Christian Attitudes

Link: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_060620beth.shtml

We are forever being reminded about the ‘forgotten’ Christians of the Holy Land, but when they are remembered, are they grateful?, No. Not unless the Jews are blamed for their troubles. If their would-be helpers don’t comply with their anti-Israel, anti-Semitic agenda, they are enraged.

Leila Sansour, of Open Bethlehem, responded to Texan politician Michael McCaul’s resolution on the plight of Palestinian Christians, by sending a letter to the United States Congress expressing her community’s “shock” at the “gross misrepresentation of the real threat facing Christians of the Holy Land”

Ms Sansour has urged the US government to pay proper heed to the real threat to the oldest Christian community in the world – which does not come from the Hamas-led regime, but from international neglect, say representatives of the historic churches in the region.

International neglect? Michael McCaul must have forgotten to say that they were forgotten. Except that there are so many international groups devoted to the plight of the Christian Palestinians, that he would have to be a liar to say it. Notice also their lack of gratitude to those groups who so frequently attack Israel on their behalf. It is not the Palestinian Christians who are forgotten, but the organisations devoted to their cause who are forgotten by the Palestinian Christians. Sansour writes:

“The ill-conceived resolution accuses the Palestinian Authority of discrimination towards their own Christian community and blames it for the current wave of emigration of the Christians from the region. The resolution was drafted without any consultation with churches or Christian organizations in the Holy Land.”

“The resolution ignores the numerous calls from churches in Jerusalem and Bethlehem - and the overwhelming body of reports from international human rights organizations - that warn of the devastating effect of the Israeli system of closure, collective punishment and the construction of the wall.

The letter concludes: “By perpetuating the misconception that it is their Muslim neighbours and the Palestinian Authority who are creating this crisis, rather than policies imposed by the Israeli government, congressman McCaul is further entrenching the problems facing the Christian community rather than helping to address them.”

Congressman McCaul has committed the cardinal sin, in their eyes, of blaming the Muslims and not the Jews. Meanwhile, just to show how nicely Christians are treated in the Palestinian area, the token Christian in Palestinian government quits after violence.

Residents in Bethlehem said they believed Murqos quit the post because gunmen from the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, an armed group linked to Fatah, had intimidated him by coming to his house in the middle of the night and firing volleys of bullets into the air.

Fatah gunmen have recently begun to assert themselves in the West Bank in response to shows of force by Hamas in its power base in the Gaza Strip.
"Some gunmen showed up at his residence during the night and he felt it wasn't worth it," a Bethlehem resident told Ecumenical News International, speaking on condition of anonymity. The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported that Murqos and his son had also received death threats.

Murqos, an engineer for the Bethlehem municipality for about 25 years, was chosen for the post of tourism minister after Hamas failed to convince prominent Christian leaders to accept the post in its new government.