‘They left because of the Israeli occupation’
Posted: 02 Nov 2006 @ 00:00
‘They left because of the Israeli occupation’
Christians are being driven out, says Giles Fraser
THE bishops of the Church of England recently received a letter from the
Israeli government claiming that the number of Christians living in the Holy
Land is on the increase.
Technically, the government is right. The Israelis are encouraging
immigration by a liberal policy that allows entry to those with a single Jewish
grandparent. A consequence of this is that many Christians from Russia and the
United States meet the criterion and are settling in Israel.
Yet this masks a more disturbing reality. Palestinian Christians are the
oldest Christian community in the world, but, because of systematic harassment
by the Israeli authorities, they now represent just two per cent of the
population.
Many who remain are thinking of leaving for Canada or Australia. On the West
Bank, there are now virtually no Christians north of Ramallah. Before the 1948
war, the Anglican Church in Haifa was some 1200 strong; now there are about 150
left.
"They did not leave because of the Muslims; they left because of the Israeli
occupation," says the Revd Dr Naim Ateek, a Canon of St George’s Cathedral,
Jerusalem. "We now face oppression, suppression and vengeance from the Israeli
Government."
The 40,000 Christians who remain in the Occupied Territories are
concentrated in Bethlehem and a few villages to the south. The Israeli
government wishes they didn’t exist, as their presence is an embarrassment.
The fact that there are Palestinian Christians confuses the political
picture that it would like to present, particularly to the Americans, as a
conflict between Muslims and Jews.
Most Christian tours to Israel are diverted from areas where Palestinian
Christians live. It is convenient for the government to encourage the idea that
these are no-go areas. "We are coming into Nazareth; watch your wallets," cries
an Israeli tour guide.
There is talk now that, in order to discourage American and European
Christians from visiting Bethlehem, where they might experience the brutality
of Israeli occupation, a "virtual Bethlehem" is being developed at the nearby
settlement of Har Homa.
Western Christians must not allow themselves to be diverted from the truth
of what is happening to their Arab brothers and sisters in Christ. In the place
of our Lord’s birth, many of us are being suckered by a virtual faith of
feel-good religious tourism. Christ lived in a brutally occupied Palestine. He
still does.
The Revd Dr Giles Fraser is Team Rector of Putney, and lecturer in
philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford.