The Exodus of Christians in the Holy Land

Well, before I address the title of this post, let me say that I have been going to a bunch of coffee shops lately. It's always fun walking around at night, because there is always activity.

Anyways, today is Sunday, so I thought it might be cool to go to a church service here in the West Bank. I think many Americans have a huge misconception of the type that led to massacres in the Crusades. When the forces of Christendom descended on the Holy Land around 1000 years ago, they indiscriminately slaughtered men, women, and children. They assumed that everyone that did not have the light skin tone of Europe was an "infidel." In reality, what they did was execute thousands upon thousands of Arab Christians. It is far easier to stereotype and label than it is to try and understand complexity.

First of all, Arabs have been diverse in religion for many hundreds of years. In Ramallah about 50 years ago, close to 80% of the population was Arab Christian. Muslims, Christians, and Jews had been living side by side in the Holy Land for centuries before the state of Israel was established. Since the creation of this state, the West Bank has been under varying degrees of military occupation. Now the city of Ramallah, where I am presently located, has seen the percentage of residents identifying as Christians drop to 10%. Muslim and Christian alike have suffered under the occupation of the West Bank here. Regardless of your religion, if your family resides in the West Bank and you have no Israeli ID, you are not allowed to visit places like Jerusalem. What has happened is the Arab Christians have had better luck getting visas to get out, and they have taken the opportunity, while their Muslim counterparts have a much more difficult path to obtaining visas. A man I met in the church today said that because he has an Arab name, he is not allowed to visit the holy city of Jerusalem, which is about 30 minutes away. Another person told me their cousin works at the IAEA, or the international agency that oversees nuclear issues. He landed in Tel Aviv Airport and was sent back to his country of residence because he has an Arab name. It doesn't seem right.

So one of the unexpected consequences of occupation has been a dramatic decrease in religious diversity in the West Bank, which most Muslim Arabs that I have spoken with decry. They say if Israeli occupation continues the way it does now, their will not be any Christians in the West Bank in another couple of decades.