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 Popoli, 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."

Advocacy Action

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.