The economic and humanitarian crisis unfolding among
Palestinians has brought new attention to the Christian institutions
in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority
(PA) is no longer able to fund the government's schools, hospitals,
social services, courts or police because foreign aid and revenues
from Israel are frozen as a result of the victory of Hamas in
Palestinian elections in January. However, it is apparent that Hamas
cannot be starved without also punishing the entire Palestinian
population, and Israeli and American politicians do not want to be
blamed in news reports for the death of Palestinian children in need
of dialysis.
Loaves and
Fishes
International churches, church-related agencies (such
as the Lutheran World Federation, World Vision, Catholic Relief
Services) and their Palestinian Christian partner churches operate
schools, hospitals and social service programs that provide
employment and benefit both Christian and Muslim Palestinians.
Because of the dire predictions of a pending disaster, there is a
push by international donors to increase the capacity of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the church
institutions, to provide for the basic human needs of the
Palestinian people. Needless to say, it is not possible for the
Christian institutions and other NGOs to either fulfill all the
functions of a government or to adequately serve even the most basic
needs of the whole population.
This elevated recognition of the significant role of
the Holy Land's Christian institutions came to public attention with
a newspaper column by Robert D. Novak that was published in late
May. He wrote about a report prepared by staff of Rep. Henry Hyde,
the chair of the House International Relations Committee that
contends that "the Christian community is being crushed in the mill
of the bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict." The report notes that
"Throughout the centuries, Christian institutions and their
communities have been able, for the most part, to function, deliver
services and fulfill their missions, in spite of turmoil."
An Endangered Community
The Christian Palestinian population is only about
1.5% of the total Palestinian population of 3.5 million.
It is feared that the Christian holy sites will become
museums for commercial purposes as Palestinian Christians emigrate.
In the mid-nineties, the total number of Palestinian Christians in
Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip was under 50,000 according
to Dr. Bernard Sabella, professor of sociology at Bethlehem
University. The Greek Orthodox, with 52% of the Christian
population, and the Latin Catholics, with 30%, are the largest
churches; the Protestants – primarily Episcopalians and Lutherans –
make up around 5%. He estimates that 500-600 Christians leave the
West Bank yearly, with 3000-3500 emigrating during four years of the
second intifada.
Jerusalem, which has the largest concentration of
Christians, was noted by Dr. Sabella in a January 2005 study to have
only 8,000 indigenous Christians. The other population centers are:
Bethlehem/Beit Jala/Beit Sahour with 20,237 Christians, Ramallah,
another traditionally Christian town, at 6,450, and Zababdeh, Bir
Zeit, Taybeh and Aboud each with 1000-2,500 Christians.
Push and Pull
The impact of the occupation on the Palestinian
Muslims and Muslim villages is similarly harmful. The difference
lies in the diminishing numbers of Christians and the likelihood
that the demise of the Christian community is at hand. Christian
Palestinians have a significantly lower birth rate and find it
easier to emigrate than do their Muslim neighbors and many continue
to take the opportunity to join family in the United States, Latin
America or Australia.
The Christian community
has historically been sustained by providing services and crafts to
pilgrims and tourists. Now the markets and hotels of Bethlehem and
East Jerusalem are quiet; pilgrims are bused between holy sites,
fearful of violence on the streets.
The U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, in testimony before the House International
Relations Committee on March 16, 2006, reported that "Surveys of
Palestinian Christians suggest that most leave for lack of economic
opportunities. Others leave due to continuing violence and political
turmoil. These surveys appear to indicate that Palestinian
Christians do not leave primarily for reasons of religious
discrimination."
The chair of the
USCCB's Committee on International Policy, Bishop Thomas G. Wenski,
told members of Congress that, "Since the second intifada and the
collapse of law in parts of the occupied territories, Christians
feel more vulnerable for a variety of reasons, including the route
of Israel's security wall that divides many Christian communities
and isolates them from access to holy sites and economic
opportunities, and seizures of land and water resources related to
building the wall and to criminal groups that the Palestinian
Authority has been unable or unwilling to control. The groups have
fraudulently taken some of the homes of Christians, e.g. in the
Bethlehem area."
In 2000, the Al Aqsa
intifada dealt a heavy blow to the Bethlehem area. In the chaos of
the armed uprising, the relatively well-to-do Christians and their
businesses were subject to extortion and other criminal acts. While
there were similar crimes by Muslims against Muslims, the offenses
in Bethlehem were cast by some as religious persecution because the
victims were Christians.
Muslim militias, from
outside the villages, used Beit Jala and Beit Sahour as cover to
attack Israeli settlements and military forces. In this situation,
as well as that of the takeover (by fleeing Palestinians) of
Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, it is generally understood that
Muslim militants sought to gain the attention of international
Christians. Israeli incursions and shelling destroyed much of
Bethlehem’s infrastructure that had been renovated for the
millennium celebration. The general refusal of the Palestinian
Christians to participate in violent resistance to the occupation
has led to tension between the Christians and some Muslims, with the
vast majority of “martyrs” being Muslim.
Fr. Drew Christiansen, SJ, writing in a
forthcoming issue of the Italian Jesuit magazine IL POPULO,
notes that “In the Palestinian Territories, Islamic militancy has
been a growing challenge. Contrary to some reports, the Palestinian
Authority has not been responsible for persecution of Christians or
the failure to protect them. The Authority has tried to protect
Christians, but the influx of devout and militant Muslims into the
towns and cities from the countryside has led to unofficial
harassment and discrimination at the local level.”
Religion and Politics
The Christian presence has been an important
influence toward secular and non-theocratic tendencies in the PLO
and Palestinian civil society. Dr. Sabella, whose study of
Palestinian Christians was quoted earlier, is a newly-elected member
of the Palestinian Legislative Council who ran for the Christian
designated seat from Jerusalem on the Fatah party ticket. Sabella
wrote in January 2005 that, "the preference of Palestinian
Christians is for a political system that is secular and for an
economic and social system that gives preference to individual
choices and free enterprise." He then reminds the reader that many
Muslims show the same preference. "The bonds with our Muslim
compatriots were always bonds of nationalism and when they stress
bonds of religion, this poses a problem to us on identity, future
and also on vision of our society."
Considering the causes of Christian emigration,
Sabella writes that Palestinians not only worry about the lack of
achievement of peace with Israel, but are also anxious about the
social, political and economic system of the future state of
Palestine. The success of the Islamist Hamas movement in the recent
elections has led to fears among Christians that the PA might,
despite Hamas authorities’ assurances to the Christian leadership,
require Christians to adhere to Muslim customs such as women
covering their hair and the prohibition of alcohol.
Communal tensions are further compounded by historic
and current proselytizing – conversion from one Christian church to
another, Muslim to Christian or Christian to Muslim. While the
Palestinian Authority has not put a Muslim convert on trial for
their religious conversion, converts face strong hostility in their
community, most severely from their families.
The presence and participation of Arab Christians in
public life is a moderating influence. "In fact," writes Sabella,
"the Christian dimension in the present (Israeli-Palestinian)
conflict is important as a reminder to those who reduce the conflict
to religion, on the Jewish and Muslim sides, that the conflict and
its solution is not a strictly religious question but a political
and nationalist question."
Jerusalem
The report that
accompanied Rep. Henry Hyde’s letter to President Bush was
strongly critical of Israel’s construction that obstructs
Bethlehem from Jerusalem and that, according to Mr. Novak,
“undermines” the stability of Jerusalem as a future shared capital
of Israel and Palestine, which is described as "vital" to U.S.
interests in a two-state solution.
Israel is taking
actions and enacting policies that sever the arterial connections
between East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Massive concrete walls
and strict permit procedures cut Bethlehem from Jerusalem,
disconnecting the Christian narrative of the Nativity from the
Resurrection. Fundamentalist settlers, some with funding from
American Irving Moskowitz's Hawaiian Gardens bingo enterprise, are
building on historic and archeological sites in and near the Old
City.
Various bureaucratic
regulations work to deplete the Arab population of East Jerusalem.
The Absentee Property Law allows Israel to seize land; the lack of
building permits is cited when homes are demolished; and laws deny
residency rights to the spouses and children of East Jerusalem
residents. International church workers find it hard to get visa
renewals and Jerusalem-based Christian humanitarian institutions
and organizations, such as Augusta Victoria Hospital, are
pressured by Israel for payment of millions of dollars in
previously exempt taxes. Because of their smaller number, the
actions have a great impact on the local Christians and the
Christian institutions.
Hope For Peace
For the living
Palestinian Church to survive and thrive, hope for peace must be
awakened. A restoration of the Palestinian Authority's will and
capability to negotiate with Israel must be given the highest
priority by the Palestinian people, the United States and by
Israel. As Bishop Wenski, in his Congressional testimony, called
on the United States to make clear to all those in the Holy Land
that their future requires peace and security for two peoples and
religious freedom for the three religions for whom the land is
holy, he said, "The failure to achieve a genuine two-state
solution to the conflict will continue to put pressure on the
Christian community."
Policymakers and the general public in the United
States need to be reminded of the existence and significance of
the Palestinian Christian community. You, and your congregation,
are asked to advocate on their behalf.
In your communications with elected or campaigning
officials, urge U.S. leadership in support of a negotiated
resolution of the conflict. Refer to the vulnerable position of
the Palestinian Christians and the importance of a two-state
solution to the conflict for the survival of the Holy Land’s
Christian community. This is especially important since some are
portraying Christian emigration as a result of persecution by the
Palestinian Authority. Be sure to express your hopes for a
peaceful and productive life for both Palestinian Christians and
Muslims and your goodwill for Israelis as well.
Continue to point to the fundamental importance of
sharing Jerusalem for a durable resolution of the conflict, and
for the eventual reconciliation of the Abrahamic family of faiths
- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Use CMEP's Christian Clergy
letter, available at:
http://cmep.org/Alerts/2006Mar17.htm, as an organizing tool.
That letter, designed for you to send to the President with copies
for Congress members, includes these points:
?
Press the new Palestinian government
to commit to nonviolence, recognize Israel and accept previous
agreements, while you continue to engage the moderate Palestinian
leadership and help the Palestinian people through financial aid
from the U.S.
?
Promote religious freedom in the Holy
Land and encourage the continued presence of local Christians, who
play an important role in a democratic and pluralistic Palestinian
society.
Keep the Palestinian Christians close to your
heart. Learn about them, pray for them and for peace. You may want
to arrange a study program in your own church. CMEP's "Church
Toolkit for Israeli-Palestinian Peacemaking" has resources and
ideas for these programs. Your denomination/church may be able to
connect your congregation with a Palestinian church.
