Church leaders have long voiced fears that Christian communities may be dying out in the land where Jesus was born, lived and died.

Conflict, lack of economic opportunities and the pull of the West have been driving a steady haemorrhaging of Christians for several decades, while low birth rates ensure that those who stay live as ever-shrinking minorities...

"In my neighbourhood, where I was raised, most of my neighbours are in the United States, and Europe. They just left," said Nashat Fellemon, director of the Palestinian Bible Society, who lives in East Jerusalem.

The causes of emigration are complex.

"Christians here are between two fires. We are between the fire of occupation and discrimination by the state of Israel - and the fire of living in a community where the majority are Muslims," said Mr Fellemon...

...The group [Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group] does, however, support the widespread accusation that Islamic militants specifically chose Christian homes as firing posts during fighting near Bethlehem in 2002.

"The belief of Islamic extremists that Westerners sympathize more with Christian suffering has led some militants to initiate shooting from Christian areas like Beit Jala, in order to force an Israeli reprisal," the group wrote in a 2004 report.

For Mr Eid, a Muslim, the root of the problem is "the lack of a culture of minority rights" in the Palestinian territories.

"Muslims believe in resistance - and Christians also do, but in a non-violent way. We know they are less violent than the Muslims. It seems we are not giving the Christians the opportunity to express their opinion," he says.

"It makes me sad that they are suffering from their Palestinian brothers, as well as from the occupation."...