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The
Palestinian Christian is an endangered species.
When the modern state of Israel was established there
were about 400,000 of us. Two years ago the number was
down to 80,000. Now it’s down to 60,000. At that rate,
in a few years there will be no ne of us left. When this
happens non-Christian groups will move into our churches
and claim them for ever.
I fear that when/if the last Palestinian Christian
leaves extreme groups will move instantly to our
churches and schools and have a field day hatching world
plots. It would be too late for the US to do anything
about it !!
Palestinian Christians within Israel fare little better.
On the face of it, their number has grown by 20,000
since 1991. But this is misleading, for the census
classification ‘Christian’ includes some 20,000 recent
nonArab migrants from the former Soviet Union.
So why are Palestinian Christians abandoning their
homeland?
We have lost hope, that’s why. We are treated as
non-people. Few outside the Middle East even know we
exist, and those who do, conveniently forget.
I refer, of course, to the American Religious Right.
They see the modern Israel as a harbinger of the Second
Coming, at which time Christians will go to Paradise,
and all others (presumably including Jews) to Hell. To
this end they lend military and moral support to Israel.
Even by the double dealing standards of international
diplomacy this is a breathtakingly cynical bargain. It
is hard to know who is using whom more:
What we
do know is that both sides are abusing the Palestinians.
Apparently we don’t enter into anyone’s calculations.
The views of the Israeli Right are well known: they want
us gone.
Less well known are the views of the American Religious
Right. Strangely, they find the liberation of Iraqis
from a vile dictator just, but do not find it unjust for
us to be under military occupation for 38 long years.
Said Senator James Inhofe (ROK):
"God Appeared to Abraham and said: 'I am giving you this
land,’ the West Bank. This is not a political battle at
all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God
is true.’"
Inhofe must have got it wrong. Promises are being made
to earthly Jerusalem, that again, God did not make! .
For Paul wrote that the Holy Land was promised to
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants. These are
the Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and Jews, who have
been living in the land for thousands of years. The
Bible never mentioned that God promised it solely to
Jews. Anyone can be a Jew, but not anyone can be a
descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their
descendants. James Inhofe and followers are unable to
tell the difference between Jew, Israelite, and Israel.
It is very clear, that in Israel, there will be no
continuing city!
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(Hebrews-13-13-14) Let us go forth therefore unto
Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. For here
we have no continuing city, but we seek on to come
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His
Promise to Abraham! (Hebrews-11-10) For he looked
for a City which has foundations (Christ The
Foundation) whose builder and maker is God
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(16) Now they desire a better Country, that is, An
Heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called
their God: for He HAS prepared for them a City.
Heavenly Jerusalem, of Heavenly Israel!!
House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) was even more
forthright: "I'm content to have Israel grab the entire
West Bank…I happen to believe that the Palestinians
should leave."
There is a phrase for this: Ethnic cleansing.
Silencing us, from seeking your support and enlightening
you about our suffering, goes counter to what Jesus has
mandated us to do. We all know that Muslims and Jews get
ceaseless support (political, spiritual and financial)
consecutively from Saudi Arabia and America
respectively; We, the Palestinian Christians, get
nothing from the Australian and other Western
"Christian" governments. (The Pope has been an
exception.)
Prior to the 1967 war, the Christian youth at the
Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and other churches in
Bethlehem used to pray and rejoice and have a good chat
with hundreds of American Christian pilgrims. In
particular Texas and California were two places from
where many came from to visit us in the Holy Land. Today
only fading memories prevail. Christian families have
vacated Bethlehem. The remaining Christians are paying
the price by experiencing curfews which last for weeks.
They remain sandwiched between Muslims and Jews without
drawing the slightest concern from the many socalled
Western Christians.
So why do American Christians stand by while their
leaders advocate the expulsion of fellow Christians?
Could it be that they do not know that the Holy Land has
been a home to Christians since, well … since Christ?
Do not think I am asking for special treatment for
Christians. Ethnic cleansing is evil whoever does it and
to whomever it is done. Palestinian Christians --
Anglican, Maronite Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans,
Armenians, Baptists, Copts and Assyrians -- have been
rubbing shoulders with each other and with other
religions: - Muslims, Jews, Druze and (most recently)
Baha’is - for centuries. And we want to do so for
centuries more. But we can’t if we are driven out by
despair.
We are equally frightened by those who commit suicide
bombings. None of us Christians have condoned it or even
contemplated the idea. Our commitment to Jesus’
teachings will never shake our resolve in this matter.
American journalist Anders Strindberg makes a clearer
conclusion. He says Palestinians are equated with
Islamists, Islamists with terrorists. Presumably because
all organized Christian activity among Palestinians is
nonpolitical and non-violent, the community hardly ever
hits the Western headlines; . Suicide bombers sell more
copy than people who congregate for Bible study.
What we seek is support: material, moral, political and
spiritual. As Palestinians we grieve for what we have
lost, and few people (the Ashkenazi Jews are one) have
lost more than us (the Ashkenazi Jews are one). But
grief can be assuaged by the fellowship of friends.
Prof. Abe W. Ata was a temporary delegate to the UN in
1970 and has lived and worked in the Middle East,
America and Australia. Dr Ata is a Senior Fellow at the
Institute for the Advancement of Research, and lectures
in Psychology at the Australian Catholic University. He
is a 9th generation Christian Palestinian academic born
in Bethlehem.
Editor's Note: Views mentioned in this article are of
the author's and not necessarily that of the Praise
The Almighty.
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