Israel Matzav

Some facts about Christians in 'Palestinian' territories

FrontPageMagazine tells us some facts about Christians living in the 'Palestinian' territories that ought to make Christians who support the 'Palestinian Authority' in its struggle to annihilate Israel uncomfortable:

* Statistics indicate that last Christmas, nearly 146,000 Christians lived in Israel, 2.1 percent of her population. Meanwhile, in the PA, the Christian population has been on the decline for years. Currently, Palestinian Christians from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem comprise less than two percent of the total Palestinian population, less than in Israel! Christians living under the Palestinian Authority have fled in recent years due to economic deterioration and the second intifada. Islamic violence aimed at the dwindling Christian population in the last few months has led to a further population decline.

* Since the Hamas-led government took control of the territories early in 2006, Islamic violence against Christians has increased. In early May, shortly after the Hamas government was formed, a fatwa was issued against the YMCA in the West Bank town of Qalqilya. Hamas had won a number of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in the town. After taking power, Islamic clerics demanded the YMCA be shuttered because of the dwindling Christian population in Qalqilya. When the YMCA remained open, unknown gunmen set fire to the building in September.

* In mid-September, after Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks about medieval Islam, Palestinian Islamic militants waged the most violent attacks against Christian holy sites in the PA territories in recent years. On September 15, 2006, grenades were thrown at the oldest church in Gaza. On September 16, firebombs were hurled at five different churches throughout the PA. On September 17, in Tulkarm, a 170-year-old church was burned to the ground.

* “Most of the Christians here are either in the process of leaving, planning to leave or thinking of leaving,” said Sami Awad, executive director of the Holy Land Trust. A local engineer in Mayor Batarseh’s Bethlehem, Bernard Bassil, added, “With the problems from the economy where Palestinians don’t get any money from the government, there are no jobs to go round. And we know that, if a job becomes available, it will go to a Muslim, not a Christian.” In 1990, under Israeli administration, Christians comprised nearly 60 percent of the total Palestinian population in the Bethlehem region. Palestinian Christians began to leave in large numbers after 1995, when the Palestinian Authority gained control of the city. Then-PA Chairman Yasser Arafat altered the municipal borders of Bethlehem in order to incorporate 30,000 Muslims from nearby refugee camps as well as members of the Ta’amarah Bedouin tribe. Arafat also encouraged Muslims from Hebron to relocate to Bethlehem to change the religious status quo. Many Christians fled the town and moved abroad, including some whose families had lived there for hundreds of years. About 150,000 Palestinians today reside in the greater Bethlehem municipality: just 25,000 are Christians.

* Hamas has announced that Jews and Christians will not be allowed to live in a future Palestine unless they are prepared to accept Dhimmi status, as we observed in an article a year ago. Jews are not allowed to become citizens of Jordan, either. Of course, Christians and Muslims are full-fledged citizens of Israel. Which countries, Mr. Carter, practice apartheid?

A good question that everyone other than Dhimmi Carter seems capable of answering....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:26 PM