The Recent History of Palestine’s Christian Arab Activism

Sam Smith

HY238: Jews in the Modern World

Tuesday December 21st, 2010

The Recent History of Palestine’s Christian Arab Activism

            Often lost in the contemporary political and humanitarian debate over the Israeli-Palestine conflict is the perspective of Christians in the region. While they remain a minority, their power is often disregarded and unrecognized by academia and the media. Despite this reality, Christian Arabs have tremendous activist power in Palestine and make up nearly 5% of the territory’s population. Because Christian Arabs tend to hold greater sums of wealth in Palestine, many have fled the region as the Israeli Army and Hamas have created many unstable disaster zones, patricianly in the Gaza strip. David Ben-Gurion is Israel’s  “founding father” (Efraim Karash: Zionism and the Palestinians, 357) and first prime minister co-authored a comprehensive book on the history of Palestine. According to his findings, there were 100,000 Christian Arabs in Palestine in 1915. Today, while Christians make up an impressive 10% of the Palestinian Arab population, there numbers have shrunk dramatically. In 2005, it was estimated that the Arab Christian population of the Palestinian territories was between 40,000 and 90,000 people. Today, the majority of Palestinian Christians live abroad. Around 50% of Palestinian Christians belong to the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. Minority Christian groups include Jacobites, Chaldeans, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Evangelicals, Born Again, Baptists and even Jehovah Witnesses. While Palestinian Christians have a diverse and fascinating history of struggle and triumph, I will outline in this paper their recent history, specifically highlighting the uniquely powerful role they have held in activist circles. I will outline the recent history of Christian Arab presence in Palestine and analyze the unique role Christian Arabs have taken amidst the endless regional conflict.

            Perhaps the most peaceful people in the Middle East, Christian Arabs have become forgotten victims of a violent conflict they very little role in. In a 2007 letter from Congressman Henry Hyde to President George W. Bush, Hyde stated that "the Christian community is being crushed in the mill of the bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and that expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were "irreversibly damaging the dwindling Christian community". One might assume Christians have sided with the region’s Jews, as Judaism mirrors Christianity far more than Islam. But, while Christian Arabs share many biblical passages, convictions and religious beliefs with Jews, they are not blinded by the role Jews have had in their Middle Eastern existence. Most Christians in Palestine blame the Israeli occupation, and the war on against Islamic extremism to be the reason for their exodus from Gaza. Many innocent Christians have been caught in Israeli crossfire- Christians that had no political role in the region’s religious conflict. These victims include 15-year-old Christine Turk, who suffered from a deadly heart attack as she was surrounded by Israel’s relentlessness bombardment of primarily Muslim neighborhoods. In her father’s words, “Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes, schools and hospitals goes beyond military defense. My daughter died from fear. Fear of a brutal, anti-Humanitarian force, and like our Muslim brothers, we are ashamed of the Israeli Army’s actions against the united Palestinian people.” Family members of other Christian Palestinians who have lost their lives during the Gaza offensive have also spoken out against Israel’s disregard for non-Jewish human life. While the media consistently under-reports the destruction of Mosque’s in Palestine, next-to-nothing is heard of the churches and holy buildings of Baptist, Orthodox & Catholic backgrounds that have been damaged or demolished by Israeli shelling. While the Israeli government perpetrates what many Christians in the region consider a great falsehood that the attacks target insurgents and religious extremists who wish to destroy Israel, Christians unable or unwilling to flee have paid an unnoticed price as the destruction of harmless churches and innocent civilians continues.

            Moreover, while the majority of Christian Palestinians side either with the Islamic end of the conflict or remain unaffiliated, the destruction of Christian livelihood at the hands of Muslim extremists cannot be ignored either. In 2006, an Al-Queda-allied group called "Lions of Monotheism" claimed responsibility for the firebombing of five churches, among them an Anglican and an Orthodox church. This small and relatively powerless group has done little to sway Christian Arabs away from uniting with their fellow Muslims and it is noticeably less damaging than the destruction of life at the hands of Israel. Furthermore, most Christian Palestinians identify these Islamic groups as extremist; where as the Israeli military is a mainstream and internationally legitimized force far more threatening and powerful in the everyday lives of Christians. However, there is no doubt that Christians have become innocent victims, in several cases, of both Jewish and Muslim forces on opposite ends of battle. For instance, Armenians in Jerusalem, identified as Palestinian Christians, have been attacked and received threats from Muslim and Jewish extremists. In September, two Armenian Christian clergy were expelled after protesting against Jewish extremists for spitting on holy Christian objects.

           

            The role taken on by Christian Arabs in Palestine, in response to the position they have been put in by surrounding violence has been one, in many respects, of triumphant activism. Both the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash, and the founder if its offshoot, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Nayif Hawatmeh, were Christians, as is prominent Palestinian activist and former Palestinian Authority minister Hanan Ashrawi. In February 2009, a group of Christian community activists within the West Bank wrote an open letter asking Pope Benedict XVI to postpone his scheduled trip to Israel unless the government changes its treatment. They highlighted improved access to places of worship and ending the taxation of church properties as key concerns. Neither need was met.

 In a incredibly eye-opening awakening to non-activist Christian Arabs, a Palestinian student from Gaza was handcuffed, blindfolded and left waiting for hours at a checkpoint on her way back from a job interview in Ramallah, all at the hands of the Israeli military. The military had expelled Berlanty Azzam from Bethlehem just two months before she was scheduled to complete her degree in buisness. The Israeli human rights organization Gisha (Legal Center for Freedom of Movement) as well as Amnesty International got heavily involved in the incident and found that Israel had discriminated against Azzam for her political views and violated human rights. In a statement that riled up Christians in the region, Azzam stated she was treated like a criminal simply because she was a Christian. This sparked outrage amongst Christian Palestinians who were previously uninvolved with activism against Israel.  After two hearings denounced by Christian Arab organizations, the High Court upheld the position of the Israeli state and ruled not to allow Berlanty to return to Bethlehem University to complete her studies. In the course of the High Court hearings, the state made no security allegations against Berlanty but simply said her presence in the West Bank was “illegal”. Her presence was not illegal under a single Israeli or Palestinian law, but Israel’s treatment of her- which included 6 hours of waiting for the “secret police” and forcing her to sign a Hebrew document she could not read violated many international human rights laws. While she was able to finish her studies on the telephone and receive a Bachelor’s degree, she continues to spark several political rallies from Palestinian Christians, as her exile from her home remains a hot topic in the region.

Christian Arab activism in Palestine, although most popular when incidents such as Berlanty Azzam’s exile take place, is still centered and organized around the big picture. In December 2009, prominent Christian leaders residing in both the West Bank and Gaza strip released a historical document titled “The Kairos Palestine Document, a moment of truth”. Similar to documents released by South African churches in the mid-1980s at the height of repression under the apartheid regime, the document calls for an end to the occupation of Palestine’s people. The document declares the Israeli occupation of Palestine a "sin against God", violating principals of both Christianity and Judaism. It calls on churches and Christians all over the world to consider it and adopt it and to call for the boycott of Israel. Further, the document states that leading Israel into isolation is the only way there can be a “peaceful solution in the Holy Land”.

For now, as the occupation of Palestine continues and activists of all religious faiths struggle to fight against institutionalized military oppression, Christian Arabs, although gravely unnoticed, remain in existence by the tens of thousands. And it is this presence that gives them the potential to raise awareness about the horrors and injustices of Palestine’s occupied status. It is this presence that gives them the ability to gain sympathy and support from Christians worldwide. While little to no media coverage and very little awareness about their political role in the region threatens to further their immigration into safer nations, if the right people do what is necessary at the right time, something can be done to alleviate a situation of dire need. Christian Palestinians, for now, can only hope their action on behalf of their people and their fellow neighbors of all religious convictions can lead to a more peaceful future in one of the greatest conflicts in the Middle East today.