Yesterday Ethan Bronner wrote in the Times that Christians in the Middle East, including those in Palestine, are oppressed by radical Islam and said not a word about the Israeli occupation's effect on their lives. Well a week ago (I got this wrong on first iteration, sorry!) the Jerusalem Post's Larry Derfner offered a far more informative account of the same subject that yes, mentions Islamic harassment of Christians, but a few times cites the occupation too. To wit:
He [Daniel Rossing, Jewish head of a center for Jewish-Christian relations] adds: "If Christians in Bethlehem and Ramallah had to name the worst thing that's happened to them lately, they wouldn't say the rise of Hamas, they'd say the [security] wall. No question." ...
In fact, they say it is Israeli authorities, much more than Palestinian Muslims, who make it hard for them to live as Christians.
"We can't go to Jerusalem, to the holy places, because of the closure," says Taiba's Jassir. For years Israel has placed Jerusalem off-limits to West Bank Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike, except during special occasions like major religious holidays. "They only let us into Jerusalem for Christmas and Easter, usually for a week, sometimes as long as a month."
A word about the internet. I remember when to get a contradictory account to the New York Times you used to have to go to Hotaling's, a newsstand on W. 42nd Street, and hope to find a five-day-old foreign newspaper, or even Minneapolis Star-Tribune, that you had heard addressed a topic the Times had touched on. Can anyone say that the internet hasn't greatly advanced journalism? And no, I'm not getting into the financial angle; look at me, working for peanuts.
It's worth noting that although both Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslims are denied access to holy sites, in general the exceptions that are made are much more accessible to Palestinian Christians–a higher percentage of West Bank Christians, for example, are given access to Jerusalem during the Easter season than Palestinian Muslims are given for Friday prayers in Jerusalem during Ramadan. I did checkpoint watch at Qalandia on Lailat al-Khadr last year. The number of people turned away (including families that were split up, so that for example a mother and daughter might get in but not the father) was mind-numbing.
Why do no ads run on this website?
Business is afraid of zionist backlash?
Good point – Phil what happened to the GoogleAds? We should click on the ads everytime we access the site.
Google withdrew ads from Mondoweiss few months back – no reason given, no appeal allowed.
Derfner is the enfant terrible of JPost — if he really gave a damn, he wouldn't be writing for it. He just gives it spurious credibility.