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WHERE IS IT REALLY BETTER TO BE A CHRISTIAN - ISRAEL OR PALESTINE?
Sabbah Report, Palestine
May 13 2014
May 13, 2014 by SR Editor
In the run-up to the Pope's visit, Israel lobbyists glorify how Israel
treats its Christian minority versus Palestinians 'persecution' of
theirs - but where are Christians truly safe and part of public life?
By Nicolas Pelham* - Sabbah Report §
Rarely has my email inbox come under great attack than in the run-up
to Pope Francis' visit. Israel's multiple lobbyists have donned the
mantle of Christian saviors. They highlight the safe haven Israel
offers the Middle East's - rather than "Arab"- Christians in contrast
to their Muslim tormentors. Fleeing "persecution," as one email put
it, Palestine's Christian population, they say, has fallen from 10
percent to 2 percent. Palestine's Muslim masters pursue a program
of Sharia-ization in the West Bank as well as Gaza, and the little
Christian town of Bethlehem is now a Muslim morass.
What they do not say is that Israel's population of native Christians
has fallen by roughly the same amount. From 8% in 1947 in all of
mandatory Palestine, it numbered 4% in 1948, and is now less than
two percent today. The reasons for the decline are largely the same.
Jewish, as Muslim, birth-rates are much higher. More importantly,
while many Palestinians long to escape the yoke of occupation,
Christian-led administrations from Beirut to Bueno Aires, prioritize
Christian applicants over Muslim ones.
"Very few Christians are appointed to senior positions by the PA",
says one "briefing,""in what is perceived as routine discrimination."
In fact, the PA's record is far better than Israel's. The president's
president's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, is a Christian. So are two
cabinet members, for Finance and Tourism, and two members of the PLO's
executive committee. The deputy speaker of the Palestinian National
Council, Qonstantin Qurmush, is a priest. Christians abound on boards
of banks and chambers of commerce, and head its largest company, CCC.
Despite their falling numbers, nine municipalities, including Ramallah
and Bethlehem, stipulate their council should have a Christian
majority and a Christian mayor. Christmas and Eastern are official
Palestinian holidays. President Abbas attends three Christmases
(the Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian) in Bethlehem and would
celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, if Israel let him in. On St. George's
Day, Muslims join Christians to commemorate his martyrdom at his
shrine in al-Khadr, near Bethlehem.
By contrast, in its 66 years, Israel has had no Christian presidential
spokesman, government minister, or bank chairman. Where the Palestine
has eight Christians in its parliament, Israel has two. Where Palestine
has at least five ambassadors, including to London and Berlin, Israel
has none (although its deputy ambassador to Norway is Christian). The
Knesset bans Christmas trees which sprout all over Palestine from
public display on its premises. Israel's prime minister does not go to
Church for Christmas, and in his first term in the late 1990s aroused
Christian ire by backing construction of a mosque next to Nazareth's
Basilica of Annunciation, while his Palestinian counterpart, Yasser
Arafat opposed it.
For sure, some Palestinian movements claiming to represent the
downtrodden deride the outsized role that Christians and Western
powers wield over their economy and politics. In the early days of
Hamas rule in Gaza, some militants firebombed a church and attacked its
worshipers uncannily close to a police station. But the Islamists have
since clamped down on their own; their prime minister, Ismail Haniya,
pointedly attended church to honor a local Christian politician.
Israel does give its Christian native citizenship, but when its
leaders endlessly trumpet their status as a Jewish state, many
feel it feel they have second class status. They are not spared
strip-searches at Israel's airports. Exacerbating Christian anxieties,
hate-graffiti - such as "Mary is a prostitute" - is daubed on church
doors, and increasingly rife. Priests in Jerusalem say spitting on
their habits has become commonplace. The country's most prominent
Christian politician, Azmi Bishara, was hounded out of Israel amid
cries of treachery after he dared to suggest that Israel should be a
state for all its citizens. Ameer Makhul, founder of the Haifa-based
umbrella group of NGOs, Ittijah, is in jail for spying for Lebanon's
Shia group, Hezbollah. Nervously, Christians in Israel as elsewhere in
a region sunk in rampant religious nationalism look for surer climes.
As they finalize plans for Pope Francis' visit, there's something
slightly comical about both sides claiming Jesus as their own. Israel
hails him as a Jew, the PLO proclaims him Palestinian, neither yet
dare to muse that he might have been both. Palestine is preparing to
greet him with hordes of well-wishers, Muslims and Christian alike,
while Israel - less sure that Jews might not price-tag his convoy -
is preparing to close the streets.
So before those Israel lobbies send me another email celebrating
Israel's integration of Christians and Palestinian persecution of them,
perhaps they might take a leaf out of the Gospels. "First cast the log
out of your own eye, that you will see clearly to take the speck out
of your brother's." Or for those who find it hard to take non-Jewish
scriptures seriously, try Proverbs - "Deceive not with thy lips."
* Nicolas Pelham is a correspondent for The Economist based in
Jerusalem. He has been based in Cairo, Rabat and Baghdad and is the
author of A New Muslim Order (2008) and co-author of A History of
the Middle East (2010).
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2014/05/13/really-better-christian-israel-palestine/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Sabbah Report, Palestine
May 13 2014
May 13, 2014 by SR Editor
In the run-up to the Pope's visit, Israel lobbyists glorify how Israel
treats its Christian minority versus Palestinians 'persecution' of
theirs - but where are Christians truly safe and part of public life?
By Nicolas Pelham* - Sabbah Report §
Rarely has my email inbox come under great attack than in the run-up
to Pope Francis' visit. Israel's multiple lobbyists have donned the
mantle of Christian saviors. They highlight the safe haven Israel
offers the Middle East's - rather than "Arab"- Christians in contrast
to their Muslim tormentors. Fleeing "persecution," as one email put
it, Palestine's Christian population, they say, has fallen from 10
percent to 2 percent. Palestine's Muslim masters pursue a program
of Sharia-ization in the West Bank as well as Gaza, and the little
Christian town of Bethlehem is now a Muslim morass.
What they do not say is that Israel's population of native Christians
has fallen by roughly the same amount. From 8% in 1947 in all of
mandatory Palestine, it numbered 4% in 1948, and is now less than
two percent today. The reasons for the decline are largely the same.
Jewish, as Muslim, birth-rates are much higher. More importantly,
while many Palestinians long to escape the yoke of occupation,
Christian-led administrations from Beirut to Bueno Aires, prioritize
Christian applicants over Muslim ones.
"Very few Christians are appointed to senior positions by the PA",
says one "briefing,""in what is perceived as routine discrimination."
In fact, the PA's record is far better than Israel's. The president's
president's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, is a Christian. So are two
cabinet members, for Finance and Tourism, and two members of the PLO's
executive committee. The deputy speaker of the Palestinian National
Council, Qonstantin Qurmush, is a priest. Christians abound on boards
of banks and chambers of commerce, and head its largest company, CCC.
Despite their falling numbers, nine municipalities, including Ramallah
and Bethlehem, stipulate their council should have a Christian
majority and a Christian mayor. Christmas and Eastern are official
Palestinian holidays. President Abbas attends three Christmases
(the Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian) in Bethlehem and would
celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, if Israel let him in. On St. George's
Day, Muslims join Christians to commemorate his martyrdom at his
shrine in al-Khadr, near Bethlehem.
By contrast, in its 66 years, Israel has had no Christian presidential
spokesman, government minister, or bank chairman. Where the Palestine
has eight Christians in its parliament, Israel has two. Where Palestine
has at least five ambassadors, including to London and Berlin, Israel
has none (although its deputy ambassador to Norway is Christian). The
Knesset bans Christmas trees which sprout all over Palestine from
public display on its premises. Israel's prime minister does not go to
Church for Christmas, and in his first term in the late 1990s aroused
Christian ire by backing construction of a mosque next to Nazareth's
Basilica of Annunciation, while his Palestinian counterpart, Yasser
Arafat opposed it.
For sure, some Palestinian movements claiming to represent the
downtrodden deride the outsized role that Christians and Western
powers wield over their economy and politics. In the early days of
Hamas rule in Gaza, some militants firebombed a church and attacked its
worshipers uncannily close to a police station. But the Islamists have
since clamped down on their own; their prime minister, Ismail Haniya,
pointedly attended church to honor a local Christian politician.
Israel does give its Christian native citizenship, but when its
leaders endlessly trumpet their status as a Jewish state, many
feel it feel they have second class status. They are not spared
strip-searches at Israel's airports. Exacerbating Christian anxieties,
hate-graffiti - such as "Mary is a prostitute" - is daubed on church
doors, and increasingly rife. Priests in Jerusalem say spitting on
their habits has become commonplace. The country's most prominent
Christian politician, Azmi Bishara, was hounded out of Israel amid
cries of treachery after he dared to suggest that Israel should be a
state for all its citizens. Ameer Makhul, founder of the Haifa-based
umbrella group of NGOs, Ittijah, is in jail for spying for Lebanon's
Shia group, Hezbollah. Nervously, Christians in Israel as elsewhere in
a region sunk in rampant religious nationalism look for surer climes.
As they finalize plans for Pope Francis' visit, there's something
slightly comical about both sides claiming Jesus as their own. Israel
hails him as a Jew, the PLO proclaims him Palestinian, neither yet
dare to muse that he might have been both. Palestine is preparing to
greet him with hordes of well-wishers, Muslims and Christian alike,
while Israel - less sure that Jews might not price-tag his convoy -
is preparing to close the streets.
So before those Israel lobbies send me another email celebrating
Israel's integration of Christians and Palestinian persecution of them,
perhaps they might take a leaf out of the Gospels. "First cast the log
out of your own eye, that you will see clearly to take the speck out
of your brother's." Or for those who find it hard to take non-Jewish
scriptures seriously, try Proverbs - "Deceive not with thy lips."
* Nicolas Pelham is a correspondent for The Economist based in
Jerusalem. He has been based in Cairo, Rabat and Baghdad and is the
author of A New Muslim Order (2008) and co-author of A History of
the Middle East (2010).
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2014/05/13/really-better-christian-israel-palestine/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress