LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 27/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 9,18-22. Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"They said in reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, 'One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'" Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Messiah of God." He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised."

Paul VI, Pope from 1963-1978
Homily given at Manilla, 29/11/70 (©Libreria Editrice Vaticana)"But who do you say that I am?"
Convinced of Christ: yes, I feel the need to proclaim him, I cannot keep silent. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!» (1 Cor 9,16). I am sent by him, by Christ himself, to do this. I am an apostle, I am a witness. The more distant the goal, the more difficult my mission the more pressing is the love that urges me to it (2 Cor 5,14). I must bear witness to his name: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16,16). He reveals the invisible God, he is the firstborn of all creation, the foundation of everything created (Col 1,15f.). He is the Teacher of mankind, and its Redeemer. He was born, he died and he rose again for us. He is the centre of history and of the world; he is the one who knows us and who loves us; he is the companion and the friend of our life. He is the man of sorrows and of hope. It is he who will come and who one day will be our judge and - we hope -the everlasting fulness of our existence, our happiness. I could never finish speaking about him: he is the light and the truth; indeed, he is «the way, the truth and the life» (Jn 14,6). He is the bread and the spring of living water to satisfy our hunger and our thirst (Jn 6,35; 7,38). He is our shepherd, our guide, our model, our comfort, our brother. Like us, and more than us, he has been little, poor, humiliated; he has been a worker; he has known misfortune and been patient. For our sake he spoke, worked miracles and founded a new kingdom where the poor are happy, where peace is the principle for living together, where the pure of heart and those who mourn are raised up and comforted, where those who hunger and thirst after justice have their fill, where sinners can be forgiven, where all are brothers. Jesus Christ: you have heard him spoken of; indeed the greater part of you are already his: you are Christians. So, to you Christians I repeat his name, to everyone I proclaim him: Jesus Christ «is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega» (Rv 21,6); he is the king of the new world; he is the secret of history; he is the key to our destiny. He is the mediator, the bridge, between heaven and earth. He is... the Son of Man, because he is the Son of God... He is the son of Mary... Jesus Christ is our constant preaching; it is his name that we proclaim to the ends of the earth (Rom 10,18) and throughout all ages.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
When is a poster dangerous to stability? When politicians are- The Daily Star 26/09/08
Palestinian Crimes against Christian Arabs.By Manfred Gerstenfeld-FrontPage magazine.com 26/09/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 26/08
Israel Thwarted at Least 10 Kidnap Attempts by Hizbullah, Report -Naharnet
Cobras or No Cobras to Lebanon?-Naharnet
Rice Says Lebanon Much Better Than Before -Naharnet
Hariri-Nasrallah Reunion before Fitr Holiday!-Naharnet
Peres suggests 'immediate peace- (AFP)
Sleiman presses Bush on land, Palestinian refugees-(AFP)
Hariri touts deal to take down political posters in Beirut, then rest of Lebanon-Daily Star
Shamseddine meets Sfeir in Bkirki-Daily Star
Assad 'cautious' on Beirut ties - Skaff-Daily Star
Franjieh's latest verbal salvo might have done some good-Daily Star
Lebanon's trade deficit rises on stronger euro-Daily Star
Thousands of Iraqi Christians find refuge in Lebanon-Daily Star
Forest fires 'pushing Lebanon toward desertification-By IRIN News.org
Teaching multiple languages to children in Lebanon: How soon is too soon for little minds?-Daily Star
How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?'-(AFP)
Abbas hears 'hopeful' words during talks at White House-(AFP)

Peres suggests 'immediate peace'
By Agence France Presse (AFP) Friday, September 26, 2008
UNITED NATIONS: Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday blasted Iran for supporting Hizbullah and Hamas and reached out to Lebanon, suggesting "immediate peace" with it. Iran's "quest to religious hegemony and regional dominance divides the Middle East and holds back chances for peace, while undermining human rights," Peres said during an address to the UN General Assembly. "Iranian support for Hizbullah divided Lebanon. Its support for Hamas split the Palestinians and postpones the establishment of the Palestinian state," he said. He said Israel will continue to seek peace "sincerely and fully." "We suggest immediate peace with Lebanon," Peres said. - AFP

Sleiman presses Bush on land, Palestinian refugees
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, September 26, 2008
WASHINGTON: Lebanese President Michel Sleiman emphasized on Thursday the need to liberate Lebanese territories occupied by Israel and told US President George W. Bush that the future of Palestinian refugees was in their homeland, not in Lebanon. Bush welcomed Sleiman for talks Thursday to underline US support for democratic rule in Beirut free from any undue foreign influence.
Lebanese-Americans "want Lebanon to be free and sovereign and independent, and so do I, and so do you," Bush told his guest during a brief joint public appearance as they met in the Oval Office for the first time.
"We are here, also, to reaffirm our right to have a prosperous, Lebanon, a democratic Lebanon, a country that is diverse in its nature and through its people," Sleiman said. Bush praised Lebanon's ongoing national reconciliation talks, which bring together rival political leaders in a national dialogue that will set the tone for parliamentary elections due next year.
"We're most impressed by the national dialogue that you're holding in an attempt to seek reconciliation. The US is proud to stand by your side. Our mission is your mission: a country that is strong, and capable, and a country where people can live in peace," said Bush.
"It's been a long time since the president of Lebanon has been in the Oval Office. And it is my honor to host you for this occasion," said Bush.
"I am delighted to be here," said Sleiman. "I am here to thank you for all the efforts you have undertaken to support Lebanon, particularly the Lebanese military institutions." "We are also here to reaffirm the need to liberate all Lebanese territories, and also to make it very clear that the future of Palestinian refugees is in their homeland - not in Lebanon," the Lebanese leader said.
"We believe that this is in the interest of Lebanon as well as it's in the interest of the Palestinian people themselves," the Lebanese president told Bush through a translator.An estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps in Lebanon. According to the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, there are around 4.6 million Palestinian refugees worldwide.
Most of the Palestinian refugees came to Lebanon when the state of Israel was created in 1948. Others fled to the country during the 1967 war. There are fears among the Lebanese that their settlement will be permanent, shifting the country's delicate sectarian balance.
Neither leader specifically mentioned Syria, which withdrew its forces from its smaller neighbor after the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005, a killing that was widely blamed on Damascus. Syria denies involvement.
Deep-seated divisions over Hizbullah's arsenal fuel widespread skepticism that the national dialogue will yield a defense strategy for Lebanon. A first session was held on September 16 and another has been set for November 5. - AFP, with The Daily Star

Hariri touts deal to take down political posters in Beirut, then rest of Lebanon
Berri confirms agreement for removal within three days
By Hussein Abdallah -Daily Star staff
Friday, September 26, 2008
BEIRUT: Political posters are to be removed from the streets of Lebanon as part of ongoing reconciliation efforts between rival factions, parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri announced on Thursday. "They will be removed within three days ... first from the Beirut district and then throughout the rest of Lebanon as soon as possible," Hariri told reporters after meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Berri later confirmed agreeing with Hariri on removing all posters within three days. "We will start from Beirut and then move ahead to include other areas," the speaker told an iftar banquet on Thursday.
Beirut's streets and buildings are plastered with posters, party flags and portraits of political leaders both dead and alive, emblematic of the intense divide among feuding clans. Disputes over the posters have often led to violent incidents. Last week, two people were killed over the hanging of a political banner in the northern province of Koura. Hariri also said that he agreed with Berri on reactivating meetings between representatives of neighborhoods and families in Beirut and throughout Lebanon.
Asked if there were any conditions to meeting Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hariri said that such meeting awaited a number of security arrangements.
"We must take the security situation into consideration while preparing for such meeting," he said. Asked if he would meet Nasrallah by the end of September, the Future leader said, "Everything is possible." A Hizbullah delegation, headed by MP Mohammad Raad, visited Hariri's residence on Wednesday to "break the ice" between the two parties and prepare for a meeting between Hariri and Nasrallah. Raad told reporters on Wednesday that the meeting will be held "soon."
On Thursday, Raad told a conference in the southern city of Tyre that Hizbullah's openness toward its rivals did not mean that it had abandoned its political principles. Hizbullah's number two Sheikh Naim Qassem also said on Thursday that reconciliation efforts were aimed at "reducing tensions and moving the conflict from the streets to the political arena."
Relations between Future Movement and Hizbullah have been deeply strained after both parties' supporters clashed last May, resulting in a Hizbullah-led takeover of large swathes of mostly Sunni western Beirut. Lebanon's rival political leaders have been working toward reconciling their differences in recent weeks ahead of the second round of national dialogue that will set the tone for parliamentary elections due next year. The first dialogue session was held in the Presidential Palace on September 16 and grouped the 14 politicians that signed the Doha Agreement last May. The agreement ended an 18-month political crisis in Lebanon and led to the election of President Michel Sleiman and the formation of a national unity government.
The agreement also called for holding national dialogue under Sleiman's auspices. Asked to react to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's threat to withdraw from the national talks, Hariri said: "It seems that Aoun cannot adapt to democratic procedures ... let him withdraw and face the repercussions."
Earlier this week, Aoun said that he would boycott the national talks if the electoral law was amended in a manner that allows heads of municipalities to run for office in next year's elections. The former law stipulates that heads of municipalities are not allowed to run for Parliament unless they have spent at least two years out of office. Later on Thursday, Hariri told an iftar banquet at his residence that his "differences" with Hizbullah were political and not religious.
"The existence of political differences is only normal, but this should not force one party to use force against its rivals, thus changing the political conflict into a military one," he said. Meanwhile, Beirut Mayor Abdel-Monem al-Ariss told AFP that coordination with political parties and the Interior Ministry to remove posters and banners began immediately and that he hopes work will begin as soon as Friday.
"I call on all the major political parties to take down their banners to set an example for others," Ariss said, adding that the move would help quell tension in the country.Also on Thursday, the Maronite League continued its efforts to reconcile rival Christian leaders as a delegation, headed by Maronite League chief Joseph Tarabay, visited Aoun and former President Amin Gemayel.
Gemayel stressed to the delegation the need to halt inter-Christian differences, adding that such differences "have gone too far in certain cases."
The Phalange Party leader said Sleiman had proposed a rapprochement meeting among Christian leaders on the sidelines of the national dialogue.
Gemayel added that any Christian reconciliation should be held under the auspices of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir.
Commenting on the recent meeting between Hariri and the Hizbullah delegation, Gemayel said he regretted that "all parties, except Christian ones, were communicating to solve their problems and manage their differences."
Meanwhile, Tarabay told reporters after meeting Gemayel that the Phalange leader has shown a positive attitude toward reconciling with his Christian rivals.
Tarabay made similar remarks after meeting Aoun, who made no comments to the press after meeting the Maronite League delegation.
The delegation, which visited Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday, is scheduled to meet MP Nayla Mouawad on Friday.
Mouawad is a rival of Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, who received a Maronite League delegation earlier this month
The delegation offered its condolences to Franjieh after a shooting incident in the northern town of Bsarma which left two people dead and three wounded. The dead were Youssef Franjieh of Marada and Pierre Ishaq of the LF. - With AFP

Cabinet hails reconciliation efforts, calls for follow-up
Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Cabinet on Thursday praised the recent meeting between Future Movement leader Saad Hariri and a Hizbullah delegation and called for consolidating reconciliation efforts following President Michel Sleiman's return to Lebanon. Sleiman met with US President George W. Bush at the White House on Thursday. The president is expected to embark on a European tour after which he will pay visits to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran before returning to Beirut to chair the second round of national dialogue. The first dialogue session was held on September 16 and brought together the 14 Lebanese politicians who signed the Doha Agreement last May. Information Minister Tarek Mitri quoted Prime Minister Fouad Siniora as telling ministers that the Hariri-Hizbullah meeting should be followed by practical measures, such as removing pictures of politicians as well as other political posters from all areas. However, the premier said that reconciliations do not change the fact that there are political differences between parties. Siniora also told the Cabinet that the Lebanese military authorities had told him that Syria had previously informed the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) of the troop deployment along the northern borders.
Nearly 10,000 Syrian soldiers deployed earlier this week along Lebanon's northern border with Syria. Siniora asked LAF commander General Jean Kahwaji to inquire about the deployment. Syrian authorities assured Kahwaji that the deployment was aimed at thwarting smuggling attempts.
The prime minister also briefed the Cabinet on the results of Sleiman's various meetings in New York and praised the president's speech before the UN General Assembly. - The Daily Star

Shamseddine meets Sfeir in Bkirki
By Maroun Khoury -Daily Star correspondent
Friday, September 26, 2008
BKIRKI: Minister of State for Administrative Reform Ibrahim Shamseddine met with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir on Thursday in Bkirki. After the meeting, Shamseddine said that he supported current reconciliation efforts throughout the country. He added that he might take a personal role in future reconciliations, or "at least mediate between feuding groups." Shamseddine said that Christianity and Islam would continue to coexist in Lebanon, adding that disputes were "not religious, but related to narrow politics." Shamseddine called on all political factions to come out of their "caves."

Assad 'cautious' on Beirut ties - Skaff
Daily Star staff-Friday, September 26, 2008
BEIRUT: Agriculture Minister Elias Skaff said in comments published Thursday, that his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad last week was "exceptional" and that Assad was "cautious" of the resumption of Lebanese-Syrian relations. He said that relations between the two countries had progressed and that "the demand to change the Syrian regime is in the past." In an interview with Syrian newspaper Al-Watan, Skaff also said that Assad was interested in preserving the role of the Christians in Lebanon, which Skaff said proved Assad had an "open mentality and knows the importance of partnership between religions." Skaff added that Christian political leaders "love power and money, which is an obstacle for reconciliation." "I hold the Lebanese citizens responsible for the situation we are in, because they choose their representatives through elections," he said. "Unfortunately," he added, "the Lebanese blindly follow their political leaders and repeat their political discourse, which sows sectarianism and accusations," he added. Meanwhile, the official Syrian Arab News Agency said Thursday that Assad told a delegation from the Lebanese Communist Party's headed by party chief Khaled Hadadeh that he supported dialogue among the Lebanese. - The Daily Star, with SANA

Thousands of Iraqi Christians find refuge in Lebanon
Families face tough times after fleeing their homeland
By Raphael Thelen -Special to The Daily Star
Friday, September 26, 2008
BEIRUT: Hundred of thousand of Chaldean Christians have fled Iraq because of violent threats against their community, and thousands of those refugees have arrived in Lebanon during the last few years, searching for a better life or resettlement in other countries. "The situation of the Chaldean community in Iraq is very difficult. Many receive threats by Muslim fundamentalists and criminal gangs via telephone, get kidnapped or killed," Michel Kasdano , coordinator of the Chaldean church, told The Daily Star. The Chaldean community has lived in Iraq since the time of Christ. Settling mostly in the northern districts, particularly around Mosul, their population is estimated to number around 1,300,000, but almost half of the minority Christian community has already fled Iraq in several waves over the last 50 years, leaving whole villages almost deserted. The exodus reached its peak in 2007.
The Chaldean Church in Beirut coordinates the work of various non-governmental organizations that are trying to help the displaced Chaldean community in Lebanon. "When I started my job, the different NGOs almost competed to offer their help, so we called them together to manage the complementing efforts," Kasdano said.
These NGOs and volunteers from the Chaldean Church provide the incoming refugees with everything from food parcels and health care to blankets and housing.
"We always try to vary the provided help. This month every family receives two packs of milk powder extra," said Kasdano, who served as a general in the Lebanese Army until two years ago.
Most refugees arrive in Lebanon with only a few belongings packed in a suitcase, leaving almost everything else behind. The Lebanese government offers them a one-month visa, but most of them overstay the duration and their status becomes illegal, meaning that they face the threat of detention.
According to Kasdano, "The Christians of Iraq would do almost everything right now to leave the country; they do not feel safe anymore."
However, the situation of the refugees has improved over the last month, with the government allowing them to stay in Lebanon as unrecognized refugees under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "The situation improved, but they are still scared every time they pass a checkpoint or go to work," Kasdano said. A young Iraqi from a village near Mosul, who wished to remain anonymous, arrived in Lebanon two months ago.
"I received repeated calls on my cell phone, threatening to kill me if I do not quit my job and leave the country," the 30-year-old, who had worked as a police officer, said. "I tried to keep my phone number secret, but they probably got it through grilling other kidnapped persons."
The young Chaldean Christian followed the instructions almost immediately, fearing that the threats were real. His nephew Raymond was abducted only few days after his marriage. The kidnappers demanded several thousand dollars for his release, warning that they would kill him if his family did not pay. The family did not have enough money, but many people of his community contributed, so Raymond was freed after one month of captivity.
But the young man faced additional dangers. His father-in-law, an accountant at an oil company, was kidnapped on his way to work, and then released within one day after converting to Islam under threat. "I still have a lot of family in Iraq, my two married sisters and a married brother, but most of the people already left. From originally 5,000 people in my village only 1,000 are left" the young refugee said.
After coming to Lebanon he was lucky and able to take over the job and room of an Iraqi family that just went back. "Their application to be resettled was turned down, so they had no other choice then but to go back. Life here was too expensive," he said.
The family of five had lived in a 15-square meter guard room. "Usually families don't want to return. Returning to Iraq means virtually house arrest, because every move outside poses big danger," said Kasdano. Many families choose to come to Lebanon because they heard that it is easier to be resettled from here.
And Christians, in particular, hope to find refuge in the existing Christian communities. "Here they have churches where they can pray and people with a similar cultural background, while in Syria and Jordan the Muslims are predominant," explained Kasdano. The screening procedure of the UNHCR to check the neediness of the applicants takes between one and five years, depending on how vulnerable the families are.
Akram, a father of 11 children, arrived in Lebanon in April 2007, after a long-term dispute between him and Muslim farmers about his land began to escalate.
The dispute started right after the 2003 US-led invasion when his neighboring farmers started to lead their cattle herds into his fields, destroying the crops.
According to the 52-year-old, a fight broke out when Akram's son Rony asked them to leave. Trying to protect his family from harm, he sent Rony to Greece and moved with the rest of his family to another house to hide. After arriving in Lebanon, he had to send all his children to work in order to survive.
"The work they have to do is very hard," explained Akram "They work up to 12 hours, including Saturdays." They take any job they can find, working in clothes factories, print shops and construction sites. "When they come home their arms and backs hurt and one of my boys constantly has a red eye from the steam irons he works with. We have to get some eye drops for him," Ajram said.
One of his children has just been fired, because he sat down while waiting for his wheelbarrow to be filled with concrete. His supervisor told him that they do not tolerate laziness and told him to leave after working one year for the company. Now they hope that the UNHCR's final assessment is positive. "The screenings by the UNHCR are very hard. You really have to prove your vulnerability. They want to know about your social environment and if the threats against you were real, but cooperation in general is good," said Kasdano.
If they get the approval they will be resettled to San Diego, California, where they have several relatives. They can expect to be financially supported by local associations for the first six month. But afterward, Kasdano asserted, "it's going to be very hard."
Nevertheless returning to Iraq is not an option. "The police can't even protect themselves, how shall they protect us? All the talking about an improved security situation is wrong!" Akram said. Kasdano knows that not all families are going to be resettled, but supports them with all his means, deeply regretting that this might be the end for one of the oldest cultures in the Middle East.

'How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?'
By Agence France Presse (AFP) -Friday, September 26, 2008
Myriam Chaplain-Riou-Agence France Presse
WASHINGTON: It's an "improbable story" about a simple man who somehow becomes the most powerful leader in the world, says American director Oliver Stone about his new movie "W," a biopic of the current US president. Always the provocateur, Stone is due to release the movie on October 17, fewer than three weeks before voters in the United States decide who should collect the keys to the White House from President George W. Bush.
Stone, who at 62 is the same age as Bush, insisted the biopic was "not a hatchet job," contrary to expectations that it will depict the US leader, whose approval ratings have plummeted to historic lows, in a negative light.
"W" is a "fair" portrait, opined Stone, who went to Yale University at the same time as Bush in the mid-1960s, before dropping out to serve in the military during America's ill-fated war in Vietnam.
Instead the director - whose previous films include the political biography "Nixon" and the satire on American violence "Natural Born Killers" - said he wanted to shed some light on the much-maligned Bush's true character and his story.
"Fifty million people voted for him on two occasions," Stone observed. "He was in the same league for a long time as Ronald Reagan, until he became so offensive."
Stone told USA Today that he had "tried to stay human to this man. People get me confused with my outspoken citizen side. But I'm a dramatist first and foremost.
"I am not interested in that radical 15 percent that hate Bush or the 15 or 20 percent who love Bush. That's not our audience. Those people probably won't come. I'm interested in that 60 percent in the American middle who at least have a little more open mind."
In the much-anticipated movie, Stone revisits the tumultuous youth of a man who came from a wealthy oil family and whose father, George H.W. Bush, rose through the ranks of the American establishment to become vice president, then president.When news broke that "W" was in production, Stone told the movie industry newspaper Variety that he wanted to get behind the man, to paint a personal portrait, and to answer the central question, "How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?"

Bush, a former Texas governor, has never hidden the fact that he once battled alcoholism, but claims he quit after a particularly heavy night on his 40th birthday in 1986 and has not touched a drop since.

His eight years in office have been scarred by the trauma of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and weighed down by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the legacy of a bloody, costly war that will be inherited by his successor.

Actor Josh Brolin portrays the 43rd president with a realism that he brought to 2007's acclaimed Coen brothers thriller "No Country For Old Men," and actress Elizabeth Banks fills the role of first lady Laura Bush.

The movie was made for $30 million - relatively cheap by modern movie standards. Millions of dollars were shaved off the budget with tax-cut incentives from filming in Shreveport, Louisiana.

It was also made quite quickly. Stone brought the movie from draft script to release in less than 12 months.Stone told AFP it was not an easy process. "Nobody wanted to finance this film," he said. "Every studio said 'No.' You'd be surprised to know the number of people in the business who don't want to have their name associated with politics. This thing almost never got made."Stone has often chosen to recount pivotal moments in American history through his movies. He has confronted the Vietnam War in "Platoon," the Kennedy assassination in "JFK," president Richard Nixon's disgraced resignation in "Nixon" and the attacks of September 11, 2001 in "World Trade Center."He has won three Oscars: best screenplay for "Midnight Express" in 1979, and best director in 1987 and 1990 for "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July." - AFP

Palestinian Crimes against Christian Arabs
By Manfred Gerstenfeld
Institute for Global Jewish Affairs | Thursday, September 25, 2008
Under the Palestinian regime Christian Arabs have been victims of frequent human rights abuses by Muslims. There are many examples of intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycotts, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual harassment, and extortion. Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are directly responsible for many of the human rights violations. Muslims who have converted to Christianity are in the greatest danger. They are often left defenseless against cruelty by Muslim fundamentalists. Some have been murdered.
Christian Arabs also fall victim to the chaos and anarchy typical of PA rule. This situation is fostered by societal rigidity, criminal gangs, lack of education, absence of due process, incitement, unreliable courts, and the denial of these problems-all running counter to Israel's desire for a prosperous and stable neighbor.
Muslim attitudes toward Christians and Jews are influenced by the concepts and prejudices about their inferiority that the practice of dhimmitude has spawned in Islamic society. As dhimmis, Christians living in Palestinian-controlled territories are not treated as equals of Muslims and are subjected to debilitating legal, political, cultural, and religious restrictions.
The human rights violations against the Christian Arabs in the disputed territories are committed by Muslims. Yet for political and economic reasons many Palestinian Christian leaders blame Israel for these crimes rather than the actual perpetrators. This motif of the transference of blame has been adopted by several Christian leaders in the Western world. Others there who are aware of the PA's human rights abuses choose to remain silent.
"The disputed territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA)-and recently, in part, by Hamas. As a result of the Oslo peace process, the Palestinians were able to establish their own quasi-government. Under this regime the Christian Arabs in these territories have been victims of frequent human rights abuses including intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycott, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual harassment, and extortion.

"Muslims who have converted to Christianity are the ones most in danger. They are often left defenseless against cruelty by Muslim fundamentalists. PA and Hamas officials are directly responsible for many of the human rights violations. Christian Arabs also fall victim to the chaos and anarchy that typifies PA rule."

Justus Reid Weiner* is an international human rights lawyer and a member of the Israel and New York bar associations. His professional publications have appeared in leading law journals and intellectual magazines. Weiner lectures widely abroad and in Israel and teaches international law and business courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He remarks: "The human rights crimes against the Christian Arabs in the disputed territories are committed by Muslims. Yet many Palestinian Christian leaders accuse Israel of these crimes rather than the actual perpetrators. This motif has been adopted by a variety of Christian leaders in the Western world. Others who are aware of the human rights crimes choose to remain silent about them."

Dhimmitude and Persecution
In Weiner's view the crimes committed against Christian Arabs result from a way of thinking that dates back to the earliest days of Islam. "Traditionally, Christians and Jews were given an inferior social status known as dhimmitude in Islam. The dhimma is a legal contract of submission that was imposed upon the indigenous non-Muslim populations in regions conquered by the spread of Islam. Although Jews and Christians were not forced to convert to Islam, they were not treated as the equals of Muslims.

"As dhimmis, Jews and Christians were subjected to both legal and cultural restrictions under Islamic law.[1] For example, Muslims could ride horses whereas Christians and Jews were limited to donkeys. Or, Muslims were permitted to wear garments of fine cloth while Christians and Jews were only allowed to wear clothing made from coarse fabric.

"To this day, Muslim attitudes toward Christians and Jews are influenced by the concepts and prejudices that dhimmitude has spawned in Islamic society. In Iraq, for example, the ancestral community of Chaldean Christians has recently become a target of vandalism, property theft, infringement of privacy, harassment, arbitrary and prolonged detention, kidnapping, rape, beatings, car bombings, torture, and even murder.

"There are many examples of Christian suffering in Islamic countries. In November 2006, six Molotov cocktails damaged a Protestant place of worship in western Turkey, breaking windows and scorching the exterior of the building. This attack followed months of harassment of Christians in the town of Odemis, sixty-five miles east of Izmir. In a town near Mosul (in Iraq) in October 2006, a fifty-nine-year-old Syrian Orthodox priest named Father Boulos Iskander was beheaded. His kidnappers had demanded $40,000 USD and required that the priest's church publicly repudiate Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on Islam.[2] It is interesting that this demand was directed at an Orthodox Christian priest, who would have had nothing to do with any statement by the Catholic Pope.

"In Egypt, in October 2006, a Christian teenager escaped her Muslim kidnappers hours after they had drugged her on a public bus. They threatened to rape her and convert her to Islam if her family didn't leave their Nile Delta city of El-Mahala el-Kobra. In a similar story, a fifteen-year-old escaped from being held captive in Cairo's southern suburb of Helwan while her captors were away breaking their Ramadan fast.[3]

"Such attacks have evolved into an imminent crisis for the Christian minority in every Muslim-ruled country of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Their Christian populations are in major decline, they are constantly under threat of violence, and there is a general feeling that they have no future. Some examples concern the Copts in Egypt and the Maronites in Lebanon. The scholarship of Nina Shea and Paul Marshall on the persecution of Christians in Islamic lands brings many proofs of this.[4]

"Israel is the only exception in the Middle East where the Christian population since 1948 has increased. It has risen by more than 400 percent. This also includes non-Arab Christians, such as Russian Christians who have come here as spouses of Jews and otherwise."

Weiner adds: "Similar troubles as for the Christians have emerged for a whole range of nonconformists in the Islamic world. For example, in July 2005, two alleged homosexual teenage boys were publicly executed in Iran.[5] The threats are affecting many throughout the region, including owners of internet cafes, of restaurants or stores selling alcohol, land dealers, independent journalists, and even authors such as Salman Rushdie. The international human rights community has thus far done virtually nothing to protect such nonconformists."

A Culture of Intolerance
Weiner observes: "As dhimmis, Christians living in Palestinian-controlled territories are not treated as the equals of Muslims. They are subjected to debilitating legal, political, cultural, and religious restrictions. This has become a critical problem for the Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza. Muslim groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad have built a culture of hatred upon the age-old foundations of Islamic society. Moreover, the PA has adopted Islamic law into its draft constitution.

"In 2006, Hassan El-Masalmeh, a member of the Bethlehem City Council and local Hamas leader, publicly advocated implementing a discriminatory tax on non-Muslim residents, known as al-jeziya. The Koran requires the imposition of this tax on all dhimmis. It legalizes the second-class status of such residents. El-Masalmeh stated that, ‘We in Hamas intend to implement this tax someday. We say it openly and we welcome everyone to Palestine, but only if they agree to live under our rules.' One example occurred in late 2007 when an evangelical pastor was forced to leave Ramallah under threats from Tanzim gunmen; soon after, his congregation dispersed. Clergy under threat by gunmen should at least make a good-faith effort to use their media connections to publicize their plight and thereby garner a degree of protection for themselves and their followers.

"In such an environment, Christian Arabs have found themselves victims of prejudice and hate crimes. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians have left their ancestral homes and emigrated to North America, Central America, South America, Europe, and Australia. They flee to almost any country that will issue them a visa.

"A majority of the Christians living under PA and Hamas rule are Greek Catholic or Greek Melkite. Others are Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Syriacs, Armenians, Copts, Maronites, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, as well as several other denominations. The Palestinian Christian population has always been concentrated in and around the cities of Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Bethlehem."

Developments in Bethlehem
"The demographics in these areas have changed drastically. Bethlehem is a prime example. Estimates show a sharp demographic Christian-Muslim shift. The Christian population went from an 80 percent majority in 1950, to a 60 percent majority in 1990, to approximately a 40 percent minority in 2000. Today the population of Christian Arabs in Bethlehem is hovering at about 15 percent of the city's total population. It is estimated that for the past seven years over one thousand Christians have been emigrating from the Bethlehem area annually. At present an estimated ten to thirteen thousand Christians remain in the city.

"Neither the Palestinian Christian leaders nor the PA want to reveal accurate statistics. That would mean the extent of the emigration would become publicly known. They would then have to face questions about the reasons for this decline."

Weiner points out that Yasser Arafat determined the policy that led to this demographic shift. "After the PA gained control of Bethlehem it redistricted the municipal boundaries of the city. Arafat's motivation for the change was to ensure a Muslim majority in any elections to be held in the area. By doing so, he annexed an additional thirty thousand Muslims and a few thousand Muslim Bedouins in adjacent areas. This, combined with substantial Muslim immigration from the nearby city of Hebron, dramatically transformed the demographic reality.

"Arafat also defied tradition by appointing a Muslim governor of the city. The Bethlehem City Council, which by Palestinian law must have a Christian majority, has been taken over by Muslims. Eight of the fifteen seats on the council are still reserved for Christians, but in the latest municipal elections of May 2005 a coalition with crucial support from Hamas emerged victorious.[6] Hamas today holds six of the fifteen council seats and their Christian allies hold four.[7] Arafat crowned his efforts when he converted the Greek Orthodox monastery next to the Church of Nativity into his official Bethlehem residence.[8]

"The problems for Christians in Bethlehem are typical throughout the Middle East. The Lebanese Christian community faced similar problems during the 1980s. The assassinated Christian prime minister of Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel summed up the situation: ‘A Christian, like a Jew . . . is not a full citizen and cannot exercise political rights in any of the countries which were once conquered by Islam.'[9]

"In Palestinian society Christian Arabs have no voice and no protection. It is no wonder they have been leaving. Because of emigration-some of it dating back two or three generations-seventy percent of Christian Arabs who originally resided in the West Bank and Gaza now live abroad. Tens of thousands live in Sydney, Berlin, Santiago, Detroit, and Toronto. The emigration of Christian Arabs has multiplied over the last decade, with no end in sight.

"It is currently estimated that the number of Christians living in Gaza totals only 1,500-3,000 amid 1.2 million Muslims.[10] Probably less than fifty thousand Christians remain in all of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza together.

"Taybeh, a village located deep in the West Bank, is the only all-Christian village left in the PA. As a result of the perpetual violence, many residents of Taybeh have gone abroad and only 1,300 remain.[11] The situation of these Christians has become grim."

The Abuse of Human Rights
Before giving examples of human rights abuses against Christians in the PA, Weiner remarks: "Over this ten-year period, my research assistants and I have interviewed scores of Christian victims. Many of those interviewed were too terrified to tell their stories. In an effort to reassure them, I promised to conceal their real names, professions, and places of residence.

"My first example concerns the routine extortion of Christian businessmen by PA officials and street thugs. It involves an Armenian Christian jewelry- store owner from Jerusalem. During a business trip to Gaza he was taken into custody and extorted by the Palestinian police. He showed the officers the necessary licenses and permits to sell his gold jewelry. Nevertheless, he was forced to hand over all his money and gold jewelry and was subsequently beaten for more than six hours.

"After refusing the offer of the police to leave with half his gold, he was beaten for another two hours in the police station. His watch, his rings, half his gold jewelry, and the $6,000 USD he was carrying were taken from him before he was allowed to leave.

"The Armenian complained to the PA's minister of industry and commerce. He was then told he had no recourse but to speak with Arafat. Further efforts were futile. As a Christian he didn't have the necessary connections to get back what was stolen from him in the police station. Nor were the perpetrators charged or punished."

Kidnapping and Seduction of Christian Women
"Incidents of Muslim men ‘seducing' or kidnapping Christian girls have caused growing anxiety among the Christian population. In May 2004, a sixteen-year-old Christian girl from Bethlehem, who was a U.S. citizen, went missing for five days. She was kidnapped by a twenty-three-year-old Muslim man. When the family lodged a complaint with the PA police, little was done to help them. The police accepted the testimony of the Muslim kidnapper at face value. He claimed that they wanted to get married.

"The girl's family knew that the Muslim man had a brother who was a high-ranking officer in the PA security services. They feared that the PA police's unwillingness to act on the family's complaint was due to this officer's connections.

"The kidnapper sought refuge in Hebron where he had an extended family. Because their families are large, it is easy for Muslims to get away with crimes against Christians who lack strength in numbers. In desperation the girl's family contacted the American Consulate in Jerusalem. Thanks to their intervention, the girl was rescued and left for the United States with her family.

"When a crowd of Christian men tried to stage a demonstration outside the kidnapper's house, the Palestinian police-all of them Muslims-used excessive force against the demonstrators. They fired into the air in an attempt to disperse the crowd. At least thirty-five Christian men were injured. The episode received virtually no international media coverage."

Weiner explains that this is far from being an isolated case: "A Muslim family appeared uninvited on the doorstep of a wealthy Christian family in the West Bank. They brought along a sheikh and demanded that the Christian family's daughter, known for her beauty, marry their son. The father of the Christian family asked for a two-day reprieve to think things over. The Muslim family agreed, but then apparently reconsidered. They reappeared-again uninvited-the following day. Their son was dressed up for his wedding, accompanied by the sheikh and fifteen Muslim men. To protect his family the Christian girl's father opened fire on the Muslim entourage, killing three and wounding ten. The girl's family immediately abandoned their home and fled abroad."

Persecuting Converts to Christianity
"In compliance with the sayings (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammed, Muslim converts to Christianity are ruthlessly persecuted for changing their faith.[12] It is a common tactic to try to force Christians-by-choice to repudiate their beliefs.[13] One example involves two brothers whom I will call Saliba and Najib, both converts to Christianity from the northern West Bank.

"After taking part in a Christian prayer session with German tourists, Najib received a summons to appear before the Palestinian secret police. During questioning he was accused of collaborating with Israeli and American intelligence. After the interrogation the Palestinian police placed a cardboard sign on his back upon which was written, ‘Najib the Christian.' Then he was told to ‘curse Jesus.'

"Najib was told by the secret police that from then on his life would be nothing but suffering. He was released at the end of the day and fled when Palestinian police came to his house to detain him for more questioning. As a fugitive from the PA, Najib made contact with Israelis who arranged for him to hide in a bomb shelter in a Jewish settlement. He ended up staying there for three years until he was granted asylum in Norway, where he lives today.

"Najib's brother Saliba spent twenty-one months in a PA prison-from August 2000 to May 2002-after being arrested on fabricated charges. He was held for seven months in underground solitary confinement. Saliba testified to me and my assistants about his suffering in that jail:

I was beaten with sticks; they stripped me naked and made me sit on bottles, and on the legs of chairs that they turned upside down, and many, many other sadistic things that I am even ashamed to say. Many times they allowed lynch mobs like the Al-Aksa Brigades to come in and pull prisoners out of the cells. They were taken out and shot on the spot, their bodies then dragged through the streets for all to see.

Although complaints of Israeli misconduct are loudly voiced, Weiner is not aware of any such complaints about these examples of Muslim misconduct.

"The PA had sentenced Saliba to be executed. However, before they could carry this out he and others were liberated from prison by the Israel Defense Forces, which entered the disputed territories in response to a wave of suicide bombings that had killed hundreds of Israelis.

"After Saliba's liberation he was able to secure a temporary permit to live in Israel. However, he was unable to obtain similar permits for his wife and eight children. They remained behind in the disputed territories under constant threat of harassment. Today Saliba lives in the town of Ramle in Israel, unable to safely return to his family and hoping to find asylum in Norway to join his brother."

The Murder of a Convert
"Of another Christian convert, Ahmad El-Achwal, the real name can be given because he was murdered. He was married, a father of eight, and lived in the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus. The PA set out to make Ahmad's life unbearable after he became a Christian.

"Ahmad was initially arrested on fabricated charges of stealing gold. The only gold in the entire family was his daughter's delicate necklace, which had been given to her for her birthday by her grandfather. The family still had the receipt from the store where it was purchased. Ahmad was kept in a tiny cell and regularly left without food or water for days on end. The torture he sustained during the interrogation required lengthy hospitalization.

"When I interviewed Ahmad, he gave me photos of his injuries taken while he was recuperating in a hospital. It was clear that he had been tortured. Ahmad had suffered extensive and serious burns on his back, buttocks, and legs. The heated torture implement that was applied to his skin reminded me of similar medieval instruments.

"After he was released from prison, Ahmad began to use his apartment as an informal church. He distributed booklets on Christianity and spoke to Palestinian Muslims about his newfound faith. Ahmad did this despite his fears of harassment and persecution.

"Over a seven-year period, Palestinian security forces repeatedly arrested him and searched his home. Sometimes they confiscated his Bibles and other religious books. Ahmad was again imprisoned for various periods that, together, totaled over a year. Promises were made that if he reverted to Islam he would be freed from prison and given a senior job in the PA with a large office.

"Not all his suffering emanated directly from the PA. Ahmad operated a falafel stand in Nablus. His Muslim landlord refused to continue renting it to him because of his conversion to Christianity. He then moved to Jerusalem to find work because of the ongoing harassment. However, when Ahmad went back to visit his family in Askar, he was beaten by a group of masked men. Palestinians affiliated with the PA security services also torched his car. His residence was firebombed. On 21 January 2004, Ahmad was shot dead by masked gunmen. His murderers have not been brought to justice."

Yet Another Murder
"Rami Khader Ayyad is another victim of murder motivated by religion. He lived in Gaza City with his two children and his wife, who was pregnant with their third. His Teachers Bookshop sold Bibles and Christian literature. Ayyad was associated with the Palestinian Bible Society, which promotes Christian presence in Muslim areas.

"In April 2007, Ayyad's store was firebombed by a Muslim ‘vice squad' that was attacking targets they connected with Western influence. According to Ayyad's family and neighbors, he had regularly received anonymous death threats from people angered by his missionary work.

"Ayyad was abducted on the evening of 6 October 2007 after closing his store. He called his family to let them know he would be returning late in the evening.[14] Ayyad's lifeless body was found early the next morning with visible signs of torture, including a gunshot wound in the head and numerous stab wounds. Witnesses and security officials stated that they watched three armed men, two of them wearing masks, beat Ayyad repeatedly with clubs and the butts of their guns while accusing him of spreading Christianity in Gaza. These witnesses said that after the three men beat Ayyad, each of them shot him.

"Sheikh Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic program, asserted that while his group did not carry out the Ayyad murder, ‘Christians engaging in missionary activity in Gaza would be dealt with harshly.'"[15]

Extortion Attempts
"Pastor Isa Bajalia contacted me in autumn 2007. I had interviewed him four different times over the past eight or ten years. The pastor called me because of death threats he was receiving. If something were to happen to him, he wanted me to have a video testament explaining the true source of his demise. He is an understated individual who never before had revealed to me this sense of urgency concerning danger to his own life or anyone else's from his congregation.

"Bajalia served for sixteen years in Ramallah and is primarily involved with counseling and humanitarian efforts in the area. Over two months before he called me Bajalia had been receiving threats to pay extortion money in the amount of $30,000 USD. They also demanded that he sign over a portion of his family land to their ownership.

"The men threatening Bajalia intimidated him on a daily basis. Their harassment has made it impossible for Bajalia to function in his normal pastoral capacity in Ramallah. He was threatened as follows: ‘If you don't do what we want, we can get you no matter whether you are in the States or here.' They threatened to break his arms and legs and said to him, ‘We will do to you what was done to Rami in Gaza.'

"Pastor Bajalia was forced to disconnect his cell-phone line because of the relentless threatening calls. He knew that the men making the threats were capable of violence, so as a U.S. citizen he sought assistance from the American Consulate. Thereafter he also asked for help from three PA officials. They, however, demanded thousands of dollars to protect him. One of them offered, ‘I'll be your bodyguard. Our group will back you up. We'll get this resolved for you; just give me $5,000.'

"Pastor Bajalia explained to me how a few weeks before he was forced to leave Ramallah, one of those threatening him was closing in on his trail. About fifteen minutes after Bajalia departed a friend's house in Ramallah, a green-uniformed militiaman of the Tanzim-a violent, aggressive faction of the Fatah movement-showed up at the friend's house bearing a pistol.

"Following continued and intensified threats of violence, Pastor Bajalia fled to the United States in fear for his life.[16] He stayed in Alabama for more than a month, thereafter returning in January 2008 to Jerusalem. Bajalia is still extremely concerned that these men might locate him."

More Harassment
"Harassment of Christian Arabs is widespread under the Palestinian regime. On an ever-increasing scale, they have been losing their jobs, have had their land taken over by criminal gangs in cooperation with the PA Land Registration Office, and Christian women have resorted to wearing conservative Muslim women's garb so as not to be harassed.

"Palestinian gunmen set fire to the YMCA in the West Bank city of Qalqilya. A seventy-six-year-old Greek Orthodox monk was beaten up in Bethlehem by Muslim villagers, his olive trees uprooted, and his monastery was defaced with graffiti depicting nuns being raped.

"In February 2006, an explosive device blew off the doors of the Bible Society in Gaza. The attackers then moved on to the nearby Greek Orthodox Church, which they then shot up. Pamphlets were left at the bookshop threatening the landlord for dealing with ‘infidels.' This was followed by the bombing of the bookshop in April 2007 along with three other Christian targets.[17]

"In protest against the remarks by Pope Benedict XVI about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in 2006, seven churches were attacked in the West Bank and Gaza by Palestinians carrying guns, firebombs, and lighter fluid. This included a shooting attack on a church façade in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City as well as the firebombing of an Anglican church in the West Bank city of Nablus.

"Since the election of the Hamas government in 2006, and the coup by which Hamas took over Gaza in June 2007, religious tension has only intensified. Hamas has enacted policies that are turning the PA into an Islamic theocracy, and the Christian religion and its followers are consistently discriminated against. The situation erupted on 15 February 2008 when Muslim militants bombed the Gaza City YMCA library[18] and on 16 May when a bomb went off in a Christian school."[19]

Hiding the Problems
Weiner says he became aware of the many crimes against Christian Arabs under the Palestinian regime when, ten years ago, a Christian lay pastor said to him, "You're a human rights lawyer, what are you doing for the Christian Arabs?" Weiner replied that he was not doing anything for them as he was not aware they had any problems. The pastor then said: "Let me send you some people to interview and once you've done that make up your own mind."

Weiner remarks: "That began my education process on this subject. The problem I had the most difficulty understanding was why the large, powerful, populous Christian world has permitted this to go on for so long. This is the more surprising as the PA is in such need of funds and political support. Ten years down the road I can only say that it is a sad testimony for contemporary Christianity.

"I discovered a wide gap between the Palestinian Christian leadership and their flock. The former tended, for many years, to put on their nice robes and hats to meet Arafat for religious occasions. They are the same people who keep touring around the United States and being feted in different locations where they repeat the false story that everything is fine.

"These patriarchs and archbishops of Christian Arab denominations who are currently deceiving the international community are self-interested people. They collaborate with the Muslim perpetrators of intimidation and violence. Against all evidence they claim that the Christians Arabs are living comfortable and prosperous lives. In fact the present situation is growing worse by the day."

Putting Their People in Danger
"These Christian leaders obfuscate the truth and put their own people in danger. This is often for personal benefit or due to intimidation. In the Palestinian areas the Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic, and many other leaders will all sing the tune of the Palestinian Authority-at least publicly. Others who are not senior will describe the reality in private because they live it."

Weiner observes that a number of Palestinian Christian leaders deny the human rights crimes perpetrated against their flock. "Often in cooperation with the Palestinian leadership they claim that the situation is not bad for the Christian Arabs. In response to Rami Khader Ayyad's death, Monsignor Manual Masallam, head of Gaza's Roman Catholic community, asserted-against all the evidence-that the attack was not religiously motivated.

"When asked if Christians in Gaza feel oppressed in their own cities, Musallam answered that, ‘Palestinian Christians are not a religious community set apart.... Our relationship with Hamas is as people of one nation.' He also explicitly stated that Christian emigration has nothing to do with the Muslim population and that the Christians in Gaza still enjoy all the same rights as their Muslim neighbors.[20]

"The dilemma is how to get the world to listen to and respect the experience and the warnings of the ordinary Christian, the ordinary priest and reverend, and to disregard the endorsements of the PA that are mouthed by their religious leaders.

"In private a variety of Christians will tell you that they are suffering from the pressures by Muslims. In public these same people will berate Israel for the security fence and the occupation. It has become an old game and Israelis understand it. One wonders when foreign journalists and NGOs will finally start to understand it."

The Verification Process
As to the veracity of his information, Weiner explains: "I am often asked how I verify what I am told. The answer is that I began this work ten years ago. I now look at cases over time, having learned that witnesses usually become more candid as you get to know them better. One of the last questions in any interview is who else can confirm, reinforce, or explain further what the witness provided. The result is a fairly good perspective of the iceberg effect. In these cases one is seeing only a little bit of the crimes that go on under the Palestinian regime. People usually are afraid or intimidated and aren't willing to describe everything that happened.

"Pretty much across the board the Christian Arabs that I interviewed were reticent to tell their story. I had to track them down and prove that I was a reliable person they could talk to. I also had to promise them to use a pseudonym and to change their city/town/village of residence.

"There is a huge difference as compared to the human rights situation in Israel. When I worked at the Israeli Justice Ministry (1981-1994, as director of the Department of American Law and External Relations) we heard many human rights allegations against the government, the army, and the prison service. Often the people making these complaints, or the organizations representing them rushed to call press conferences. They were looking for an instant headline. With the Palestinian Christians everything that concerns human rights is hushed up."

The Israeli Security Situation
"Part of the Christian Palestinian emigration also stems from problems relating to Israel. There are two primary issues. The first is that the Israeli Interior Ministry has not been forthcoming enough in issuing visas to foreign Christian clergy wanting to come and work in Israel. It has become quite difficult for individuals to obtain visas to work in schools, embassies, or churches here in Israel, a point that has poisoned some clergy attitudes.

"As a result of a new single-entry visa rule, Christian church workers currently in the country are also finding it difficult to travel between their parishes and their churches' offices in Jerusalem. Father Jack Abed, a parish priest of the Melkite Catholic community near Ramallah, claimed that these new rules violate understandings between Israel and the Vatican. He stated that: ‘One of the agreements is the freedom of movement and worship. There is no freedom of movement if Israel wants to limit visas to a single entry.'[21]

"These visa restrictions have resulted from the major security threats to Israel, some of which come from the Christian community itself. For example, Archimandrite Atallah Hanna, an Israeli Arab serving as the official spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land, is reported to have praised Palestinian suicide bombers as heroes in a closed-door meeting in Haifa. Hanna is quoted as stating, ‘These martyrdom freedom fighters are the heroes of the people and we are proud of them.' According to the report, Hanna urged Christian Arabs to ‘join the resistance against the Israeli occupation in all forms and methods.'[22] Hanna later denied having made these remarks.

"A second issue that has increased the emigration of Palestinian Christians involves a combination of the building of the security fence and the political anarchy that plagues the Palestinian-controlled areas. Many Palestinian Christians point out that besides the disruptions from internal Palestinian instability and lawlessness, the economic hardship and unemployment is caused by the cutoff from outside aid due to Israeli security measures that bar most Palestinians from working inside Israel.[23] Villagers are allowed to cross the separation barriers only if they hold special permits."

The International Christian Community
Weiner states: "Many in the international Christian leaderships knowingly remain silent about the suffering of the Palestinian Christians. Others, rather than identify the true Palestinian perpetrators of crimes against their people, take the politically correct path by blaming Israel. All unrest and suffering in the region is routinely attributed to actions-or omissions-by Israel without acknowledging or condemning Muslim violence. In particular, church officials often criticize Israel for the decline in Christian populations in the West Bank and Gaza as well as for the hardships the Christian Arabs endure under Fatah and Hamas rule.

"The Western Christian leaders who spread this message include leaders of American Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Thus the former leader of the Episcopal Church (USA), the Reverend Edmond L. Browning, frequently oversimplified the very intricate reality in the Middle East by implying that the conflict can be resolved by a few simple concessions by Israel. Meanwhile he and his church remained silent about the unique evil of suicide bombing and have yet to demand that Hamas recognize Israel or dismantle its terrorist infrastructure.[24]

"Supplementing its well-known anti-Israel agenda, the Episcopal Church maintains strong ties with Friends of Sabeel-North America.[25] For example, Browning donated $10,000 to the organization. In addition, the Episcopal Church has passed resolutions pressing Motorola to prohibit sale of its products or the provision of services to persons living in the disputed territories. There was no parallel demand that Palestinians cease their terrorist violence. Nor were U.S. companies urged to ensure that what they sold to the Palestinians was not used in violent attacks on Israelis.

"Among the other one-sided resolutions of the Episcopal Church was a condemnation of Israel's security barrier that was not accompanied by any parallel demand on the Palestinians to stop the terrorist attacks that prompted the construction of what is more accurately known as a fence. Leaders of other North American churches including the Methodists, the United Church of Christ, and the Lutherans have also gone to great lengths to offer up one-sided condemnations of Israeli policies.[26] Most of these perennial critics are linked to the Sabeel Center."

*Justus Reid Weiner is an international human rights lawyer, a member of the Israel and New York bar associations, and a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley. Weiner's professional publications have appeared in leading law journals and intellectual magazines. He is currently a fellow in residence at the JCPA and an adjunct lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Weiner was formerly a visiting assistant professor at the School of Law, Boston University.

Notes
[1] Bat Ye'or, Islam and Dhimmitude (Teaneck, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2001), 50. Dhimmis were treated as second-class citizens and were often discriminated against. Muhammad ordered and practiced ethnic cleansing by removing all Jews, Christians, and pagans from the Arabian Peninsula. Walid Shoebat, Why I Left Jihad: The Root of Terrorism and the Return of Radical Islam (Top Executive Media, 2005).
[2] Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, http://www.jpost.com/ce%20February%202007.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert, Their Blood Cries Out (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2007); Nina Shea, In the Lion's Den: A Shocking Account of Persecuted and Martyrdom of Christians Today and How We Should Respond (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2007).
[5] "2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices," U.S. Department of State, released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, 6 March 2007, www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/.
[6] Sandro Magister, "The Mayor of Bethlehem Is Christian, but It's Hamas That's in Charge," 21 May 2007, http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=44202&eng=y.
[7] "Bethlehem Belongs to Hamas," Israel Today, 20 July 2005.
[8] Aaron Klein, "Media's Two-Faced Christmas Coverage: Muslims Driving Christians out of Bethlehem, but Media Outlets Choose to Blame Israel," Ynetnews, 24 December 2007, www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3486144,00.html.
[9] Bat Ye'or, Islam and Dhimmitude, 247-48, cited in Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, http://www.jpost.com/ce%20February%202007.
[10] Julie Stahl, "Gaza Bible Society Surprised by Bomb Attack," Cybercast News Service, 16 April 2007, www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200704/INT20070416e.html.
[11] Isabel Kershner, "Palestinian Christians Look Back on a Year of Troubles," New York Times, 11 March 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/world/middleeast/11christians.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin.
[12] The highest of Islamic sources unequivocally calls for the killing of converts. This came from the Hadith (sayings) of the Prophet Muhammad. Ruth Gledhill, "Whoever Changes His Islamic Religion-Kill Him," Times Online, 21 March 2006, www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article743382.ece.
[13] In the case of a Christian Arab named Aiman, such incentives (release from custody, a job, an office) were offered. He recalled: "The jailors demanded that I revert back to Islam...go to a religious Islamic school in Saudi Arabia or Gaza...and then go up to the minaret and say: ‘Allah is great and God has no son' over the loudspeaker...and to confess the names and addresses of the people that I had converted, or were involved in evangelism."
[14] "Palestinian Christian Activist Killed in Gaza," Kuwaiti Times, 8 October 2007, www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTIwNDI3NDc5MQ.
[15] Eric Young, "Witnesses: Slain Palestinian Was Tortured for Spreading Christianity," Christian Post, 11 October 2007,
www.christianpost.com/article/20071011/29662_Witnesses:_Slain_Palestinian_was_Tortured_for_Spreading_Christianity.htm.
[16] He was also visiting a seriously ill relative there.
[17] Stahl, "Gaza Bible Society."
[18] "Militants Bomb Gaza YMCA Library," BBC News, 15 February 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7246454.stm;
[19] Associated Press, "Bomb Explodes at Christian School," JPost.com, 17 May 2008, www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1210668651761.
[20] Mohammad Omer, "Coexistence in Gaza," The Electronic Intifada, 28 November 2007, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9126.shtml.
[21] Associated Press, "Israel Rescinds Arab Christian Clergy Travel Rights in West Bank," Haaretz, 27 October 2007 (last update), file:///A:/www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917437.html.
[22] Khaled Abu Toameh, "Greek Orthodox Church Spokesman Says Suicide Bombers Are ‘Heroes,'" Jerusalem Post, 12 January 2003.
[23] Kershner, "Palestinian Christians."
[24] Brian J. Grieves, No Outcasts: The Public Witness of Edmond L. Browning (Cincinnati: Forward Movement, 1997).
[25] According to their website, Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA) works in the United States and Canada to support the vision of Jerusalem-based Sabeel, a Christian liberation-theology organization. FOSNA cultivates the support of American churches through cosponsored regional educational conferences, alternative pilgrimage, witness trips, and international gatherings in the Holy Land (www.fosna.org).
[26] Daniel Pipes, "Christianity Dying in Its Birthplace," New York Sun, 13 September 2005," www.daniel pipes.org/article/2937.
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Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld is Chairman of the Board of Fellows of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is an international business strategist who has been a consultant to governments, international agencies, and boards of some of the world's largest corporations. Among the fourteen books he has published are Europe's Crumbling Myths: The Post-Holocaust Origins of Today's Anti-Semitism (JCPA, Yad Vashem, WJC, 2003), Academics against Israel and the Jews (JCPA, 2007), as well as the just published Behind the Humanitarian Mask: The Nordic Countries, Israel and the Jews (JCPA and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, 2008).