Israel Matzav: 'Palestinian' Christians are vanishing

'Palestinian' Christians are vanishing

Newsmax has a good summary of what's happening to 'Palestinian' Christians. It's not pretty, but of course since most people realize (finally) that the Jews cannot be blamed, no one is interested in doing anything about it anymore.

Christians have left for a litany of reasons, including better economic opportunities abroad. Those who remain traditionally blame Israeli policies for Christian emigration. Israel controls the borders, often preventing Palestinians from working or visiting family members in other parts of the territories and in Jerusalem. The Gaza border has been impassable for three years since rocket fire against Israel picked up and Hamas kidnapped an Israeli soldier.

However, during the past few years, many Christians have softened their blame of Israel while sharpening allegations of Muslim intimidation and large clans’ Mafia-like rule.

Statistics from the Israel-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center and interviews with Palestinian Christians — many of whom asked to remain anonymous for fear of revenge — provide examples of intensifying radical Muslim attacks against Christians during the past decade:

• The violence culminated in Gaza with the murder of Rami Ayyad, 31, an employee at the Bible Society who was kidnapped and tortured before being shot in October 2007.
• In Gaza, militants have vandalized a monastery as well as Christian and Western schools; bombed the YMCA and Internet cafes; and ransacked the Gaza Baptist Church, using the church as cover while shooting at rival groups.
• One Christian who works for the Bethlehem municipality said he doesn’t always get paid. “In general, they hate Christians,” he said. “I know Jesus is with me, but sometimes I’m afraid. There are a lot of them, and they can come and gang up on you.”
• In 2002, dozens of terrorists commandeered Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity for 39 days, knowing that Israeli troops would refuse to storm the church. The gunmen, holding 200 priests hostage, desecrated the traditional birthplace of Jesus with graffiti and a fire, stole relics, and used the Bible as toilet paper.
• Mobs have burned down or vandalized dozens of Christian businesses and Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and evangelical churches in Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Bethlehem.
• In the West Bank, Christians enjoy more freedom but still are subject to discrimination. One Christian from Ramallah said he fled after death threats for not giving his land to a Muslim who demanded it. Another, pressed to sell half of his business to Muslim buyers at a fraction of its value, let his company go bankrupt instead, then moved with his family to Canada.

Christians have filed criminal complaints alleging kidnappings of Christian women to marry Muslim men, land thefts, harassment, and job discrimination. Many say they do not have an advocate in the Palestinian government.

“Christians are increasingly aware that, unless something dramatic happens, their days are numbered,” said Justus Weiner, a senior fellow at Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

Weiner, a human rights lawyer who has investigated injustices against Palestinian Christians for 13 years, predicts that the Christian community there will vanish in another decade.

To my Christian readers: Is this ever discussed in your churches? Is anyone outside the pro-Israel community even aware of it?

Israel Matzav: 'Palestinian' Christians are vanishing