CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL

Most Americans are barely aware that there are Christians still living in the Holy Land of Israel, Palestine, Jordan and beyond.? As twice in my life a member of a Catholic cathedral parish, I have come to look forward to the annual November/December visits of Christian artisans from Bethlehem and Nazareth who visit each Catholic cathedral in the United States to sell their beautifully hand-crafted Christmas decorations.? Carved from olive wood the color of butter, these precious Nativity scenes, Crosses, Rosaries, Madonnas and Stars of Bethlehem have adorned many a home and heart.? Will we will see them this year, now that their part of the world has fallen apart?

In the spring of 2002, the feelings of most Americans were still very raw following the Al-Quaeda air liner bombings of the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the crash of a third air liner in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, one that was meant for either the US Capitol or the White House.? It had been alleged by purported eye-witnesses and published in the Jersey Journal newspaper that ‘Arab-looking’ people had been seen in Union City, New Jersey, looking across the Hudson River at the burning WTC with jubilation.? Some within the Muslim Community in Northern New Jersey thought that they had some fence-mending to do, so the North Hudson Islamic Center of Union City organized a feast open to the general public.? ?

This was a very well-organized event, right down to provision for parking, and included gracious hospitality, great food and an interesting panel discussion with a question-and-answer period.? The panelists on stage took questions from the audience written on index cards and collected by the servers.? I am pretty sure that my card was one of those read, because I recognized the wording read out by one of the panelists. More anon.

The Christians who are either citizens of Israel or of the Palestinian Authority seem to be the least reported on of any of the groups in conflict in this terrible war.? Predominantly Arab, Greek, Armenian or Chald?an, they form barely 2% of the Israeli and 6% of the Palestinian population.[1] ? The largest Christian population in the Middle East, that of the Coptic Orthodox? Christians of Egypt (Arabic-speaking but not strictly speaking Arab, descended from the Hamitic ethnicities of Pharaonic Egypt).? Christians in the Middle East are just hanging on everywhere demographically, and in Israel/Palestine in particular.? This is not only because of recent Islamicist violence, especially of ISIS/DAESH, but also because of a long history of third-class citizenship of Christians in the Muslim world.? They have historically suffered extreme prejudice and inequality under the law because of the Muslim principle of ‘dhemitude,’ that Christians are an alien and idolatrous population, tolerated only because they are there to serve Muslims.[2] Lebanon is the only Arab country with a majority Christian citizenry, but also with an enormous Palestinian Arab, mostly Muslim, refugee population alongside, essentially governed by a terrorist army funded, supplied and controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hezbollah.? So the Christians of Lebanon, mostly Maronite Catholics, are playing the role of dhemi by not being able to make a move in their own country.[3] ?

Whereas protection of Christian religious liberty and holy places are enshrined in the laws of both the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Christians of Gaza have nothing but ‘brotherly assurances’ from Hamas that their rights will be respected.? That is all the assurance mere servants need.? ?So far, under the Hamas co-option of all social and municipal services from the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, except what Israel was quick enough to retain control of, so good for Gaza Christians. ?But that could turn on a dime.[4] ?

I had a friend in Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey, who worked for the US Postal Service bulk mail department. ?He told me that he always made sure that 3rd class mail for all the churches got handled like 1st class mail, “Because God goes First Class at my branch!” ??He was from Alexandria, and he told me about how much he loved Egypt and missed it, but also of a lifetime of insults and chicanery, all directed at Coptic Christians like himself, with the occasional church bombing and so-on.? The straw that finally broke the proverbial camel’s back for him and his family was the introduction of a practice of using the muezzins’ loud speakers used normally to call the Muslim faithful to prayer five times a day, to broadcast other things in the intervals between prayers.? “Muslims, do not be deceived.? The Christians are no more your friends than the Jews.? They are both the same kind of pig.”? “We knew things could change fast, so we decided to come to his wonderful country, and thank God we were allowed to,” he told me.? Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, have the largest Coptic population outside of Egypt. Saint George’s Cathedral in Jersey City is always he first stop for the Copic Pope (Abba) when he visits.

Christians in this war and in this ongoing state of tension and conflict are walking a tight rope.? Was it out of real solidarity with the Hamas armed struggle, for which no Christian seems to have enlisted, or out of unacknowledged stark terror that several ad hoc Christian groups in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority published an ad hoc ‘open letter’ condemning Israel for its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, but ignoring the Hamas atrocities of October 7th and ongoing?[5]

Undoubtedly sincere are the Palestinian Christian prayers of mourning for all those suffering from the horror of this war with no end in sight.[6] ? I am reminded of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s possibly apocryphal but nevertheless widely circulated quip regarding Israelis and Palestinians making a lasting and mutually beneficial peace, “Why can’t we just handle this thing like good Christians?”?

There will be none of that for Hamas, with ‘the Zionist Entity’ wiped off the face of the earth in their dystopian vision of the future.? Yet they promise their Christian “brothers” that they will be full citizens of Palestine, of the new Caliphate that extends not just ‘from the river to the sea,’ but around the world.? And, not to worry.? There will be no imposition of Muslim Sharia Law on Christians.[7] ?

Really?? I think back to that community open house at the Islamic Center in Union City, New Jersey, and to the panel’s answer to my question.? What was that question?? “Do you think that Sharia Law should be introduced to the legal framework of the United States?”? What was their answer?? “Not at this time.”

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?Guy Christopher Carter, 4th November 2023

Worcester, Massachusetts

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Israel | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Christians ?

[2] https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/10/03/vanishing-arab-christians-gaza-hamas-di-giovanni-book/ | https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christians-in-the-palestinian-territories

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Lebanon

[4] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190107-hamas-has-a-positive-legacy-with-christians-but-it-faces-a-serious-test/

[5] https://juicyecumenism.com/2023/10/24/hamas-war/

[6] https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231017-palestinian-christians-mourn-suffering-in-israel-hamas-war

[7] https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Hamas:-no-Sharia,-Christian-brothers-are-full-citizens-5294.html