Monday, December 20, 2004
An emailer points to this letter to the UK Telegraph, responding to Charles Moore's courageous op-eds against the new religious hatred laws. (See here and here for Moore's pieces.) The author is London's Arab League Ambassador, Ali Muhsen Hamid.
Telegraph | Opinion: Christians are also victims of persecution
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.
What's amazing to me is that men like Hamid say such brazenly false things, and the Telegraph prints them, when even a quick Google search can turn up the lie.
It is true that Christian populations are down in the West Bank and Gaza for many reasons. Among those reasons I've no doubt is the fact that they live under the conditions of a state of perpetual low-level warfare. But there are many others as well. In fact, Christian populations are down across the Arab Middle East. They've finished on the Saturday People (the Jews) and they're working on the Sunday People, you see.
But in Israel itself, a little Goggling shows that the Christian population was about 37,000 back in 1949 and stood at around 137,000 in 2001 - an almost four-fold increase. (source)
See also this Joseph Farrah article: MIDEAST: CHRISTIAN-FREE ZONE?
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...
See also here for detailed info: The Christian Communities of Israel
Can anyone take seriously an Arab League representative implying that Freedom of Religion is a revered value amongst the states (and pseudo-states) he represents? Blaming Israel for intolerance of religious minorities and getting the facts wrong at the same time is the brazen Big Lie and guilt transference rolled into one. The Christians of the region know the truth, and they're voting with their feet.
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