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Viewpoint
Palestinian Christians face ethnic cleansing
By ABE ATA
The Palestinian Christian is an
endangered species. When the modern state of Israel was established there were
about 400,000 of us. Two years ago the number was down to 80,000. Now it’s
down to 60,000. At that rate, in a few years there will be none of us left.
Palestinian Christians within Israel fare little better. On the face of it,
their number has grown by 20,000 since 1991. But this is misleading, for the
census classification “Christian” includes some 20,000 recent
non-Arab migrants from the former Soviet Union. So why are Palestinian
Christians abandoning their homeland? We have lost hope, that’s why. We
are treated as non-people. Few outside the Middle East even know we exist, and
those who do, conveniently forget.
I refer, of course, to the American religious right. They see the
modern Israel as a harbinger of the Second Coming, at which time Christians
will go to paradise, and all others (presumably including Jews) to hell. To
this end they lend military and moral support to Israel. Even by the
double-dealing standards of international diplomacy, this is a breathtakingly
cynical bargain. It is hard to know who is using whom more: the Christian right
for offering secular power in the expectation that the Jewish state will be
destroyed by a greater spiritual one, or the Israeli right for accepting their
offer. What we do know is that both sides are abusing the Palestinians.
Apparently we don’t enter into anyone’s calculations.
The views of the Israeli right are well known: They want us gone.
Less well known are the views of the American religious right. Senator James
Inhofe, R-Okla., said: “God appeared to Abraham and said: ‘I am
giving you this land,’ the West Bank. This is not a political battle at
all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true.” House
Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, was even more forthright: “I’m
content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank. … I happen to believe
that the Palestinians should leave.”
There is a phrase for this: ethnic cleansing. Why do American
Christians stand by while their leaders advocate the expulsion of fellow
Christians? Could it be that they do not know that the Holy Land has been a
home to Christians since, well … since Christ? Do not think I am asking
for special treatment for Christians. Ethnic cleansing is evil whoever does it
and to whomever it is done. Palestinian Christians -- Maronite Catholics,
Orthodox, Lutherans, Armenians, Baptists, Copts and Assyrians -- have been
rubbing shoulders with each other and with other religions -- Muslims, Jews,
Druze and most recently Baha’is -- for centuries. We want to do so for
centuries more. But we can’t if we are driven out by despair.
What we seek is support: material, moral, political and spiritual.
As Palestinians, we grieve for what we have lost, and few people (the Ashkenazi
Jews are one) have lost more than us. But grief can be assuaged by the
fellowship of friends.
Abe Ata is a ninth-generation Christian Palestinian born in
Bethlehem. He is a visiting Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne in
Australia and author of 11 books, including Intermarriage between
Christians and Muslims.
National Catholic Reporter, November 22,
2002
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