SOURCES OF PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN BELEAGUERMENT
Regional Repression Of Christians
Under Islam, Christians are considered dhimmi,
a tolerated, but second class who are afforded protection by Islam.
Dhimmitude is integral to Islam; it is a "protection pact" that suspends
"the [Moslem] conqueror's initial right to kill or enslave [Jews and Christians],
provided they submitted themselves to pay tribute."3
However, the reality of Christianity under Islam has often been difficult.
"Over the centuries, political Islam has not been too kind to the native
Christian communities living under its rule. Anecdotes of tolerance
aside, the systematic treatment of Christians...is abusive and discriminatory
by any standard...Under Islam, the targeted dhimmi community and each individual
in it are made to live in a state of perpetual humiliation in the eyes of
the ruling community."4 As described by a Christian Lebanese president,
Bashir Gemayil: "a Christian...is not a full citizen and cannot exercise
political rights in any of the countries which were once conquered by
Islam."5
The current Christian reality in many Middle Eastern countries is also
difficult. In Egypt, "Muslim, but not Christian, schools receive state
funding...It is nearly impossible to restore or build new churches...Christians
are frequently ostracized or insulted in public, and laws prohibit Moslem
conversions to Christianity...Islamic radicals have frequently launched physical
attacks on [Christian] Copts."6
Saudi Arabia "is one of the most oppressive countries for Christians.
There are no churches in the whole country. Foreign workers make up
one-third of the population, many of whom are Christians. For their
entire stay, which may be years, they are forbidden to display any Christian
symbols or Bibles, or even meet together publicly to worship and pray.
Some have watched their personal Bibles put through a shredder when they
entered the country."7
An official Saudi cleric, Sheik Saad Al-Buraik, recently pronounced in a
Riyadh government mosque, "People should know that...the battle that we are
going through is...also with those who believe that Allah is a third in a
Trinity, and those who said that Jesus is the son of Allah, and Allah is
Jesus, the son of Mary."8
In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from
Islam are liable to be killed, and most evangelical churches must function
underground."9 Christians are not allowed to testify in an Islamic
court when a Muslim is involved and they are discriminated against in employment.
A 1992 UN report cites cases of imprisonment and torture of Muslims who converted
to Christianity and of Armenian and Assyrian pastors, the dissolution of
the Iranian Bible Society, the closure of Christian libraries, and the
confiscation of all Christian books, including 20,000 copies of the New Testament
in Farsi.10
In Israel too, Moslem fundamentalists seek to assert dominance over Christian
Arabs. "Attacks against and condemnation of Christians are also often
heard in mosques, in sermons and in publications of the Muslim
Movement."11 Recent events in Nazareth are illustrative.
Nazareth is especially important to the Catholic Church and, in 1969, the
church consecrated a massive, modern structure over the spot where Christian
tradition holds that Mary had her home...The Basilica of the Annunciation
became the dominant landmark of Nazareth. Israel decided to turn a
small square at the base of the hill on which the basilica stands into a
broad plaza where pilgrims could gather.
Nazareth, however, had grown...from a small Galilee village with a predominantly
Christian Arab population into a regional center of about 200,000, 70 percent
of them Muslim. So, when the plans were announced, an emerging Islamic
movement seized on the fact that a small Muslim shrine...stood on the square
and announced plans to build a grand mosque on 'their' land...
...The Muslims, not waiting for plans to be approved or even to be drawn,
promptly began pouring a foundation, with flags of Islam fluttering on all
sides.
To Catholics, the size was not the issue. Any mosque on the site, they
believed, would challenge the Christians by blocking the square and by raising
high minarets from which the Muslim calls to prayer would echo through the
basilica. On Easter 1999, violence broke out between Christians and
Muslims.12
Official PA Domination Of Christians
Islam is the official religion of the Palestinian
Authority.13 In addition, fundamentalist Hamas and Islamic Jihad have
promoted Islamic influence on Palestinian society.
Officially, the PA claims to treat Palestinian Christians equally and pointedly
seeks public display of such. Christmas is recognized as an official
holiday; Chairman Arafat attends Mass and holds an official reception that
day. Arafat has stated as his mission "the protection of the Christian
and Muslim Holy places."14 Several Christians have held prominent PA
positions.
Occasionally, however, contrary messages slip through. In a Friday
sermon on October 13, 2000, broadcast live on official Palestinian Authority
television from a Gaza mosque, Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya proclaimed:
Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the
Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support
them, and not to sign agreements with them.15
In addition, no PA law protects religious freedom.16 While asserting
that all Palestinians' "liberty and freedom to worship and to practice their
religious beliefs are protected," a PA Information Ministry statement also
stresses that:
The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari'a law...with
regard to issues pertaining to religious matters. According to Shari'a
Law, applicable throughout the Muslim world, any Muslim who [converts] or
declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital
punishment...the [Palestinian Authority] cannot take a different position
on this matter.17
In attempting to assuage Christians, the statement goes on to say that capital
punishment for conversion "has never happened, nor is it likely to happen"
in the Palestinian territories, but that "norms and tradition will take care
of such situations should they occur."
The PA's judicial system also does not ensure equal protection to
Christians. For example, a recent Israeli government report noted the
failure of the judicial system in Bethlehem to provide protection to Christian
land-owners.
The Comtsieh family (a Christian family) has a plot of land with a building
that serves as a business center in the city. Several years ago a Moslem
family from Hebron took possession of the building and started to use it
without permission. The Comtsieh family filed a claim with the judicial
system and after long and arduous court hearings, the court ruled in the
claimant's favor. However, the verdict was never enforced by the police
and representatives of the family from Hebron later appeared with a new court
verdict (signed by the same judge who ruled in the claimants' favor previously),
canceling the previous verdict and ratifying the Hebron family's ownership
of the property.18
An Israeli government report in 1997 asserted actual harassment of Christians
by the PA.
In August 1997, Palestinian policemen in Beit Sahur opened fire on a crowd
of Christian Arabs, wounding six. The Palestinian Authority is attempting
to cover up the incident and has warned against publicizing the story. The
local commander of the Palestinian police instructed journalists not to report
on the incident...
In late June 1997, a Palestinian convert to Christianity in the northern
West Bank was arrested by agents of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive
Security Service. He had been regularly attending church and prayer meetings
and was distributing Bibles. The Palestinian Authority ordered his
arrest...
The pastor of a church in Ramallah was recently warned by Palestinian Authority
security agents that they were monitoring his evangelistic activities in
the area and wanted him to come in for questioning for spreading
Christianity.
A Palestinian convert to Christianity living in a village near Nablus was
recently arrested by the Palestinian police. A Muslim preacher was
brought in by the police, and he attempted to convince the convert to return
to Islam. When the convert refused, he was brought before a Palestinian
court and sentenced to prison for insulting the religious leader...
A Palestinian convert to Christianity in Ramallah was recently visited by
Palestinian policemen at his home and warned that if he continued to preach
Christianity, he would be arrested and charged with being an Israeli spy.19
Another report in 2002, based on Israeli intelligence gathered during Israel's
Defensive Shield operation, asserts that "The Fatah and Arafat's intelligence
network intimidated and maltreated the Christian population in Bethlehem.
They extorted money from them, confiscated land and property and left them
to the mercy of street gangs and other criminal activity, with no
protection."20
Similar findings were reported in the Washington Times following the PA takeover
of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Residents of this biblical city are expressing relief at the exile to Cyprus
last week of 13 hard-core Palestinian militants, who they said had imposed
a two-year reign of terror that included rape, extortion and executions.
The 13 sent to Cyprus, as well as 26 others sent to the Gaza Strip, had taken
shelter in the Church of the Nativity, triggering a 39-day siege that ended
Friday.
Palestinians who live near the church described the group as a criminal gang
that preyed especially on Palestinian Christians, demanding "protection money"
from the main businesses, which make and sell religious artifacts.
"Finally the Christians can breathe freely," said Helen, 50, a Christian
mother of four. "We are so delighted that these criminals who have
intimidated us for such a long time are now going away."
The gang's hostility toward Christians extended to a 17-year-old altar boy
fatally shot during an Israeli incursion in October.
A small stone monument the family erected in Johnny Talgieh's memory on the
spot in Manger Square where he died was kicked and spat on by gang members,
then toppled with ropes and cables and left smashed on the ground.
"They did not want to recognize that a Christian could be considered a [martyr],"
said a family member..."They hate us Christians more than they love Palestine."
21
Adding insult to injury, during this reign of terror, PA's Al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades (declared a terrorist organization by the United States) sent a
letter to the Bethlehem municipality "requesting" aid in the form of monetary
contributions for military operations. Cynically adding a symbol of
Christianity to their extortion demand, the letter was signed "Fatah/Al Aqsa
Martyrs (and Church of) Nativity Brigades" [emphasis added].22
PA Disrespect For Christian Holy Sites
The PA has shown contempt for certain Christian
holy sites, and there has been significant desecration as well. For
example, without prior consent of the church, Yasser Arafat decided to turn
the Greek Orthodox monastery near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem
into his domicile during his visits to the city. 23 On July 5, 1997,
the PLO seized Abraham's Oak Russian Holy Trinity Monastery in Hebron, violently
evicting monks and nuns.24
During the 2000-2002 Palestinian War of Terror, the PA's Tanzim militia chose
the Christian town of Beit Jala to shoot at Jerusalem over other locations
from which they could have similarly targeted communities built on land captured
in 1967. They specifically positioned themselves in or near Christian
homes, hotels, churches (e.g., St. Nicholas), and the Greek Orthodox club,
knowing that a slight deviation in Israeli return fire would harm Christian
institutions or homes.25 In other words, they preferred making Israel
look bad to preserving the sanctity and integrity of Christian sites and
property.
At one point, Andreas Reinecke, head of the German Liaison office to the
PA, protested:
I would like to draw your attention in this letter to a number of incidents
which occurred at "Talitakoumi" school in Beit Jala...which is funded mainly
by the Protestant Church in Berlin.
Over the last few days the school staff noticed attempts on the part of several
armed Palestinians to use the school premises and some of its gardens for
their activities. If they succeed in doing this, an Israeli reaction
will be inevitable. This will have a negative impact on the continuation
of the functioning of the school, in which no less than 1,000 [Christian]
Palestinians study...[Furthermore,] You cannot imagine the kind of
upheaval which will be provoked among the supporters of this school [in Germany]
should they discover that the school premises are used as a battle
ground.26
The most glaring example of PA disregard for the holiness of Christian shrines,
however, was the March 2002 takeover of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem
by PA forces and their taking of over 40 Christian clergy and nuns as
hostages. This takeover was not an act of desperation or seeking of
refuge in the heat of battle. It was premeditated specifically to make
Israel look bad. According to our own source and confirmed by a senior
Tanzim commander, Abdullah Abu-Hadid, "The idea was to enter the church in
order to create international pressure on Israel...We knew beforehand that
there was two years' worth of food for 50 monks. Oil, beans, rice,
olives. Good bathrooms and the largest wells in old Bethlehem. You
didn't need electricity because there were candles. In the yard they
planted vegetables. Everything was there."27
The official PA forces' behavior during the episode showed outright disdain
for the shrine, as described in the box below.
The PA Takeover Of The Church Of The
Nativity
On April 2, 2002, as Israel initiated its Defensive
Shield operation to combat the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure in Bethlehem,
"a number of terrorists took over St. Mary's Church grounds and...held the
priest and a number of nuns there against their will. The terrorists
used the Church as a firing position, from which they shot at IDF soldiers
in the area. The soldiers did not return fire toward the church when
fired upon. [emphasis added] An IDF force, under the command of the
Bethlehem area regional commander, entered the Church grounds today without
battle, in coordination with its leaders, and evacuated the priest and
nuns."28
That same day, "More than 100 Palestinian gunmen..., [including] soldiers
and policemen, entered the Church of the Nativity on Tuesday, as Israeli
troops swept into Bethlehem in an attempt to quell violence by Palestinian
suicide bombers and militias."29 The actual number of terrorists was
between 150 and 180, among them prominent members of the Fatah Tanzim.
As the New York Times put it, "Palestinian gunmen have frequently used the
area around the church as a refuge, with the expectation that Israel would
try to avoid fighting near the shrine."30 [emphasis added]
And in fact this was the case. The commander of the Israeli forces
in the area asserted that the IDF would not break into the church itself
and would not harm this site holy to Christianity. Israel also deployed
more mature and more reserved reserve-duty soldiers in this sensitive situation
that militarily called for more-agile, standing-army soldiers.31
The Palestinians, on the other hand, did not treat it the same way.
Not only did they take their weapons with them into the Church of the Nativity
and fire, on occasion, from the church, but "the entrance to the church is
also heavily booby-trapped."32
On April 7, "one of the few priests evacuated from the church told Israeli
television yesterday that gunmen had shot their way in, and that the priests,
monks and nuns were essentially hostages...The priest declined to call the
clergy 'hostages,' but repeatedly said in fluent English: 'We have absolutely
no choice. They have guns, we do not.'"33
Christians clearly saw the takeover as a violation of the sanctity of the
church. In an interview with CWNews, Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran,
the Vatican's Undersecretary of State and the top foreign-policy official,
asserted that "The Palestinians have entered into bilateral agreements [with
the Holy See] in which they undertake to maintain and respect the status
quo regarding the Christian holy places and the rights of Christian communities.
To explain the gravity of the current situation, let me begin with the fact
that the occupation of the holy places by armed men is a violation of a long
tradition of law that dates back to the Ottoman era. Never before have
they been occupied-for such a lengthy time-by armed men."34 On April
14, he reiterated his position in an interview on Vatican Radio. 35
On April 24, the Jerusalem Post reported on the damage that the PA forces
were causing:
Three Armenian monks, who had been held hostage by the Palestinian gunmen
inside the Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, managed to flee the church
area via a side gate yesterday morning. They immediately thanked the soldiers
for rescuing them.
They told army officers the gunmen had stolen gold and other property, including
crucifixes and prayer books, and had caused damage...
One of the monks, Narkiss Korasian, later told reporters: "They stole everything,
they opened the doors one by one and stole everything... they stole our prayer
books and four crosses... they didn't leave anything. Thank you for your
help, we will never forget it."
Israeli officials said the monks said the gunmen had also begun beating and
attacking clergymen.36
When the siege finally ended, the PA soldiers left the church in terrible
condition:
The Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity [had] seized
church stockpiles of food and "ate like greedy monsters" until the food ran
out, while more than 150 civilians went hungry. They also guzzled beer,
wine and Johnnie Walker scotch that they found in priests' quarters, undeterred
by the Islamic ban on drinking alcohol. The indulgence lasted for about
two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according
to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests who were trapped inside for
the entire ordeal...
"They should be ashamed of themselves. They acted like animals, like greedy
monsters. Come, I will show you more," said one priest, who declined
to give his name. He gestured toward empty bottles of beer and hundreds
of cigarette butts strewn on the floor. The priest then took the reporters
to see computers taken apart and a television set dismantled for use as a
hiding place for weapons...
"You can see what repayment we got for 'hosting' these so-called guests,"
said Archbishop Ironius, as he showed reporters the main reception hall of
the Greek Orthodox Monastery...
The Orthodox priests and a number of civilians have said the gunmen created
a regime of fear.
Even in the Roman Catholic areas of the complex there was evidence of disregard
for religious norms. Catholic priests said that some Bibles were torn
up for toilet paper, and many valuable sacramental objects were removed.
"Palestinians took candelabra, icons and anything that looked like gold,"
said a Franciscan, the Rev. Nicholas Marquez from Mexico.37
A problem that arose during the siege again shows Christian fear of Muslim
domination. Two Palestinian gunmen in the church were killed, and the
PA wanted to bury them in the basilica. For Christians, this was a
potential "absolute disaster."
"With two Muslim bodies inside the Church of the Nativity, Christianity could
be facing an absolute disaster in Bethlehem," said Canon Andrew White, the
special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Middle East.
"It would be catastrophic if two Muslim martyrs were buried in the church.
It could lead to a situation like that in Nazareth [DR: as described above],"
he said. 38
Only after intensive mediation efforts, were plans to bury the bodies inside
abandoned.
Similar Behavior In Jerusalem
Despite having no legal standing in Jerusalem, PA officialdom has acted similarly
there.
The PA, in fact, denies historic Jewish-thus Christian-ties to Jerusalem.
Walid M. Awad, Director of Foreign Publications in the Palestine Ministry
of Information, asserted: "The location of the [Jewish] Temple on the
Temple Mount is in question...There are scholars who say that it might be
in Jericho or somewhere else 4 kilometers outside of Jerusalem." Asked
"The New Testament talks of Jesus going to the Temple in Jerusalem.
Are you suggesting that Jesus went to Jericho rather than Jerusalem?", he
responded "It depends on what temple you think he went to."39 U.S.
Ambassador Dennis Ross asserted: "The only new idea [Arafat] raised at Camp
David was that the temple didn't exist in Jerusalem."40
A Christian leader, Father Marun Lahham worries, "Frequent Muslim declarations
that...Jerusalem is [an] Islamic [city] trouble Christians."41
The PA has begun to interfere with Jerusalem
Christians:
...the Palestinian Authority-appointed Waqf (Moslem religious property)
authorities attempted to break through into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
from the adjacent al-Hanaqa Mosque. [They] decided to install a latrine
on the roof of the Church. According to a May 11, 1997, report in Ha'aretz,
"A Waqf internal report, written two weeks ago by the Waqf's Jerusalem engineer,
'Isam 'Awad, confirms many of the Christians' claims in the conflict that
has emerged adjacent to the Holy Sepulcher Church regarding construction
in the Church. The Church's claim [is] that the Waqf has harmed the
historical and architectural substance of the Holy Sepulcher, as a result
of a construction addition to the courtyard of the 'Hanaqa,' which leans
on the wall of the Holy Sepulcher and even darkens it by its height.
Israel attempted to calm down the conflict after the Churches complained
and issued a work stoppage order against it, which was promptly ignored.
The same Ha'aretz story reported that "The Jerusalem district archeologist
in the Antiquities Authority, John Zeligman, wrote to the Waqf director,
'Adnan Husayni, pointing out to the Waqf the damage to a site that is declared
to be an antiquity and threatens to go to law if work is not halted
immediately." Finally, the illegal construction was halted due to Israeli
and world pressure, but we can be certain that without such pressure the
desecration would have continued.42
The PA-appointed Waqf is also working feverishly to convert the Temple
Mount, a site holy to Christians and Jews, into a mosque and erase
any traces of the Temple. In June 2000, Ha'aretz reported that
"the Islamic Movement in Israel has master plan to build a fourth mosque
on the eastern side of the Temple Mount" and that, in fact, according to
a head of the Movement, "the entire area of the Temple Mount is an inseparable
and integral part of the Al Aqsa Mosque."43
The Wakf made a mockery of the laws of the State of Israel. Wakf officials
[had] requested and received a permit to open an emergency exit in the new
mosque in Solomon's Stables. [But], in fact, the Wakf tried to break
through four of the underground arches in the northern part of Solomon's
Stables. To do so, it dug a huge hole 60 meters long and 25 meters
wide in the earth of the Temple Mount...6,000 tons of earth [were]
removed. Some of it was scattered at dumpsites. Some was dumped
in the Kidron River. Antiquities dating back to [the first and second Temple
eras] were tossed on garbage heaps.44
Israel Antiquities Authority Director-General Shuka Dorfman affirms
"categorically" and "in an unequivocal manner, that there is archeological
damage being done [by the Waqf] to antiquities on the Temple Mount."45
Under the "guardianship" of the Waqf, "Palestinian pirates are brazenly digging
up Jewish artifacts from the holy Temple Mount site and trying to sell them
on the black market for as much as $1 million."46
More recently, since the start of the Palestinian War of Terror, the Waqf
has precluded Christians from visiting the Temple Mount, despite the fact
that no security considerations whatsoever are involved.
Reduction Of Christian Political Power
Historically, not only has Bethlehem been a Christian city governed primarily
by Christians, but, with its sister towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sakhur, it
has been the largest enclave of Christians on the West Bank.
Since assuming control in 1995, however, the PA has been Islamizing
Bethlehem. It changed its municipal boundaries and severely tipped
the demography by incorporating 30,000 Moslems from three neighboring refugee
camps, Dehaisheh, El-Ayda' and El-Azeh. It also added a few thousand
Bedouins of the Ta'amrah tribe, located east of Bethlehem and encouraged
Moslem immigration from Hebron to Bethlehem. The net result is that
the area's 23,000 Christians were reduced from a 60% majority in 1990 to
a minority in 2001.
Also, defying tradition, Yasser Arafat appointed a Moslem from Hebron, Muhammed
Rashad A-Jabari, as governor of Bethlehem. He fired the existing Bethlehem
city council that had consisted of nine Christians and two Moslems, replacing
it with a 50:50 council. While the mayor is a Christian, the top
bureaucratic, security and political echelons, and lower levels as well,
have been drained of Christians.47 Furthermore, "according to the new
local council elections' regulations designed by the PA-but not yet put into
effect, however-mayors will be nominated by the council members in their
towns. Christians fear that these new regulations will open the way
to the nomination of Muslim mayors to the traditional Christian towns."48
While six out of the eighty-eight seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council
have been reserved for Christians49, representing more than double their
proportion in Palestinian society, the Council is a fairly powerless
entity. Similarly, no Christian holds a position of power in the
Palestinian government.
Harassment Of Palestinian Christians By Palestinian
Muslims
Palestinian Christians are perceived by many Moslems-as were Lebanon's
Christians-as a potential Fifth Column for Israel. In fact, at the
start of the recent War of Terror in 2000, Moslem Palestinians attacked
Christians in Gaza, as confirmed by Fr. Raed Abusahlia, chancellor of the
Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem.50
Anti-Christian graffiti is not uncommon in Bethlehem and neighboring Beit
Sahur, proclaiming such things as: "First the Saturday people (the Jews),
then the Sunday people (the Christians)."51 The same has often been
heard chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies. Accused of wearing
"permissive" Western clothing, Bethlehem Christian women have been
intimidated. Finally, rape and abduction of Christian women is also
reported to have occurred frequently (especially in Beit Sahur), as was the
case in Lebanon.52
Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their telephone
lines cut, and there have been break-ins to convents.53
In July 1994, the Wall Street Journal reported that Palestinian Moslems would
not sell land to Christians and that Christian facilities and clubs had been
attacked by Moslem extremists. Christian graves, crosses, and statues
had been desecrated; Christians had suffered physical abuse, beatings, and
Molotov cocktail attacks.54
Continuing the Islamic tradition of Saladin-who constructed two mosques
contiguous to and taller than the Church of the Holy Sepulcher-mosques have
mushroomed adjacent to and usually taller than churches. Loudly amplified
Moslem sermons have been aired during Christian services, including the Pope's
April 2000 address in Nazareth, which had to be halted until the Moslem call
to prayer was concluded.55
In February 2002, Palestinian Moslems rampaged against Christians in Ramallah,
and the Palestinian Authority failed to intervene. As reported by the
Boston Globe,
...the rampage began after Hanna Salameh, a member of a wealthy Christian
family, allegedly killed Jibril Eid, a Muslim construction contractor from
the Kalandia refugee camp, after the two men argued at the Israeli army's
Kalandia checkpoint...Salameh also allegedly assaulted Eid's brother and
a police officer, then fled the scene and turned himself in to police in
Ramallah. A few hours later, hundreds of men poured out of the refugee camp
and went to Ramallah, where they burned Salameh's house and store. They then
burned his brother's store, damaged several businesses owned by Christians
not related to the Salamehs, and torched the exercise room and terrorized
more than 100 children at Sariya, a scouting and youth center.
Palestinian police did nothing to stop this destruction, according to numerous
witnesses, but drew the line as the mob moved toward Christian churches,
whose leaders the Palestinian Authority is cultivating for international
support in its struggle with Israel.
While officials of the Palestinian Authority and of Fatah insisted that the
incident was simply about revenge and anger, many in Ramallah said
otherwise.
"The truth is this is a problem between Christians and Muslims," said one
Christian businessman. "There is no security for us. Everyone is taking the
law in his own hands...This [accused] man's brother, they burned his house,
his shops, his cars, and the police of Ramallah stood by and watched. This
is the democracy of Palestine?"
...[even] some members of the security services participated in the mob action,
witnesses said.
"The chief of security at Kalandia was in charge of this rampage," said a
Muslim shopkeeper. "The mayor of Ramallah came, saw what was happening, and
withdrew. I am a Muslim, but I condemn this. These are savage people." 56
And, similar attacks have occurred in eastern Jerusalem.
Over the weekend, a gang of Moslem youths ransacked a pool hall near the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is frequented by Christian youths.
Four of the Christians were stabbed and lightly wounded; one of them required
hospitalization. Witnesses said about fifty Moslem youths marched through
the Christian Quarter to the pool hall Saturday afternoon, chanting
anti-Christian slogans. They attacked the Christians inside, and broke
chairs, tables, and other objects...Old City police chief Dep. Cmdr. David
Givati, confirmed that there have been a number of attacks by Moslems on
Christian targets recently.57
THE PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
Escape
Per the Oslo Accords, between 1995 and 1997 the Palestinian Authority was
given civilian control over 98% of the Palestinian population of Gaza and
the West Bank. One might have expected Palestinian Christians, in the
spirit of Palestinian self-determination, to embrace PA jurisdiction.
This has not been the case; Palestinian Christians are fleeing.
Palestinian Christians have fled Islamic rule in the past. In the final
census conducted by the British mandatory authorities in 1947, there were
28,000 Christians in Jerusalem. The census conducted by Israel immediately
after the Six Day War in 1967, which ended the 19-year Jordanian control
of the eastern portion of the city, found just 11,000 Christians remaining
in the city. Some 17,000 Christians (or 61 per cent!) left during the
days of Jordan's rule over Jerusalem.58
True, there has been a steady outflow of Christians from the Holy Land for
some time. Daughter communities in North and South America had already
outnumbered their mother communities by 1948.59 But, this outflow has
accelerated since the imminence of PA control.
Between the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords until the 1995 transfer of Bethlehem
to the PA, Palestinian Christians lobbied Israel against the transfer.
The late Christian mayor, Elias Freij, warned that it would result in Bethlehem
becoming a town with churches, but no Christians. He lobbied Israel
to include Bethlehem in the boundaries of Greater Jerusalem, as was the Jordanian
practice until 1967.60
In December 1997, The Times of London reported: "Life in (PA ruled) Bethlehem
has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian
minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians
reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of
Christ's birth."61 The situation has become so desperate for Christians
that, "during his visit to Bethlehem, Pope John Paul II felt it necessary
to urge Palestinian Christians already in March 2000: 'Do not be afraid to
preserve your Christian heritage and Christian presence in Bethlehem.'"62
More recently, on July 17, 2000, upon realizing that then Prime Minister
Barak was contemplating repartitioning Jerusalem, the leaders of the
Greek-Orthodox, Latin and Armenian Churches sent a letter to him, President
Clinton, and Chairman Arafat, demanding to be consulted before such action
was undertaken. Barak's proposal also triggered a flood of requests
for Israeli I.D. cards by thousands of East Jerusalem Arabs. (This
plus the fact that Israel's own Christian population is actually growing
refute any claim that emigration is a result of Israel's treatment of
Christians.)
Muteness to Obsequiousness
Despite their beleaguerment, Palestinian Christians do not speak out about
their situation. Indeed, some seem to go out of their way to profess
unity and harmony with Palestinian Moslems.
Intellectuals and clergymen...never tire of insisting that harmony has always
prevailed between Muslims and Christians in Palestine. The Anglican Bishop
of the Diocese of Jerusalem Riyah Abu-'Assal stated emphatically: "The entire
history of Palestine never witnessed any religious conflict between Christians
and Muslims." In her book This Side of Peace, Hanan Ashrawi declares
that while growing up she felt no difference between Palestinian Christians
and Muslims: "We did not know who was what, and it was not an issue."63
Some publicly reject claims of maltreatment. For example, the Christian
National Institutions in Palestine and the Holy Lands averred on January
4, 2002:
We reiterate our strongest condemnation to all the lies and allegations of
the Israeli officials about Christians being oppressed by the [PA]. Therefore,
we declare our absolute rejection to all those lies.64
Some go so far as to distort Christian belief to actively ally with their
Moslem compatriots. A glaring example was recently reported in the
International Herald Tribune:
"We are marching to Jerusalem, martyrs in the millions," chanted students
at Ramallah's Anglican elementary school, as Arafat waved from the balcony
of a cultural center next door.65
Yet, as Hanan Shlein writes in Ma'ariv, while "out of fear for their safety,
Christian spokesmen aren't happy to be identified by name when they complain
about the Muslims' treatment of them,...off the record they talk of harassment
and terror tactics, mainly from the gangs of thugs who looted and plundered
Christians and their property, under the protection of Palestinian security
personnel."66
In fact, the Christians' silence may be precisely because they are a beleaguered
minority with a long history of dhimmitude. As Lebanese Christian Habib
Malik describes:
This sentiment is motivated primarily by a desire for a unified position
vis à vis Israel. But it also stems from a deeper dhimmi
psychological state: the urge to find-or to imagine and fabricate if need
be-a common cause with the ruling majority in order to dilute the existing
religious differences and perhaps ease the weight of political Islam's inevitable
discrimination. The history of Palestinian Christianity has, for the most
part, been no different from that of dhimmi Christianity throughout the
Levant.67
One Christian cleric in Jerusalem whom I interviewed compared the behavior
of Christian dhimmis to that of battered wives or children, who continue
to defend and even identify with their tormentor even as the abuse
persists.
In fact, Palestinian Christians have suffered as dhimmis for centuries.
An English traveler in the Holy Land in 1816, for example, remarked that
Christians were not permitted to ride on horseback without express permission
from the Moslem Pasha.68
Other European travelers to the Holy Land mentioned the practice whereby
"a dhimmi must not come face to face with a Muslim in the street but pass
him to the left, the impure side" and described how Christians were humiliated
and insulted in the streets of Jerusalem until the mid-1800s. The British
consul in Jerusalem wrote that in the Holy Land, particularly in Jerusalem
until 1839, Christians were pushed into the gutter by any Muslim who would
swear: "turn to my left, thou dog." They were forbidden to ride on
a mount in town or to wear bright clothes.69
In the early 1900s, sporadic attacks on Christians by bands of Muslims occurred
in many Palestinian towns.70 During the Palestinian Arab revolt in
the late 1930s, which involved very few Christians, if Christian villagers
refused to supply the terrorist bands with weapons and provisions, their
vines were uprooted and their women raped. The rebels forced the Christian
population to observe the weekly day of rest on Friday instead of Sunday
and to replace the tarboosh by the kaffiyeh for men, whereas women were forced
to wear the veil. In 1936, Muslims marched through the Christian village
of Bir Zayt near Ramallah chanting: "We are going to kill the
Christians."71
From 1953 until 1967, Jordan undertook to Islamize the Christian quarter
in the Old City of Jerusalem by laws forbidding Christians to buy land and
houses...It ordered the compulsory closure of schools on Muslim holidays
and authorized mosques to be built near churches, thus preventing any possibility
of enlargement.72
In the early 1900s, an additional dynamic took root with the advent of the
Jewish return to the area. Palestinian Christians began to band with
the Moslems to oppose Jewish immigration and presence, at least in part as
a way to deflect Moslem hostility away from themselves and onto Israel.
As Sir John Chancellor, British High Commissioner in Palestine, put it in
1931:
Christian Arab leaders, moreover, have admitted to me that in establishing
close relations with the [Palestinian] Moslems the Christians have not been
uninfluenced by fears of the treatment they might suffer at the hands of
the Moslem majority in certain eventualities.73
[Palestinian Christians] "internalized this dependence on the Muslim majority
as a social characteristic that persisted even after the Ottoman reforms
of the nineteenth century abolished these rules...The Christians worried
that Muslim religious emotions aroused against the Jews might subsequently
be turned against them."74
It is no surprise, then, that Palestinian Christians do not speak out against
their treatment. What may be surprising is the extent to which this
condition has taken some Palestinian Christians: denigration of non-Palestinian
Christians. As Father Manuel Musalam, head of the Latin Church in Gaza,
told Palestinian Authority Television:
Therefore I, the Christian Palestinian, say in all rage and daring to the
Christians of the world: You are loathsome! You are contemptible!...[We
Palestinian Christians] are facing the filthy Christians of the West...What
kind of Christianity is this? This is not Christianity; it is not even
paganism. This is Christianity of the jungle. Our New Testament
is not their New Testament, our Jesus is not their Jesus...I will say still
more: Our God is not their God.75
CONCLUSION
The number of reported
incidents, the diversity of sources, and the fleeing of Christians warrant
concern and further investigation.
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