In the land where Jesus once walked, Palestinian Christians face extinction. With nearly 500,000 Palestinian Christians worldwide, only 170,000 remain in the Holy Land. They belong to 15 different Churches, some still using Aramaic, the language Christ spoke. But the traditions of service and continuity of Christian communities in the very birthplace of Christianity may soon disappear. With its establishment in 1948, Israel drove nearly 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, among them 50,000 to 60,000 Christians. Some neighborhoods in Jerusalem where mostly Palestinian Christians lived, such as Qatamon, emptied overnight and were seized by Israel for newly-arrived Jewish immigrants.
As a child, I heard my parents speak of their home in Qatamon. Though painful, the conversations were always infused with hopes of return. Their generation died holding onto those cherished memories. Nevertheless, they never lost hope for a solution and were always willing to compromise to resolve their people's tragedy.
Yet the tragedy of 1948 continues today with the emigration of our youth. An unbearable political and economic situation, exacerbated by Israel's separation wall, is literally pushing us out of our homeland.
In Jerusalem, which I represent in the Palestinian Legislative Council, we must prove to Israeli authorities that Jerusalem is our "center of life," or risk losing our residency rights. Yet, the wall has cut thousands of Palestinians off from Jerusalem. Movement into the city is restricted, limiting our youth's educational and employment prospects. My constituents are routinely denied building permits to accommodate their growing families. Despite Israel's claims, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem terms these policies which have no security rationale, a "quiet deportation."
In Bethlehem, the town of the Nativity, conversations dwell on the economic and social hardships caused by the wall. Bethlehem and Jerusalem, seven miles apart, were twin cities, particularly in tourism and Christian pilgrimage. But the wall has severed connections between the two.
Bethlehem residents cannot go to Jerusalem to attend Church or family weddings, baptisms and funerals without permits from Israeli authorities. These are nearly impossible to obtain. Sick people need a permit as well to receive medical care in an Israeli hospital just three or four miles away.
If the hermetic closure of Bethlehem and Israel's draconian measures of control continue, new waves of emigration by our Christian Palestinian youth are inevitable.
Our experience as Palestinian Christians is closely linked to that of the Palestinian people as a whole. Historically, Christian-Muslim relations in Palestine have been based on what we call "the dialogue of life" as we work together, our children go to school together and we share the same bitter and sweet conditions of life. We are proud, as Palestinian Christians, to have contributed such leaders as the late intellectual Edward Said, spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi, and current PLO envoy to the U.S. Afif Safieh. We work with our Muslim compatriots to end Israel's military occupation and establish a viable, geographically-contiguous, democratic and secular Palestinian state at peace with itself and with its neighbors. In fact, according to a recent poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, only three percent of Palestinians support Islamic rule. The vast majority supports secular nationalism.
Our relations are periodically tested by outside developments such as His Holiness the Pope's recent comments on Islam. Acts of Church vandalism in the West Bank and Gaza followed, and troubled us all, Christians and Muslims, particularly in light of centuries of Muslim respect for Christian and Jewish communities, both here and elsewhere in the Middle East. We were supported by our Muslim neighbors, religious leaders and the Palestinian National Authority in condemning these acts and promising to pursue the perpetrators. Muslims sat side by side with Christians in churches that were vandalized.
Christians and others in America who have our true interests at heart would help us most by urging even-handed U.S. policies. The blockade of the Palestinian government that began in March must end. A cease-fire must be observed by both sides, not only by Palestinians. Negotiations must be based on international law and human rights, and if conditions are imposed for talks, they must be reciprocal on both parties.
This land belongs to no single people. Peace will come when no group dominates and excludes others. Christ's message of love and tolerance will be heard in the Holy Land when the equality of all God's children is again respected. The vital bridge that Palestinian Christians constitute between the West and the Arab world would then be preserved for the benefit of future generations.
***Bernard Sabella, a Roman Catholic, is the Christian representative of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Legislative Council. An expert on Christians in the Holy Land, he is currently touring the United States.***