Persecution is having such a devastating effect on Palestinian Christians that thousands are abandoning their Christian faith and leaving their homelands. In 15 to 20 years, experts anticipate that conditions will only intensify.
"My specific interest in the plight of Christians living in Palestinian society began eight years ago when I met a Christian lay pastor who, knowing that I was a human rights lawyer, urged me to investigate the human rights abuses directed at Muslims who converted to Christianity," said Israeli attorney and author Justus Reid Weiner, referencing the background for his new book, Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society.
"I knew nothing about this, and frankly doubted that anyone would victimize the adherents of the world's largest religion. But as I began to schedule interviews, I quickly learned that most of the Christian victims were reluctant to even meet me. If they agreed to reveal what they had suffered, they insisted that I refer to them by a pseudonym," Weiner explained.
The current statistics are alarming. "The Christian community in the Palestinian areas has shrunk to less than 1.7 percent. Nearly all the remaining 98 percent is Muslim," he said.
Don Finto, pastor and author of God's Promise and the Future of Israel (Regal Books, February 2006), said the persecution is happening primarily within the Palestinian territories.
Generally, Arab Christians within Israel are received and accepted without persecution. The Jewish believers and Arab Christians are having more and more brotherly contact. Arabs within Israel (about one million are Israeli citizens, along with the five-plus million Jews in Israel) are accepted as long as they live peacefully under Israeli government. (There are even Arab members of the Israeli Knesset.)
"Jewish people who are believers - perhaps 7,000 to 10,000 now in 130 different house groups or congregations/synagogues - are mostly tolerated, sometimes persecuted, often severely, especially by the ultra orthodox. The secular (80 percent of Israeli Jewish citizens are secular-cultural Jews, but not religious. They observe Passover and may even close stores etc. on Sabbath, but they are not people of significant faith) usually do not care, and even sometimes are more tolerant of the Jewish believers in Jesus than they are the ultra orthodox who want to control the country," said Finto.
However, he said that the Palestinian territories are another picture altogether. "Bethlehem is no longer controlled by Israel, but by Palestinians, often hostile Muslims who accept traditional Christians who have been Christians for generations (although Bethlehem's Christian population has decreased from 80 percent to about 20 percent according to recent statistics), but if a Muslim turns to faith in Jesus, he may be killed by his own family members. The evangelistic work is going forward, but has to be done very carefully, wisely and under the direction of the Holy Spirit," Finto said.
