This reads like the experience of most Palestinian families: to-ing and fro-ing across arbitrary international borders and suddenly finding one or more family members stuck on the wrong side of various heavily-guarded checkpoints. Maybe there's a little less bloodshed than average.

The only especially Christian part of the tale is the sorry state of the Lutheran church congregation. The Bethlehem mosque probably has better attendance. I would hazard a guess that there are two reasons that fewer Christian Palestinians remain than non-Christians: first, they were already a minority before trouble started in 1948; and second, the Christian families tend to be slightly wealthier, to have smaller families, and to have better connections abroad. They're more likely to have left for good. The same goes for other educated Palestinian families, whatever their religion.

Poorer Palestinians suffer all the same inconveniences and hardships, but are less likely to have connections in wealthy countries; and therefore more likley to stay put in the occupied territoroes or the squalid camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

The reason Abe's mother is lonelier in Bethlehem than her non-Christian neighbours is that her family is spread across the world. By the sound of things, she too will soon be gone.

Every time an educated Palestinian gives up and leaves for a sane life in another country, the remaining Palestinian population loses a little hope and a little sanity. Not much of either is left now.

Ethnic cleansing proceeds even without mass slaughter.

http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=438

The Western World's creation of various "countries" after WW2 is still causing the world problems. One of the biggest of course has been Israel and the lack of land for Palestinians. Iraq is another artificial country in which 3 opposed groups were placed to fight it out. They're still at it. As they are in the Middle East.

But it's been going on for thousands of years hasn't it? Regardless of who is in charge or which group is te strongest at a given time.

And this is the life that the radical Muslims/Asians want for YOU. Can the non radical Muslims/Asians stop them? As surely our government won't. They'll just keep counting the money and pretending everything's fine and dandy. Until we have the violence we see every day in these countries.

I just cannot fathom why people flee such countries only to recreate the misery they left. Look at every capital city and you will find ghettos of various racial groups. Simmering and ready to explode.

Who is going to fix that? Or stop the unavoidable replication of what this author is writing about? Only one answer. YOU, again. Do something. Like befriend one of those from other countries before the ethnicity takes over and makes us enemies.

Stop whingeing and start acting, for good.

A very tragic situation indeed.

But why in 2007 do we still call Palestine/Israel etc the "holy land"?

When was the last time that a truly Holy person of any world-wide influence or significance lived there?

It is more like a lunatic asylum---and always has been.
A part of the world traumatised by warfare and the politics of fear.

Besides it is not at all "holy" to the overwhelming majority of the worlds population who are not Christians, Moslems or Jews.
And yet some would claim that the past, present, and future histories and events in that part of the world have some kind of overwhelming binding significance, and claim of the totality of humankind.

"Ongoing apathy by a majority American Evangelical Christians has also indirectly contributed to the Palestinian Christian exodus."

Thanks to the war on terror and media cover of the us-against-them mentality - it is no surprise that most people in the western world believe that the Middle East is 100% Islamic.

The same situation is now unfolding in Iraq and Pakistan, there was no contingency plans from the "allies" regarding the safety of the Christians and other minorities in these places.

The Arab world – except maybe Jordan – has done next to nothing to alleviate the suffering of their brothers and sisters. The poor Palestinians are left there to suffer and used as a pawns to solicit international anti Israeli sympathy.

This is a religious situation fuelled by the pan-Islamic charter of getting rid of all Jews and all Christians... at all cost.

Ho Hum is right for asking what is so sacred about the holy land.

To us Christians it is significant as a historical place where God revealed Himself to humanity. The climax and complete revelation was of course God becoming human and living among His creation as Christ Jesus.

Today, after Christ, we don’t need a place – our Kingdom is not what you see now on earth. God the Holy Spirit resides in us and not in earthly buildings.

To His people the Jews He gave the land of Israel as an inheritance and a covenant.

Then came the Muslims who claimed to be the legitimate new owners of this land and planted a Mosque in utter arrogance on top of Jewish holiest site: their Jerusalem temple.

So really except for sentimental reasons and human rights (or stupid defiance) Christians should not be attached to that un-real estate.