Sir – It seems that Charles Moore is totally oblivious of the predicament of the dwindling number of Christian inhabitants of Israel and the occupied territories (Opinion, Dec 11, 18). Or maybe he has deliberately avoided any mention of them and of their plight under the heavy yoke of the occupation.

Both within Israel and in the occupied territories, they are leaving in droves, because of Israel's discriminatory practices towards them on the one hand and the constant bombardments, military incursions and house demolitions, and deliberately and severely curtailed services in the Palestinian territories under Israeli occupation and control. Moore's circumnavigation of the globe to highlight his point mysteriously makes no mention of persecution in Israel itself.

Any critic of brutal Israeli practices in the occupied territories is, here in Britain, quickly labeled an anti-Semite by the pro-Zionist lobby, which is a curtailment of freedom of speech in itself. But it seems in Moore's vocabulary that Israel is the holy of holies and not to be tainted by criticism of any kind.

...The Christian population of the Palestinian Authority, once representing 20 percent of the region, is down to 2.4 percent. There are fewer than 50,000 Christian Arabs living within the Palestinian Authority.

In 1948, Bethlehem was 80 percent Christian. Today it is 80 percent Muslim. Where do they go? Are you ready for a shock?

Many of them prefer life in Israel to life under the rule of Yasser Arafat and his friends in Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In fact, life would be better just about anywhere else, and those who have the ability to leave have left...

...Here are the facts. Some 2 million Christians have fled the Middle East in the past 20 years. Some estimates are much higher than this. Since Arafat took over administration of the Palestinian territories from Israel, the Christian population has dropped from 15 percent to 2 percent.

They are being driven out. They are being murdered. They are being raped. They are being systematically persecuted. They are being harassed. They are being intimidated.

Such is life for Christians now in Bethlehem and other formerly Christian towns in the West Bank. Just imagine what it will be like when Palestine becomes a real state.

If these people were fleeing Israeli oppression, why did they leave after the Israelis left? It makes no sense. The only way Israel has fed the exodus of Christians from the Middle East is by withdrawing from territories in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, southern Lebanon and elsewhere. When Israel administered those areas, Christian Arabs lived in safety and security.

The truth is the Christian population in Israel has more than quadrupled since 1948. Why? Israel guarantees religious freedom – whereas the Palestinian Authority offers an official religion of Islam.

What has happened in the Palestinian Authority is that the protective hand of Israel has been lifted as it has – under international pressure – given Arafat and the Palestinian Authority more and more autonomy to run its own territory...