1Palestine

Are Palestinian Christians leaving due to Palestinian Muslims ?

Israel has long worked hard to portray itself as a guardian of religious plurality and freedom, especially when it comes to the Christian Palestinian population in Palestine. It is no secret that Palestine holds immense importance to many religions, and the facade of tolerance would go a long way towards cultivating a progressive image.

The problem with all of this, of course, is that Israel is an ethnocracy clearly built to leverage one group over all else. All of this talk of tolerance and equality goes out the window when you actually look into the de facto and de jure discrimination that form the basis of Israeli society.

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Naturally, this has not stopped advocates of Israel of projecting this discrimination onto the Palestinians themselves, claiming that Palestinian Christians are oppressed by their Muslim neighbors and the Palestinian Authority. They point to the dwindling Christian population of the West Bank as proof of this assertion. Let us take a deeper look at the claims and see if there is any evidence to support these accusations.

First, it is worth mentioning that throughout its history, Israel has cared very little about the different religions or sects of Palestinians, only that they were in the way of its expansionist colonial project. Bombs and bullets don’t tend to discriminate, neither do sweeping campaigns of ethnic cleansing that resulted in the destruction and depopulation of approximately 600 Palestinian villages.

Perhaps one of the more striking stories of Palestinian Christian and Muslim solidarity comes from the story of the village of Mujaydil, Pappe writes that:

“The village of Mujaydil had 2000 inhabitants, most of whom fled to Nazareth before the soldiers reached their houses. For some reason the army left these intact. In 1950, after the intervention of the Pope in Rome, the Christians were offered the opportunity to move back but refused to do so without their Muslim neighbours.“

As a response, Israel razed half the village and burnt down one of its two mosques. Many Palestinians were shot in an attempt to return to Al-Mujaydil to tend to their crops, eventually people stopped trying due to so many deaths. Today the village has been wiped off the map, with a forest growing on top of it. The only evidence of Palestinian life are the remains of a damaged monastery and church that remain to tell the story.

The idea that Israel is some grand protector of Christians in Palestine can be so easily dispelled by simply talking to an actual Palestinian Christian. I’m certain that the Palestinian Christian refugees all over the world would have a good laugh at the notion.

With this context out of the way, let us return to the original question regarding Palestinian Christians leaving Palestine: What are the reasons? Is it as claimed that Christians feel discriminated against? Are their Muslim neighbors harassing them? Do they feel like they simply don’t have a place in Palestinian society?

There have been multiple studies on this phenomenon, and Dr. Rev. Mitri Raheb has become a specialist in this topic. From his review of recent studies, in addition to those done over the last 20 years, he came to the following conclusions on why Palestinian Christians opted to emigrate:

32.6% opted to emigrate due to the loss of freedom and absence of safety amidst the occupation.
26.4% left because of the deteriorating economic conditions.
19.7% emigrated due to political unrest, especially during the second Intifada.
0.3% were motivated to leave for religious purposes. This percentage is so small that it dismisses as irrelevant the premise of religion as a main cause for emigration.

In a completely unsurprising turn of events, the number one reason for Palestinian Christians emigrating is the Israeli occupation. Just one look at how Bethlehem has been turned into a militarized Ghetto will reveal the inhumane treatment of Palestinians and the tremendous harm they endure every single day.

As a matter of fact, the majority of Palestinian Christians (62%) believe that Israel’s end goal is to expel them from their homeland. Given Israel’s track record, who can argue otherwise? 83% of Palestinian Christians are worried about settlers, and 73% are worried about the continued occupation of their lands.

Studies show that Palestinian Christians actually feel safer on average than their Muslim neighbors. The overwhelming majority said that they do not suffer from discrimination when dealing with people and society. Almost all (92%) reported feeling comfortable discussing their religion with a Muslim friend. This sounds nothing like the hostile and discriminatory society that advocates of Israel describe.

The point of these numbers is not to paint an unrealistic or rosy picture of Palestinian society. Of course, there exists prejudice, like in every society on earth. The same study also revealed that there are many aspects that need improving to make Palestine a more inclusive society, such as the Palestinian Basic Law as well as elements of social conservatism. The point is to refute Israeli claims of Palestinian backwardness and intolerance, and to reject it positioning itself as the savior of Palestinian Christians. Especially when Israeli society is sustained by and replete with racism towards all kinds of Palestinians, for example being spat on by Israelis is a staple of Christian Palestinian Clergy life in Jerusalem.

A further aspect that often goes unappreciated is that a considerable portion of support for Israel around the world comes from Evangelical and Christian Zionists, who believe that an Israeli state is crucial to trigger Armageddon. Pandering to these groups has been rather profitable, and there are entire faithwashing organizations dedicated to strengthening these ties. Naturally, these Christian Zionists care nothing for the plight of Palestinian Christians, or even for Jewish Israelis, as they simply see them as a means towards the end days, where they will be forced to convert to Christianity or die.

At the end of the day, Israel does not -and never has- cared about the plight of Palestinian Christians further than being able to use them in its Hasbara efforts. The framing of Palestinian society as backwards and intolerant has long been a staple of Israeli claims, but as the numbers show, Israel was in fact the main cause for the emigration of Palestinian Christians.

Palestinian Christians are an integral part of our culture and identity, they have provided our society with some of our most brilliant intellectuals, and some of our fiercest resistance fighters. We must strongly combat their erasure, no matter the source, and confidently declare that these divide and conquer tactics will never ever erode our unity.

Further reading:

Sabella, Bernard. “Palestinian Christians: Realities and Hopes.” Studies in Church History 36, 2000: 373-397.
Sabella, Bernard. My Friend and Neighbor, This Week in Palestine, 2013.
Sakakini, Khalil al. Such am I, Oh World, Diaries of Khalil al Sakakini, 1990.
Raheb, M. Palestinian Christians: Emigration, Displacement and Diaspora. Bethlehem: Diyar Publishers, 2017.
Raheb, Mitri. “Sailing through troubled waters: Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land.” Dialog41.2, 2002: 97-102.
Raheb, Mitri. I am a Palestinian Christian. Fortress Press, 1995.

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Jerusalem Christians: ‘We shrunk from 20% to 2% of population due to Israeli violence’ Christian leaders are pleading for international support to stop Israeli harassments Palestinian Christians have been the target of Israeli aggression, which has driven a large percentage of the religious minority away. Image used under Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic ( CC BY-NC 2.0 ) This article was originally published on December 21, 2021 by Raseef22. An edited version of the article is republished by Global Voices under a partnership agreement. As tensions escalate in Jerusalem in the wake of Israel's latest wave of evicting Palestinians from the city, it is important to note that Israel's targeting of Arab civilians has not been limited to Muslims alone. It has also reached the Palestinian Christians of Jerusalem, which prompted Christian leaders to let out a cry of distress: “Our existence is shaky and our future is in danger.” According to figures released in 2017, Jerusalem is has a population of 901,300 people, made of around 342,000 Arab citizens in East Jerusalem, nearly 345,000 Jews in West Jerusalem, and 215,000 Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. The Christian presence is limited to 15,800 people (12,600 Arab Christians and 3,200 non-Arab Christians). According to the Al Quds International Institution (QII), an Arab NGO that seeks to safeguard the city of Jerusalem, preserve its Arab identity, and save its Islamic and Christian sanctities from Judaizing and Israelizing schemes, the Christian population in Jerusalem is in the neighborhoods of the Old City, Beit Hanina, Beit Safafa, Mount of Olives (Jabal al-Zaytoun), Shu’afat, Dahiat al-Barid, Sheikh Jarrah, Kafr ’Aqab, al-Matar and Semiramis. Since 2012, in conjunction with the escalation of attacks against Christian communities and sanctities in Jerusalem, the churches of Jerusalem have repeatedly made calls for help against Israel’s attempts to “undermine” the Christian presence in the city. The recent attacks, plots, and violations against them have been viewed as “unprecedented” and particularly worrying. Terrorizing Christians and desecrating their sanctities In late December, Father Francesco Patton, Custodian of the Holy Land of the Catholic Church and Chief Custodian of the Christian Holy Places in Jerusalem, said in an article under the title: “ Holy Land Christians are at Threat of Extinction : Israeli radicals are waging a war of attrition against peaceful believers who have no desire to fight. We need outside help to survive”. Patton explained that while the Christian presence in Palestine dates back to more than two thousand years, it has become “threatened and our future is at risk. Where once we numbered 20 percent of the population of Jerusalem, today the Christian community counts for less than 2 percent.” Father Patton accused “radical local groups with extremist ideologies” of making “the lives of many Christians unbearable” by repeatedly committing “hate crimes” and offe

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