Breaking Down the Walls—Where are the Christians?
- Palestine is the birthplace of Christianity. Palestinian Christians are probably some of the earliest Christians to exist. Due to direct and indirect Israeli pressures, the size of the Christian population in Palestine has been dwindling steadily since 1948. Increasingly, Western churches are grappling with the issue of Christian presence in Palestine.
- On July 9, 2010 the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) voted on its Middle East Study Committee report entitled “Breaking Down the Walls”. While the submitted draft report was highly critical of the Israeli policy towards Palestinians, the amended report that was ultimately passed was severely diluted due to heavy pressure from American Zionists.
- Starting with criticisms from the Simon Wiesenthal Center and from the right wing of the Presbyterian Church, the report was quickly denuded of its realistic criticism of what Israel represents in 2010. It is quite remarkable that American Zionists have the “gall” to act so despicably. The absurdity of Zionist/Jewish influences on American institutions for the benefit of Zionist policies in Israel is a tragedy for American national interest as well as human rights interests.
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The Role of Christians in the Israel-Palestine Conflict
- Zionist Jews want the Holy Land exclusively for the Jews. This, by definition, excludes not just Muslims but also Christians. Christian presence in the Holy Land has consistently dwindled since the founding of the state of Israel.
- Jerusalem and Bethlehem are now virtually under Jewish Israeli control.
- As declared forcefully in the Kairos document created by the Palestinian Christians, Zionist Jews act mercilessly toward both Palestinian Muslims and Christians, a topic that is not often covered in the Western media. The victims of Zionist Israel are both Muslims and Christians.
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Christians and Jews
- It is remarkable that the Christian Churches world-wide including Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox have been so ineffective in countering the outright racist policies against Christians in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Part of this stems from the incessant “crying wolf” strategy of labeling any critic as being anti-Semitic. Israeli Zionists and Jewish supporters worldwide have exploited the past history of the Holocaust as a means to silence critics.
- Interfaith dialogues to facilitate communication and good will have been established over many years. Through these dialogues, Jewish groups have “muzzled” criticisms of Israel from Christian leaders by declaring that such actions will jeopardize interfaith groups.
- While the Abrahamic religions have much in common with each other, Israeli Zionist policies have nothing to do with the religious traditions. Religious traditions and narratives are exploited by many Jewish and Christian Zionists to perpetuate vast human rights abuses by Israel.
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Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron
- The fate and control of Jerusalem is considered by many to be the central issue of the Holy Land. Please refer to Mamilla Cemetery section for more information.
- Bethlehem, the Biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ, is now a town under siege. Though a mere few minutes drive from Jerusalem, it is now encroached upon by a Separation Wall that impedes movement by Palestinians and consequently normal daily lives and commerce. The plight of Bethlehem is in fact systematic strangulation of the indigenous people.
- Hebron, in the midst of the Occupied West Bank, is home to some of the most extreme members of the Zionist settler movement. The intention here is to insult Palestinian sensitivity to the maximal extent. Daily subjugation and humiliation are modus operandi. The intent is to make Palestinians feel powerless and force them into despair so that they will depart for good.
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Present and Future
- While some Protestant churches have taken an active role and prominent positions regarding Israel, the absence of Catholic and Orthodox churches is glaring. Most recently Methodists in the UK developed a highly critical position on Israel. Presbyterians tried before succumbing to Zionist pressure. Episcopalians have been rather quiet while Catholics play virtually no role.
- Christian churches in general have failed in any leadership capacity regarding the Israeli-Palestine conflict. They have been largely deaf to the plight of Christians in the Holy Land as manifested in the Kairos document and singularly powerless to effect any positive improvement to Christian life under Israeli occupation.
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