{"id":127192,"date":"2023-12-21T18:13:22","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T18:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=127192"},"modified":"2023-12-21T18:13:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T18:13:56","slug":"the-plight-of-christians-in-bethlehem-and-jerusalem-predates-the-latest-gaza-war-their-number-is-continuing-to-dwindle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/the-plight-of-christians-in-bethlehem-and-jerusalem-predates-the-latest-gaza-war-their-number-is-continuing-to-dwindle\/","title":{"rendered":"The plight of Christians in Bethlehem and Jerusalem predates the latest Gaza war :Their number is continuing to dwindle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The plight of Christians in Bethlehem and Jerusalem predates the latest Gaza war :Their number is continuing to dwindle<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"elanka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/strong>Economist<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s\u00a0nativity scene in Bethlehem depicts a baby swaddled in a Palestinian\u00a0kefiyeh\u00a0<\/i>(a chequered headdress)\u00a0<\/i>resting on a heap of rubble. It is hard to spot the wise men, frankincense, or myrrh. The war in Gaza has prompted a drastic scaling back of celebrations in the West Bank. No banquets, no traditional parades of Boy Scouts, no pilgrims. Bethlehem is silent.\u00a0Christmas in the land where Jesus Christ was born has, in effect, been cancelled.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Gaza\u2019s dwindling community of Palestinian Christians has been hard hit since October 7th. At least 16 were killed in an air raid that damaged the church of St Porphyrius, Gaza city\u2019s oldest. Pope Francis called Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza \u201cterrorism\u201d after a Christian mother and daughter were shot dead as they sheltered in a church compound. Church leaders say half of Gaza\u2019s Christians have fled since the war began.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

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Read all our coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas<\/i><\/a><\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of Christmas carols, barber shops in Jerusalem\u2019s Christian quarter are blaring out non-stop coverage of the horrors in Gaza on the Al Jazeera\u00a0tv\u00a0channel. \u201cNo one is in the mood for celebrating,\u201d says Munther Isaac, pastor of Bethlehem\u2019s Lutheran church. \u201cBut maybe we are praying even more.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Even before the latest war the fortunes of Christians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, were fast declining. Gaining permits from the Israeli authorities to travel in and out of Bethlehem and Jerusalem is unpredictable, even for the clergy. Moreover, say Christians, a violent Jewish settler movement is bullying them more and more\u2014with impunity. Cut off from Jerusalem by Israel\u2019s separation wall and by a string of settlements, Bethlehem is isolated.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Jewish settlers in the Arab eastern side of the old city of Jerusalem are only about a thousand strong. But they have become more aggressive and are implanting themselves more strategically to isolate both Christian and Muslim Palestinians in the city and its vicinity.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Armenian community is\u00a0fighting what it says is an \u201cexistential battle\u201d to keep part of its domain in the old city. A land deal with an Israeli developer \u201cputs the Armenian presence and Christian presence in Jerusalem in danger\u201d, says the Armenian patriarchate. Bulldozers have already moved in.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Yousef Daher of the World Council of Churches in Jerusalem explains that if a Palestinian Christian in Jerusalem marries a West Banker, the spouse cannot live in the city without a permit that can take a decade to get. But if the couple move to the West Bank, any residency rights in Jerusalem may be forfeited. Before the war in 1967, some 24,000 Christians lived in the city. Now there are only 9,000.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe mindset in Israel is that Jerusalem is ours,\u201d says Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer and expert on the city. \u201cIt\u2019s the most serious crisis since 1948.\u201d The exodus of Palestinian Christians looks unlikely to be reversed, he suggests: \u201cYou\u2019ll probably find more Jerusalem Christians living in Illinois or Michigan than in East Jerusalem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n