In 634 Bethlehem surrendered to the Arabs but some time before 1099, when the crusaders arrived, the population embraced Christianity, for at the sight of this Christian host the citizens opened their gates in welcome.  From that time onwards Bethlehem remained a Christian city, and in 1948 Christians still made up 70% of the population. When I first visited Bethlehem in 1969 it was a substantially Christian city, where the visitor would find its citizens decked out in colourful local national dress. Then something happened to change the situation dramatically, whereas in 1960 20% of the population in the Holy Land were Christian, today the number has dropped to nearly 1.4 %.  However the largest number of Christians that remain are still to be found in Bethlehem and its surrounding villages Beit Sahour and Beit Jalla. But what has caused the massive depopulation of Christians from the Holy Land?

Between 1948 and 1982 there have been five Arab-Israeli wars (1948-49,1956, 1967 Six Day War,1073-74 and 1982), which have caused a massive migration of Muslim Palestinians into the once mainly Christian region of Bethlehem. Inevitably this has produced many tensions as the Christians found that for the first time in over a thousand years they were now outnumbered by Muslims.  In 1964 Pope Paul VI made the first visit to the Holy Land since St. Peter, when the massive reduction in the Christian population became alarmingly apparent.  Professor Bernard Sabella, as a former Catholic member of the Palestinian Parliament and a one time Sociology Professor at the Catholic University at Bethlehem, at the International Conference held in Rome in March of 2009, said that the exodus of Christians” is related to the global market”.  Thus if a young Christian Palestinian can find work in the U.S. or Dubai, he will go.  However there are more insidious reasons for the depletion of the Christian Palestinian population. Archbishop Sleiman has observed that while economic and political problems are a major reason for the the Christian exodus, many in Palestine leave out of “fear” and “discrimination”.  


The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have issued a press release after the recent gathering of the Episcopal Conferences in support of the Holy Land, meeting in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In this press release is an invitation to pilgrims to meet “the living Christian communities” in the Holy Land.  After nearly three weeks in Bethlehem I have met a number of this living Christian community, including twenty families enduring desperate poverty, hardship and discrimination. The bishops ask for justice and security for all but, here there is a hidden element that has so far escaped any major publicity, even with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI.  The situation is often simplified as deadlock between Palestine and Israel with the illegal seizure of Palestinian territory and the ongoing acts of cross-border terrorism. Thus visiting dignitaries plea for peace and an end to violence, and rightly so. However in this the Christian population is simply lumped together with the rest of Muslim Palestine.  Many wealthy Christians have left and those that remain are often poor and  lack an effective voice, for apart from the seizure of Palestinian territory there is a consistent seizure of Christian land by unscrupulous means. Some Christian merchants have been forced out of business and there are complaints of discrimination. One merchant I visited complained that he had not earned anything since October and many
young men cannot find employment.

A Muslim journalist, Khaled Abu Tuameh, writing in May of 2009 has had the courage to speak out against this treatment of Christians in the Holy Land.  Those that leave are certainly often economic migrants, but the reasons for leaving are more complex. Unlike Britain where poverty is often caused by social inadequacy, here in Palestine the poor are often bright and intelligent, but many cannot afford their university fees in order to gain a qualification. Sadly the gaining of such qualification can be a passport out of Palestine, to find employment elsewhere. The money I have raised has already helped several students, but a good number, thank God, wish to remain  at all costs, but then if they find opportunities  closed to them because they are Christian who  can blame them for leaving?  There is an urgent need for Muslim-Christian dialogue but so far  there is no forum.  This is the nub of the problem, peace is an obvious necessity but friendship and understanding between Muslim and Christian in Palestine are vital if the Holy Father’s plea to retain a Christian presence in the Holy Land is to be effective. 

I have visited twenty poor Christian homes so far and one of the most pitiful is that of Professor Samir Attic. He taught chemistry at Indiana University, California and upon his return suffered a breakdown. He has lived for twenty years in abject poverty without a cooker, a WC, a wash hand basin, and with no heating or hot water. After my first visit some friends had bought him an electric fire and I hope to be able to purchase a cooker and provide him with hot water.  Another tragic case of poverty is the family of Adel Sayeh, who with his wife and three children has no bath, no heating a leaking roof, no means of washing and precious little food to feed his family.  Again the problem is not having the opportunity of employment.  Before the establishment of a Palestinian State there is a need to safeguard the Christian population, for without a  common understanding their position could worsen.  However if a forum for Christian-Muslim dialogue  was established it would be shown that the Christian element could contribute something of a moderating influence over fundamentalism, and help provide a more peaceful and democratic character to the State of Palestine.

fra Mark.