[This] is written by an acquaintance of mine, and older woman who is Catholic. Who somehow got roped into attending something that from her description sounds like some Friends of Sabeel meeting. And she came away very upset, disappointed and confused. She wrote down her thoughts and sent them to me. I would like to see them out there...

To Christians of the Holy Land:

I do not understand why the Christians of the Levant choose to continue to cast their lot with the Moslem Arabs rather than with the Israeli Jews. They should EMBRACE the Israelis: learn from their history, their drive and their sense of identity. The history of the Jews of Israel shows that a culture and language and be revived and invigorated. And that is what the Christians of that area should do.

The Palestinian Christians are descended from the first followers of Jesus in Roman Judea. They are not Arabs -- Arabs are from the Arabian peninsula and invaded the Christian lands many centuries ago. They forced an alien language and writing system on the indigenous Christian population, and many were forced to convert. Christians spoke Aramaic or Greek before they were conqured by the invading Arabs. They spoke the languages of Jesus and of the New Testament.

Christianity and Judaism are siblings. Jesus was a Jew, and Christianity rose out of the Jewish Religion. His earliest follwers were Jews, and early Christianity was decidedly a Jewish sect. The Hebrew Bible is a holy part of the Christian Canon. Many Greeks living in the holy land were also drawn to Christ and to Christianity. Monotheism appealed to their intellect in a way that the naturistic polytheism of the Roman Empire could not, and they had flirted with Judaism, but found it too constraining to convert outright. Christianity lacked the barriers they felt that Judaism had, and many flocked to the new religion. And it is the Judeo-Christian and the Judeo-Greco traditions that have shaped our modern world. And much of that is rooted in the Land of Israel. Which is another reason why the Christians of the Holy Land should embrace their Israeli Jewish brothers. They are the only two people who have an historic claim of many centuries to this corner of the world.

See how Bethlehem has declined over the last fifteen years, under modern Moslem rule of the Arabs! But look at how Nazareth and Capernaum have thrived under Israel sovereignty--clean modern cities, yet you can still feel the presence of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. But over Bethlehem, He weeps ... The Via Dolorosa begins in a madrassa! The keys to the Chruch of the Holy Sepulchre are held by Moslems! See how your Christian brethern in Egypt and in Iraq are being murdered by those with whom you have chosen to cast your lot as Palestinians. Shouldn't you stand with your family in Christ? Why do you not!? The Moslems hate the Jews, and you are the brothers of the Jews. Yet, you persist in standing with those who support Hamas and Hezbollah, and you revile your Israeli brothers. As Christ was a Jew, these, too, are your brothers in Christ. How Jesus's heart must ache when his followers from his homeland do this!

Christians of the Holy Land--Embrace your OWN history! Your OWN language! Your OWN culture! Throw off the yoke of the foreign language and culture of your Arab conquerers! Embrace your Israeli brothers and learn from your Jewish brethren how to do take back your history and identity! Remember Christ and your history and His history!