The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has published a report by David Raab about the systematic discrimination against Christians in Palestinian-controlled areas.
However, the reality of Christianity under Islam has often been difficult. “Over the centuries, political Islam has not been too kind to the native Christian communities living under its rule. Anecdotes of tolerance aside, the systematic treatment of Christians…is abusive and discriminatory by any standard….Under Islam, the targeted dhimmi community and each individual in it are made to live in a state of perpetual humiliation in the eyes of the ruling community.” As described by a Christian Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayil: “a Christian…is not a full citizen and cannot exercise political rights in any of the countries which were once conquered by Islam.”
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Islam is the official religion of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, fundamentalist Hamas and Islamic Jihad have promoted Islamic influence on Palestinian society.
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In addition, no PA law protects religious freedom. While asserting that all Palestinians’ “liberty and freedom to worship and to practice their religious beliefs are protected,” a PA Information Ministry statement also stresses that: “The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari’a law…with regard to issues pertaining to religious matters. According to Shari’a Law, applicable throughout the Muslim world, any Muslim who [converts] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment…the [Palestinian Authority] cannot take a different position on this matter.”
For all the people who complain about Israel’s Jewish character, this report should be an eye-opener.
Not quite as eye-opening as the IDF’s occupation of Bethlehem over Christmas, the Christians there protesting against Israeli occupation, the Latin Patriarch’s chastising of Israeli violence on the local population, and the Pope’s repeated condemnations of IDF actions in the territories.
It is certainly ironic, given these revelations (no pun intended), that Yassir Arafat has been able to gain such good PR out of attending Christmas Mass at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Wisely, Sharon stopped Arafat from traveling to Bethlehem ths year. It is such a crock when you see every year, Arafat standing next to his formerly Christian wife, Suha Arafat, in the front pew of the Church of the Nativity. Isn’t it against Islamic law for a Moslem to set foot in a church? Anyway, Suha, whose conversion to Islam is no doubt a sham, lives in great material comfort in Christian France and Switzerland at the expense of the impoverished Palestinain people.