlehem city
council that had nine Christians and two Muslims, replacing it with a 50:50
council. While the mayor is a Christian, the top bureaucratic, security, and
political echelons, and the lower levels as well, have been drained of
Christians.52 Furthermore, "according to the new local council elections' regulations
designed by the PA - but not yet put into effect, however - mayors will be
nominated by the council members in their towns. Christians fear that these new
regulations will open the way to the nomination of Muslim mayors to the
traditional Christian towns."53
While six out of the eighty-eight seats in the Palestinian Legislative
Council have been reserved for Christians,54 representing more than double
their proportion in Palestinian society, the Council is a fairly powerless
entity. Similarly, no Christian holds a position of power in the Palestinian
government.
Harassment of Palestinian Christians by Palestinian Muslims
Palestinian Christians are perceived by many Muslims - as were Lebanon's
Christians - as a potential fifth column for Israel. In fact, at the start of
the recent violence in 2000, Muslim Palestinians attacked Christians in Gaza, as
confirmed by Fr. Raed Abusahlia, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate in
Jerusalem.55
Anti-Christian graffiti is not uncommon in Bethlehem and neighboring Beit
Sahur, proclaiming: "First the Saturday people (the Jews), then the Sunday
people (the Christians)."56 The same has often been heard
chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies. Accused of wearing "permissive"
Western clothing, Bethlehem Christian women have been intimidated. Finally, rape
and abduction of Christian women is also reported to have occurred frequently
(especially in Beit Sahur), as was the case in Lebanon.57
Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their telephone
lines cut, and there have been break-ins at convents.58
In July 1994, the Wall Street Journal reported that Palestinian
Muslims would not sell land to Christians and that Christian facilities and
clubs had been attacked by Muslim extremists. Christian graves, crosses, and
statues had been desecrated; Christians had suffered physical abuse, beatings,
and Molotov cocktail attacks.59
Continuing the Islamic tradition of Saladin - who constructed two mosques
contiguous to and taller than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - mosques have
mushroomed adjacent to and usually taller than churches. Loudly amplified Muslim
sermons have been aired during Christian services, including the Pope's April
2000 address in Nazareth, which had to be halted until the Muslim call to prayer
was concluded.60
In February 2002, Palestinian Muslims rampaged against Christians in
Ramallah, and the Palestinian Authority failed to intervene. As reported by the
Boston Globe,
The rampage began after Hanna Salameh, a member of a wealthy
Christian family, allegedly killed Jibril Eid, a Muslim construction contractor
from the Kalandia refugee camp, after the two men argued at the Israeli army's
Kalandia checkpoint....A few hours later, hundreds of men poured out of the
refugee camp and went to Ramallah, where they burned Salameh's house and store.
They then burned his brother's store, damaged several businesses owned by
Christians not related to the Salamehs, and torched the exercise room and
terrorized more than 100 children at Sariya, a scouting and youth
center.
Palestinian police did nothing to stop this destruction, according to
numerous witnesses, but drew the line as the mob moved toward Christian
churches, whose leaders the Palestinian Authority is cultivating for
international support in its struggle with Israel.
While officials of the
Palestinian Authority and of Fatah insisted that the incident was simply about
revenge and anger, many in Ramallah said otherwise.
"The truth is this is a
problem between Christians and Muslims," said one Christian businessman. "There
is no security for us. Everyone is taking the law in his own hands....This
[accused] man's brother, they burned his house, his shops, his cars, and the
police of Ramallah stood by and watched. This is the democracy of
Palestine?"
"The chief of security at Kalandia was in charge of this
rampage," said a Muslim shopkeeper. "The mayor of Ramallah came, saw what was
happening, and withdrew. I am a Muslim, but I condemn this. These are savage
people."61
Similar attacks have occurred in eastern Jerusalem.
Over the weekend, a gang of Moslem youths ransacked a pool hall near
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is frequented by Christian youths. Four
of the Christians were stabbed and lightly wounded; one of them required
hospitalization. Witnesses said about fifty Moslem youths marched through the
Christian Quarter to the pool hall Saturday afternoon, chanting anti-Christian
slogans. They attacked the Christians inside, and broke chairs, tables, and
other objects....Old City police chief Dep. Cmdr. David Givati confirmed that
there have been a number of attacks by Moslems on Christian targets
recently.62
The Palestinian Christian Response
Under the Oslo Accords, between 1995 and 1997 the Palestinian Authority was
given civilian control over 98 percent of the Palestinian population of Gaza and
the West Bank. Instead of embracing PA jurisdiction in the spirit of Palestinian
self-determination, however, Palestinian Christians are fleeing.
Palestinian Christians have fled Islamic rule in the past. In the final
census conducted by the British mandatory authorities in 1947, there were 28,000
Christians in Jerusalem. The census conducted by Israel immediately after the
Six-Day War in 1967, which ended the 19-year Jordanian control of the eastern
portion of the city, found just 11,000 Christians remaining. Some 17,000
Christians (61 percent) left during the days of Jordan's rule over
Jerusalem.63
True, there has been a steady outflow of Christians from the Holy Land for
some time. Daughter communities in North and South America had already
outnumbered their mother communities by 1948.64 But this outflow has accelerated
since the rise of PA control.
Between the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords and the 1995 transfer of
Bethlehem to the PA, Palestinian Christians lobbied Israel against the transfer.
The late Christian mayor, Elias Freij, warned that it would result in Bethlehem
becoming a town with churches but no Christians. He lobbied Israel to include
Bethlehem in the boundaries of Greater Jerusalem, as was the Jordanian practice
until 1967.65
In December 1997, the London Times reported: "Life in (PA-ruled)
Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian
minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians
reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of
Christ's birth."66 The situation has become so desperate for Christians that,
"during his visit to Bethlehem, Pope John Paul II felt it necessary to urge
Palestinian Christians already in March 2000: 'Do not be afraid to preserve your
Christian heritage and Christian presence in Bethlehem.'"67
On July 17, 2000, upon realizing that then Prime Minister Barak was
contemplating repartitioning Jerusalem, the leaders of the Greek Orthodox,
Latin, and Armenian Churches wrote to him, President Clinton, and Yasser Arafat,
demanding to be consulted before such action was undertaken. Barak's proposal
also triggered a flood of requests for Israeli identity cards by thousands of
eastern Jerusalem Arabs. (This, plus the fact that Israel's own Christian
population is actually growing, refutes any claim that emigration is a result of
Israel's treatment of Christians.)
Despite their beleaguerment, Palestinian Christians do not speak out about
their situation. "Out of fear for their safety, Christian spokesmen aren't happy
to be identified by name when they complain about the Muslims' treatment of
them...off the record they talk of harassment and terror tactics, mainly from
the gangs of thugs who looted and plundered Christians and their property, under
the protection of Palestinian security personnel."68
In fact, the Christians' silence may be precisely because they are a
beleaguered minority with a long history of dhimmitude. As Lebanese
Christian Habib Malik describes:
This sentiment is motivated primarily by a desire for a unified position
vis-a-vis Israel. But it also stems from a deeper dhimmi psychological
state: the urge to find - or to imagine and fabricate if need be - a common
cause with the ruling majority in order to dilute the existing religious
differences and perhaps ease the weight of political Islam's inevitable
discrimination. The history of Palestinian Christianity has, for the most part,
been no different from that of dhimmi Christianity throughout the
Levant.69
One Christian cleric in Jerusalem interviewed by this author compared the
behavior of Christian dhimmis to that of battered wives or children, who
continue to defend and even identify with their tormentor even as the abuse
persists.
Palestinian Christians "internalized this dependence on the Muslim majority
as a social characteristic that persisted even after the Ottoman reforms of the
nineteenth century abolished these rules....The Christians worried that Muslim
religious emotions aroused against the Jews might subsequently be turned against
them."
David Raab
Hat tip: Brigitte Gabriel
