Palestinian Christian
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The Palestinian Christians are Palestinians who follow Christianity. Comprising some 20% of the Palestinian population worldwide,[citation needed] they make up anywhere between 40,000-90,000 people or 1.1 - 2.4% of the population of the Palestinian territories. They are largely in the West Bank, but a small community of 2,000 are in the Gaza Strip. The related Arab Christians in Israel number about 144,000-196,000 or 2.1-2.8% of the total population.[1].
(Reliable estimates of the number of Arab Christians, which in any case, just as the number of all Arabs, especially Muslim Arabs, depends on the definition of "Arab" used, vary. Today Christians only make up 9.2% of the population of the Near East. In Lebanon they now number about 39% of the population, in Syria they make up about 10 to 15%, in the Palestinian territories before the creation of Israel estimates range as high as 40%, but due to mass emigration the contemporary figure is 3.8%, and in Israel Arab Christians constitute 2.1% (or roughly 10% of the Israeli Arab population). In Egypt, they constitute about 6% of the population. Most North and South American and Australian Arabs (about two-thirds) are Arab Christians, particularly from Syria, the Palestinian territories, and Lebanon.)
Most Palestinian Christians see themselves as Arab Christians, although some, echoing similar narratives in the Lebanese Maronite community, reject this label and claim to be descended from people who were present before the coming of the Arabs, or from Europeans who came to the region during the medieval Crusades. The region called Palestine or Israel is considered the Holy Land by Christians, and major Christian holy cities like Bethlehem and Nazareth are located in the Palestinian Autonomy and Israel, respectively.
Prior to the independence of the state of Israel, approximately 10% of Palestine's (excluding Transjordan) Arab population was Christian. This is reflected in the large number of prominent Palestinians that are Christian, including Hanan Ashrawi, Emile Habibi, Edward Said, Anis Shorrosh, George Habash, Nayef Hawatmeh, Rifat Odeh Kassis and activist Raymonda Tawil, who is also the mother of Yassir Arafat's wife Suha. The current Palestinian Ambassador to the United States, Afif Saffieh, is also a Holy Land Christian. However, the Christians were also often found in the more affluent segments of Palestinian society which generally fled or were expelled from the country in conjunction with the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; in West Jerusalem, over 50% of Christians lost their homes to the advancing Israeli army, according to the historian Sami Haddad [1]. Many Christians also have left the region in recent years due to increasing pressure from hardline groups to Islamicize the region, according to the Christian Broadcasting Network [2]. Through the years, Christians have emigrated mainly to Latin America, the United States, and Canada. Some explain the difference between Christians' and Muslims' rate of emigration not by personal preference but by the idea that Christian emigrants are usually more successful in being accepted in historically Christian Western countries than Muslim emigrants are.
The majority of Palestinian Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, one of the 16 churches of Eastern Orthodoxy. There are also Maronites, Melkites, Jacobites, Roman Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Copts and Protestants among them. The Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theofilos III, is the leader of Palestinian Orthodox Christians (Greek Orthodox). The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabah, is the leader of the Palestinian Roman Catholics. The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem is Riah Abu Assal. The Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem and Jordan is Dr. Munib Younan. Elias Chacour of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is Archbishop of Galilee.
The Telegraph, a British newspaper, once published an article about an 'Islamic mafia' that has conducted a series of attacks on the Palestinian Christian community, largely in the form of land thefts. Some observers claim that this represents a pattern of deliberate mistreatment by the Palestinian Authority; others hold that these are isolated incidents that reflect the beliefs of the individuals involved, but not the society in general. [3]. In a 2006 poll of Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, 90% reported having Muslim friends, 73.3% agreed that the Palestinian Authority treats Christian heritage in the city with respect and 78% attributed the ongoing exodus of Christians from Bethlehem to the Israeli blockade on the town [4]. However, this does not explain why the number of Muslims leaving is significantly smaller. Two American courts, one in Illinois and the other in North Carolina, have accepted the threat of "religious persecution" as grounds for granting asylum to two Evangelical converts from Islam fleeing PA territory [5], although it is not clear if their reason for fleeing was solely due to the fact that they are converts. Converting from Islam is viewed very unfavorably in Islamic tradition. Palestinian Christians are generally sympathetic of the Palestinian cause, but often feel threatened by the heavy role of Islamic militancy in the struggle. Palestinian Christians have a higher rate of education and a lower birth rate than their Muslim counterparts. Some Palestinian Christians have spoken of threats, confiscation of land, difficulties buying land, arson attacks, Muslim men raping Christian women and a general sense of feeling pushed out, according to BBC. However, the few Christians who speak privately of harassment, seizure of Christian land are only a fraction of those who risk speaking out against radical groups. In Ramallah, the Bible Society Building torched. As of 2005, the only public Christian library in Gaza had been set on fire twice. A detailed study published in November 2005 by Israeli judge Justus Reid Weiner reported extortion, rapes, forced marriages, heavy discrimination and, in the case of one Muslim convert to Christianity, murder. [6][7]
A recent letter from Congressman Henry Hyde to President George W. Bush notes that "the Christian community is being crushed in the mill of the bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict," and that expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are "irreversibly damaging the dwindling Christian community." [8] [9] The Arab Human Rights Association claims Israeli authorities have denied access to holy places, prevented repairs needed to preserve historic holy sites, and carried out physical attacks on religious leaders. [10]
After Pope Benedict XVI's comments on Islam in September 2006, five churches, among them two Greek Orthodox churches - as such, not affiliated with either Catholicism or the Pope - were firebombed and shot at in the West Bank and Gaza. No one was hurt.[2] Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya condemned the attacks and police presence was elevated in Bethlehem, which has a sizable Christian community.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ BBC.co.uk
- ^ Five churches bombed and attacked AP via Yahoo! News 16 September 2006 (Link dead as of 15 January 2007)
- ^ "Pope Apologizes for Remarks About Islam", New York Times, 17 September 2006.
[edit] External links
- Beliefnet.com - What is it like to be a Palestinian Christian?
- RELIGION IN THE NEWS - Israelis and Palestinians
- Palestian Christians: A Historic Community at Risk?
- Al-Bushra (an Arab-American Catholic perspective)
- PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS: CHALLENGES AND HOPES by Bernard Sabella
- A Christian-Free Holy Land
- Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern West Bank, a documentary film series
- HOLY LAND: CHRISTIANS IN PERIL, a documentary film by Pierre Rehov
