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The Forum > Article Comments > The Palestinian Christian - persecuted, betrayed > Comments

The Palestinian Christian - persecuted, betrayed : Comments

By Abe Ata, published 24/3/2006

Palestinian Christians are sandwiched between Jews and Muslims - a forgotten and endangered people.

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The problem could have been solved largely by denoting the 4 biggest Christian cities in Palestine as free cities and put them under the UN.
Similar problems exist in Lebanon, where Christians have found themselves caught between Isreal and the Muslims, and have suffered disproportionately.
Posted by DFXK, Sunday, 26 March 2006 10:46:46 AM
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Abe, your article is so interesting, and which also has us wondering what happened to the Christians in Saddam's Iraq? Cannot think of his name right now, but there was one Christian fellow who was in Saddam's upper echelon. He was making quite a name for himself as Baghdad was being missiled.

But also, Abe, concerning your wondering about Israelis or Jews being saved when the Endtimes arrive, or if there really is a Second Coming. Right here in Mandurah, WA, there is a wayout former Amglican group, who are now very sure about being saved, simiar to the US right-wingers, but also say very earnestly that they have received word that the Jews have all been forgiven by the Good Lord, our Saviour when the Endtimes arrive, due to welcome the Israelis apparently also.

As the above could fit in well with George W Bush's campaign to save the Israelis and also the world, does any of our group know more about it?
Posted by bushbred, Sunday, 26 March 2006 5:13:59 PM
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Brushy.. you are thinking of Tariq Aziz. In very poor health at the moment.

ABE. it is most difficult to know how to respond to your article, but one thing is for sure, it cannot be along 'ethnic' or 'nationalistic' lines. From day one, the believers were persecuted, chased, hunted, and harrassed. There response was to flee..and then PROCLAIM THE WORD of the Gospel, where ever they went.

Those not scattered during the first persecution, received some respite when their main antagonist SAUL of Tarsus,was miraculously transformed into the main evangelist/Apostle/theologian of the early Church.

Being Christian is not to have any guarantee of land tenure, nationalistic tradition, or peace. It can be quite the opposite.

As a practical pathway which might have some effect, I recommend you lobby the Israelies and the USA for fairer consideration. You must persuade the Israelis that you support their existence, and the Americans of their human responsibility.

The PLO will use you for propoganda purposes only, you are too insignificant now numerically to 'count' to them in any other way.
One of you is in my own church. (from Ramallah, an Arab)

ABE.. look to Jesus... the author and finisher of our faith.. no matter what your view of the last days is, or Israel's place in it, our primary goal should always be to shine forth the love and reality of Christ as Saviour and soon coming Lord.

Standing for Christ is costly, but geography can never rob is of the priceless treasure of knowing Him.

Abe, the believers will always be at 'home' no matter where they are, because as u know, "Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in HIS name..there He is"

So, Abe.. I just urge you and every Palestinian brother or sister in Christ, to focus on the Lord, and remember Pauls words

Phil 3:7
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
Posted by BOAZ_David, Sunday, 26 March 2006 5:49:51 PM
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So many falsehoods; so little time and space.

I hope Abe doesn’t teach statistics, because his piece is an ugly farrago of distortions and spurious assertions. A quick perusal of the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) website provides clear evidence of the misleading material that he presents to the unwitting and unwise.
(http://www1.cbs.gov.il/shnaton56/st02_01.pdf)

Contrary to Abe’s assertion, Israeli CBS DOES distinguish between Arab and non-Arab Christians. And Israeli CBS yearbook data show that the number of Christian Arab Israelis has INCREASED in recent years, rather than declined. Between 1994 and 2004, the Christian Arab Israeli population grew by 17% from 101,400 to 117,300.

So much for the thesis of Abe’s piece.

Over in the West Bank, the real problem for Palestinian Christians stems from a completely different source. Article 2 of the Palestinian constitution proudly proclaims “the Palestinian people is part of the Arab and ISLAMIC [my emphasis] nations.”

And while Article 5 and 7 of the Constitution pay lip service to religious pluralism, they also establish quite firmly that a Palestinian state is to be Islamic by definition (why isn’t this example of religious sectarianism being attacked by all those critics of Zionism?).

The fact is that the principle of religious freedom is honoured in the Arab world far more in the breach than the observance. The Coptic Christian minority in Egypt is subject to all sorts of social and economic discrimination. And the same problem prevails within Palestinian society. Persecution by the Palestinian Muslim majority is a major reason for the flight of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank. And now with the election of an explicitly jihadist Hamas Palestinian government, the plight of Christians in places like Bethlehem and Ramallah will only worsen.

It just goes to show that free elections are not the end all and be all of democracy. Democracy also requires political and religious pluralism, a free press and unfettered liberty of expression, and equality for women. And by all these measures, the Arab world in general, and Palestinian society in particular, fall short of the mark
Posted by Ted Lapkin, Sunday, 26 March 2006 7:19:58 PM
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Strewth believes a comment which sounds as though the person knows what they're talking about means that they really do know.

What it really means is that they have no idea.

Zionist?

How do you arrive at that conclusion? Are you so brainwashed by our mainstream leftist media that anybody who says anything supporting Israel, or is even just neutral, is a Zionist?

Slander & insults mean nothing, and yet your point is still nonsense.

It is reality that the Christians of Bethlehem are pouring out of there, and that since the Israeli's gave the town to the PLO in 1995, that towns Christian population has gone from 80 to 20%.

I agree with you that the Israeli's probably want them out too, but they left due to persecution from Muslims.

Is that really so hard to believe?

I mean, Christians are fleeing everywhere else too you know. 1000 leave Iraq each week, because of persecution. There have been numerous bombing campaigns, assasinations of priests, as they don't fit in with the bigoted Islamist view of Iraq.

You must have heard about the Christian in Afghanistan - I didn't know there were any. On that point, one third of Kabul used to be Jewish, in the 1930's, and the same goes for Baghdad.

It was when colonialism ended, and Muslims ran their own affairs, that the persecution of minorities occured.

I think we left about 100 years too early, no doubt you'll misinterpret that too.

We need to do something in that whole region, similar to what Attaturk did for Turkey, although they still have a long way to go, but they are the closest to westerners in the Islamic world.

Truly though, to not believe that persecution of Christians exists in Palestine, or everywhere else Muslims are for that matter, is bizarre.

It even happens here. After every terrorist attack, churches in and around Auburn, Bankstown, have been burnt.

Four were burnt after Cronulla alone, although why they brought religion into it says a lot about them doesn't it
Posted by Benjamin, Sunday, 26 March 2006 8:07:00 PM
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So many falsehoods - so little time and space: Ted Lapkin, leading light of Australia's Israel lobby, says, "Persecution by the Palestinian Muslim majority is a major reason for the flight of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank." Amira Hass, noted Israeli journalist wrote: "Dr Bernard Sabella, a Jerusalemite and Catholic, who teaches sociology at Bethlehem University...notes [in surveys he has conducted among Christians], the main reasons for emigration cited are economic considerations and the fear of unemployment (about 40%). About 10% mentioned that life in an Islamic environment is problematic...Sabella explains that the % of emigrants among the Christians - most of whom belong to the middle class - has always been higher than among the Muslims. Middle class Christians and Muslims are more interested in personal advancement in their professions. They are particularly worried about the damage to their children's education caused by the political and security uncertainty. Some 98% of the Palestinian Christians in the [occupied] territories have relatives abroad [making] emigration a less difficult option. The collapse of tourism in Bethlehem...has impoverished many members of this middle class. Now, the confiscation of their lands...will steal most of their property from them, and with it their chance of acquiring an education." (Across the divide, 25/6/04) Eat your words, Ted.
Posted by Strewth, Sunday, 26 March 2006 8:30:34 PM
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