Here is Ethan Bronner in today's Times, reporting the Pope's fears of a "dwindling and
threatened" Christian population in the Middle East, and specifically
Jerusalem. The reasons, Bronner says: bad economy, political violence, radical Islam.
With Islam pushing aside nationalism as the central force behind the politics of identity, Christians who played important roles in various national struggles find themselves left out. And since Islamic culture, especially in its more fundamental stripes, often defines itself in contrast to the West, Christianity has in some places been relegated to an enemy — or least foreign — culture.
I am sure Bronner is right. But not a word about the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank? I believe Bronner has left out an important part of the Christian reality.
On my one visit to the Holy Land, at the recommendation of my mother-in-law, who had visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem with a Christian group, I stayed in St. George's guest house in East Jerusalem. It is run by Anglicans. The bulletin board there was covered with critical/angry statements about the effects of the Israeli occupation on Christian life there. I visited Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. I was struck by how hard it was to make this simple trip into Occupied Territories. The place was empty.
Later I read Jimmy Carter's book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, and saw that the Israeli treatment of Christians, a theme in the book, concerned him.
"The wall ravages many places along its devious route that are important to Crhistians, In addition to enclosing Bethelehem in one of its most notable intrusion, an especially heartbreaking division is on the southern slope of the Mount of Olives, a favorite place for Jesus and his disciples…[there's a lot more]…Father Claudio Ghilardi [of Saint Marta Monastery, which is bisected by the wall] says, 'For nine hundred years we have lived here under Turkish, British, Jordanian, and Israeli governments, and no one has ever stopped people coming to pray. It is scandalous. This is not a barrier. It is a border…'
"Nearby are three convents that will also be cut off from the people they serve. These 2000 Palestinian Christians have lost their place of worship and their spiritual center."
Radical Islam didn't do that. Isn't the Times reflecting a pro-Israel bias? (Thanks to Bruce Wolman, who was amazed by the piece.)
Related Posts
- More on the Times’ whitewash of the Palestinian Christian experience of the occupation
- More on the Times’ whitewash of the Palestinian Christian experience of the occupation
- Neocons slide easily from ‘radical Islam’ to all of Islam
- Neocons slide easily from ‘radical Islam’ to all of Islam
- Access to Christian Holy Sites in Occupied Territories
{ 24 comments }
You say you are "sure Bronner is right," Phil, but you don't seem to be aware of the fact that the vast majority of Arab Christians do not belong to Western, White-dominated, colonialist denominations such as Anglicanism.
jewish occupation of all palestine. violent,radical jewry. economies destroying jewry. this wall of hate and greed is jewry(jewry has many walls).
Before the Zionists stole Palestine, the main business of Palestinians after agricultural was catering to tourists and pilgrims. Palestinian Islam was tolerant both because of general awareness of heritage of Judaism and Christianity and out of business pragmatism. Palestinian Christians and Muslims, who unlike ethnic Ashkenazim, are actually descended from the populations of the Greco-Roman Judean and Samaritan statelets, often celebrated together the pre-Talmudic festivals of ancient Judaism and Samaritanism. In contrast Medieval and Modern Rabbinic and Karaite Jews, being descended almost entirely from convert populations, know nothing about these festivals. (See Jewish, Christian, and Palestinian Holidays.) I discuss here some typical Jewish anti-Christian crap that I have seen whenever I have stayed in Jerusalem. The spitting has been covered in the international press. Bonner should have mentioned it. Whenever Jewish Zionists babble about intolerant Palestinian Islam, they are projecting their own extremism and bigotries onto Palestinians.
the occupation, the thrill of power over others, the land theft justified with religious reasons has corrupted the soul of jewish israeli. in the big scheme of things, they have already lost, lost their soul.
Perhaps this kind of thing has something to do with it: "In Beit Suhur outside Bethlehem, I have seen IDF troops shoot at Palestinian Christian women hanging out laundry in their gardens. This was done with tank coaxial machine guns from within a bermed up dirt fort a couple of hundred yards away, and evidently just for the fun of it. In Bethlehem a lieutenant told me that he would have had his men shoot me in the street during a demonstration that I happened to get caught in, but that he had not because he thought I might not be a Palestinian and that if I were not the incident would have caused him some trouble. I have seen a lot of things like that. " Col. Pat Lang
Nice lies. By the way, Only the fascist Palestinians have blocked access to holy sites. Recall Jerusalem 1948-1967? Convenient memory loss?
True fact. Every middle eastern Christian that I have met has directly told that they were attacked by Israelis using American-issued equipment. The Pope is being attacked by Israel right now using the American press, if we want to be clear about it.
Edward Said was a Palestinian Christian and a wonderful mind. He created a music camp for Israeli and Palestinian young musicians with the cooperation of Daniel Berenboim. I believe actions like this do more to heal than any douchebag politician can ever dream of. He was also on the negotiations team with Arafat in Oslo. When he died he was professor of Middle East studies at Columbia University.
You've met two?
I worked with the Palestinian Christian community in East Jerusalem, Nazareth, and the West Bank for 16 months. I heard a whole lot about the destruction wrought by the Israeli occupation, the difficulty in accessing holy sites and places of worship, the use of zoning and building laws and settlement expansion to expropriate church property or block church-funded housing projects from coming to fruition. I heard very little about the supposed Muslim persecution that people in the 'West' blame for the disappearing Christian population of the 'Holy Land.'
Not to mention the number of Christian or mixed Muslim-Christian villages that were destroyed by Zionist militias during 1948, many of which I visited…Christian and Muslim cemeteries desecrated, churches and mosques destroyed or surrounded with barbed wire, etc. This kind of thing is really disturbing, no matter what religion it is aimed at.
For any interested in the plight of Christian Palestinians (and many other issues surrounding Israel's abominations in the Occupied Territories) i highly recommend Mazin Qumsiyeh. His website is here http://qumsiyeh.org/home/ ..and he also has a superb newsletter. If you're not receiving his email updates, you should! He's a great person.
Nice try at trying to divide Muslims and Christians in Palestine. As a South Asian Muslim, whenever I meet an Arab Christian, I feel the kind of brotherly 'love' that I feel whenever I meet another Muslim of whatever stripe or color. I have more in common, culturally, with my Palestinian Christian friend Natalie Baba than Stephanie C.—I met them both through an activist group.
That was also my impression, Saleema–Palestinian Muslims and Christians have been and still are members of the same community–neighbors and friends. All of the problems I mentioned above are faced by the Palestinian community as a whole. News stories in the West that focus on tension between Muslim and Christian communities are doing exactly what you say–trying to divide people, rather than focusing on the people who are uniting to work for justice and peace.
Militant Islamic groups become inflamed by injustices perpetrated by the Christian West, argues Pontifex. When the militants seek reprisals, defenseless local Christian communities can become an easy target because of their cultural, social and religious affiliation with the perceived aggressors. “A major issue is that the West has said for far too long: ‘This is someone else’s problem.’” http://www.catholic.org/international/internation...
That's interesting. How many of the estimated 400,000 to 1,000,000 Christians who have fled Iraq over the past 20 years were "attacked by Israelis using American-issued equipement"?
Hey wolfie,, the catholic church does not give a rat's turd for these christians since they are not Catholics, merely some other heathens. They are as bad as the Orthodox Rabbinate
jacobwolf prefers merely talking to himself.
exactly–that's why we should take care of Israel the same way we took care of Iraq.
In his article, Franks quoted several Palestinians who claim that Christians are leaving the city because of Israels security barrier. However, Franks also acknowledges that there could be another reason for the exodus. Privately, some Christians in Bethlehem say another factor sometimes motivates their decision to leave – concern about the rise of radical Islam – but they are unwilling to put such views on the record. Indeed, Franks admission is consistent with finding from Justus Reid Weiner, who has researched the plight of Christians in the Palestinian territories extensively. According to Weiner, Arab Christians rarely speak about their situation in public:
Thank goodness we can rely on your intimate experiences with Palestinian Christians, then, since we can't trust what they say in public. Or in surveys run by Palestinian Christian organizations. Or to U.S. church-workers who have lived in Jerusalem for years….
We can rely on the experiance of others who have been threatened or their families threatened if they reveal the truth.
You bumbling idiot, he was obviously referring to PALESTINIAN Christians, NOT Iraqi Christians. Moron.
Gee, I've never been called a "bumbling idiot" and a moron by someone who couldn't read. Please take a look at this short sentence (go ahead, move your lips if you need to): "Every middle eastern Christian that I have met has directly told that they were attacked by Israelis using American-issued equipment." Now, tell me: What part of "middle eastern Christian" didn't you understand?
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