Christians Flee Growing Islamic Fundamentalism in the Holy Land (JCPA) JERUSALEM CENTER FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS) Justus Reid Weiner 12/06/06)
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The Christian population of the areas under the control of the
Palestinian Authority (PA) has sharply declined in recent decades, as
tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral
properties to live abroad. Those who remain comprise a beleaguered
and dwindling minority. In sharp contrast, Israel´s Christian
community has prospered and grown by at least 270 percent since the
founding of the state.
While Israel understands that the construction of the security
barrier inconveniences some of the Christian communities living in
its vicinity, Israel has shown sensitivity to Christian interests in
planning the route of the barrier.
The plight of Christian Arabs remaining in the PA is, in part,
attributable to the adoption of Muslim religious law in the PA
Constitution. Israel, by contrast, safeguards the religious freedom
and holy places of its Christian (and Muslim) citizens. Indeed, in
recent years Israel has been responsible for restoring many of the
churches and monasteries under its jurisdiction.
The growing strength of Islamic fundamentalism within the
Palestinian national movement poses problems for Christians, who fear
they will be deemed opponents of Islam and thereby risk becoming
targets for Muslim extremists. This is exacerbated by the fact that
Hamas holds substantial power and seeks to impose its radical
Islamist identity on the entire population within the PA-controlled
territories.
Who Threatens Christians in the Holy Land?
Palestinian Christians have a higher rate of emigration compared to
Palestinian Muslims and the Christian population of the West Bank and
Gaza has plunged from about 20 percent after World War II to less
than 1.7 percent now.1 Tens of thousands have abandoned their holy
sites and ancestral properties to live abroad.2
Some senior Christian clerics claim that the dramatic rise in
Christian emigration from PA-controlled territories is a result of
the Israeli "occupation."3 However, in-depth research demonstrates
that the precipitous decline in the Christian population is primarily
a result of social, economic, and religious discrimination and
persecution within Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza.
In a July 3, 2006, article, "Who Harms Holy Land Christians?,"
syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, a long-time critic of Israel,
paraphrased a letter from Michael H. Sellers, an Anglican priest in
Jerusalem, to U.S. Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Joseph
Crowley (D-NY), who were circulating a draft resolution blaming the
Christian decline on the discriminatory practices of the Palestinian
Authority.4 Sellers insisted that "the real problem [behind the
Christian Arab exodus] is the Israeli occupation - especially its new
security wall."
Yet two-thirds of the Christian Arabs had already departed between
1948 and 1967, when Jordan occupied the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza
Strip, prior to the "occupation" and decades before construction
began on the security barrier to protect Israel´s population from
waves of deadly suicide bombers. During the same period, hundreds of
thousands of Christians were leaving other Muslim-ruled countries in
the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa. Every one of the more than
twenty Muslim states in the Middle East has a declining Christian
population. In fact, Israel is the only state in the region in which
the Christian Arab population has grown in real terms - from
approximately 34,000 in 1948 to nearly 130,000 in 2005.5
Novak also refers to Sellers as "coordinator of Jerusalem´s Christian
churches." Actually, there are at least 16 traditional, Oriental, and
Protestant churches represented in Jerusalem, yet only three other
clergymen signed the letter with Sellers - and all three are known
for their close loyalty to Arafat´s Palestinian nationalism.
Israel´s Security Barrier
Novak also quotes Father Faras Arida, a Catholic priest in the West
Bank village of Aboud, who asserts that the security barrier costs
villagers their water and olive trees. In fact, the water resources
used by Aboud will remain on the side of the barrier where the
village is situated. At the same time, the Israeli government is to
fully compensate farmers for the 1,500 olive trees uprooted during
the barrier´s construction.
Although the security barrier inconveniences some West Bank
residents, it was designed to include dozens of gates for transit and
agriculture for those on legitimate business, including Christian
residents, pilgrims, and clergy. As noted by former U.S. Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, Israel has displayed
particular sensitivity to Christian religious concerns, taking
measures to ensure their access to holy sites. To this end, Israel
has negotiated with Christian communities directly impacted by the
barrier, and has, in some instances, rerouted construction to better
accommodate their requests.6
Significantly, the barrier would not exist but for Palestinian
terrorism. Israelis across the political spectrum would reject any
demand to remove the security fence before the Palestinians stop
their attacks. The blame for its construction belongs squarely on the
Palestinian leadership that sponsored years of bloody terrorism
against Israeli civilians. Prior to the erection of the fence,
Palestinian terror killed an average of 103 Israelis and wounded 688
each year. After the completion of the first portion of the fence, an
average of 28 people were killed and 83 wounded per year - a decrease
of approximately 90 percent.7 The last two "successful" suicide
bombers in Jerusalem murdered a total of 18 people by entering
through unfinished portions of the barrier near Bethlehem.
Novak also ignores the Palestinians´ refusal to negotiate the
occupation´s end. In 2000 and 2001 Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian
Authority rejected a generous Israeli offer of a Palestinian state
comprising the Gaza Strip, much of eastern Jerusalem, and virtually
all of the West Bank in exchange for peace with Israel. Rejecting
even Arafat´s façade of negotiations, Hamas, which won the January
2006 Palestinian elections, has demonstrated no interest whatsoever
in any negotiated settlement with Israel.
Islamic Religious Extremism
Novak further alleges that I initiated the congressional letter that
blamed the Palestinian Authority for the flight of Christian Arabs
from the Holy Land - a role that exists only in the columnist´s
imagination. I am a scholar who has spent nine years researching this
subject. In the process I have interviewed scores of Christian Arabs,
and published five scholarly articles and a monograph on the topic -
none of which Novak saw fit to cite.8
From Christian Arabs under the thumb of the PA, I have heard
testimony of forced marriages of Christian women to Muslim men, death
threats against Christians for distributing the Bible to willing
Muslims, and Christian women intimidated into wearing traditional
ultra-modest Islamic clothing. Churches have been firebombed (most
recently in Nablus, Tubas, and Gaza when the Pope made his
controversial remarks) and/or shot up repeatedly. And this is the tip
of the iceberg.
Under the Palestinian Authority, whose constitution gives Islamic law
primacy over all other sources of law, Christian Arabs have found
their land expropriated by Muslim thieves and thugs with ties to the
PA´s land registration office. Christians have been forced to pay
bribes to win the freedom of family members jailed on trumped-up
charges. And Arabs - Christians and Muslims alike - have been selling
or abandoning homes and businesses to escape the chaos of the PA and
move to Israel, Europe, South America, North America, or wherever
they can get a visa.
Notes
1. Other factors include declining economic conditions in the PA (J.
C. Watts, "Yasser Arafat vs. Christians," Washington Times, Dec. 4,
1997, at A19) and Islamic law in the PA Constitution (David
Bedein, "Final Version of Official Palestinian State Constitution,"
Makor Rishon [Hebrew], April 17, 2003).
2. For further reading on the plight of Christian Arabs, see Justus
Reid Weiner, Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society
(2005). This monograph can be downloaded free of charge at
www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm. It is also available to
purchase from amazon.com.
3. These Christian clerics include Michael Sabbah, Munib Younan, and
Riah Abu el-Assal.
4. Robert D. Novak, "Who Harms Holy Land Christians?," Washington
Post, July 3, 2006.
5. Eric Rozenman, "False Premises, Repeated Errors in Robert Novak
Column on Christian Arabs," March 17, 2006, available at:
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=6&x_article=1098. This is a
response to an earlier publication by Novak.
6. Jack Kemp, "Absolute Necessity," New York Sun, April 26, 2006,
available at http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=31674. This is a
response to a previous publication by Novak.
7. Israeli Ministry of Defense, "Security Fence´s Effectiveness,"
News Brief, July 1, 2004, available at
http://www.securityfence.mod.gov.il/Pages/ENG/news.htm#news19.
8. See additional related scholarship by Justus Reid Weiner: "Human
Rights Trends in the Emerging Palestinian State: Problems Encountered
by Muslim Converts to Christianity," 8(3) Michigan State Journal of
International Law 539 (1999); Appendix "Israel and Palestine" to
Forum 18 Report "Freedom of Religion: A Report With Special Emphasis
on the Right to Choose Religion and Registration Systems," financed
by the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (February
2001); "Palestinian Christians: Silent Victims of a Zero-Sum Game," 8
(2) Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights 383 (2004); "Palestinian
Christians: Equal Citizens or Oppressed Minority in a Future
Palestinian State," 7 Oregon Review of International Law 26 (Spring
2005); and "Palestinian Christians: A Minority´s Plea for Rights
Silenced by the Politics of Peace," The Journal of Human Rights
(October 2005).
Justus Reid Weiner, Esq., teaches human rights and international law
at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has been a visiting professor
at Boston University Law School and authored the monograph Human
Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society, published by the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and available at:
www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm. The author extends his
appreciation to Ilana Hart for her assistance in preparing this
article.
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