This is the story that the mainstream media never covers: Muslim persecution of Christians is the major cause of the dwindling population of Christians in towns like Bethlehem.
Now, we are being told that Christians in the Palestinian territories will be completely eliminated within two decades. So the new Palestinian state will be not only Jew-free, but free of Christians as well. Another Islamic state will be added to the Middle East.
The ever-dwindling Christian communities living in Palestinian-run territories in the West Bank and Gaza are likely to dissipate completely within the next 15 years as a result of increasing Muslim persecution and maltreatment, an Israeli scholar said Monday.
“The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs,” said Justus Reid Weiner, an international human rights lawyer in an address at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, where he serves as a scholar in residence.
When you do get stories about Christians in the news services, it is usually from the angle that the Israelis are the Grinches taking away Christmas from Christians due to the anti-terror restrictions in the West Bank. Reuters generally doesn’t publish facts like this:
The Palestinian Christian population has dipped to 1.5 percent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from at least 15% a half century ago, according to some estimates.
No one city in the Holy Land is more indicative of the great exodus of Christians than Bethlehem, which fell under full Palestinian control last decade as part of the Oslo Accords.
The town of 30,000 is now less than 20% Christian, after decades when Christians were the majority. Elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, only about 3,000 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, live in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, out of a strongly conservative Muslim population of 1.4 million.
But the persecution of Christians in Palestinian territories has been going on since, well, since there were Muslims. But more recently, since Yasser Arafat was given control of the territories after Oslo. Christians have also been persecuted in Lebanon, Egypt, and other parts of the Middle East. Ninety percent of the 3 million Lebanese Americans are Christian. Muslims have been pushing Christians out of the Middle East for generations.
The Christian Science Monitor (among others) likes to beat up on Israel every year with stories about how the separation fence is ruining Christmas. They do not seem to be able to find stories about Muslims persecuting the Christians of Bethlehem, as does Ynet. I wonder if they’ll run an in-depth series featuring the disappearance of Christians in the Palestinian territories.
It’s not quite time yet for the “Israel is ruining Christmas stories,” but I expect them soon. Look for a run of them about a week before the holiday. We can compare and contrast with previous years.
Dear Meyrl,
Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” When the last Christian dies or immigates & the last flicker of light leaves Gaza & the West Bank the Palestinian people will be left in spiritual darkness. On that day, may God help us all for truly all the wrold will suffer.
Thank you for writing the truth and let us hope that your giving voice for the voiceless will rouse the western church out of its complacency before its too late.
This persecution of Christians is widespread over the Muslim Middle East, and has been for decades now. As Muslim radicalism rises so does persecution. The irony for the Pali Christians is that they, good little dhimmis as they are, were as hostile to Israel as the Muslim Arabs were, if not more so. This is their reward.
It may soon be the case that the only state in the Middle East that Christians can live in without fear of persecution will be the sole Jewish state.