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The Orthodox Christian News Service

Published by Reuters, December 17, 2003

War-Weary Christians Seek Escape from Holy Land

By Matt Spetalnick

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Ihab Mousselem's ties to the Holy Land are as old as Christmas itself.

But this year, when church bells summon worshipers to Yuletide mass at Bethlehem's Manger Square, he will be far from the ancient stone streets where his family has lived for generations.

Mousselem, 39, is emigrating to Europe this week, joining a growing exodus of Palestinian Christians squeezed by Israel's crippling military blockade of the West Bank and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism.

Christians, already a tiny minority in the Palestinian territories, say their situation has become so bleak that their once-thriving communities are in danger of one day disappearing from the land where Christianity began.

"We were here before the Greeks, Romans and Turks. It hurts to leave but it's more painful to stay," Mousselem said before bidding farewell to friends at the Church of the Nativity, built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.

For three years, Mousselem has watched his construction company wither as Israeli-Palestinian violence kept away tourists who once served as Bethlehem's economic lifeblood. With his savings gone, he has had to rely on handouts from church charities to support his wife and three young children.

But now after months of waiting, he has finally obtained what he wished for this Christmas -- a European entry visa. He and his family will travel to Greece and then to Sweden, where friends say he will find sympathetic authorities willing to turn a blind eye to Palestinians working illegally.

"Since there is nothing left for us in Palestine, we hope God will answer our prayers in a new home," Mousselem, a devout Catholic, said as he made final preparations to leave.

Curled up in a chair beside a small, twinkling Christmas tree, his wife, Mirvat, buried her face in her hands and wept.

LOSING THE DEMOGRAPHIC RACE

These are hard times for Palestinian Christians.

They now number fewer than 50,000 among the 3.6 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and are estimated to be leaving at a rate of about 1,000 a year.

At St Mary's Maternity Hospital, the cribs sit empty on most days – a reminder that Christians, with a tradition of smaller families, are losing the demographic race to Muslims.

Even in Bethlehem, the once-prosperous hub of Palestinian Christian life, they no longer represent a majority.

"If this continues, our churches will be more like museums than living houses of prayer," said Father Amjad Sabbara, a senior Roman Catholic cleric, after celebrating mass before a sparse congregation of mostly gray-haired worshipers.

Many are leaving out of desperation. In the countdown to another gloomy Christmas, Bethlehem is facing economic meltdown, and Christians -- traditionally artisans, tour guides and innkeepers -- are taking the brunt of it.

Most hotels have closed for lack of guests, and few souvenir shops even bother to lift their shutters.

Israeli troops no longer occupy Bethlehem as they did last year after a suicide bomber from the area killed 12 people on a Jerusalem bus. But the town remains hemmed in by army roadblocks and a phalanx of Jewish settlements spreading across the hills.

Town manager Jamal Salman said Christians are being hardest hit as Israel seizes land on Bethlehem's outskirts for a vast metal-and-concrete barrier it is building in the West Bank.

CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM TENSIONS

But Christians complain they are also being squeezed by Muslim neighbors who in some cases have taken advantage of growing lawlessness to grab farmland and other property.

"This has been a problem for us, even though the Palestinian Authority has promised to impose order," Father Amjad said.

It is another sign of tensions between Christians and Muslims aggravated by a deepening "Islamisation" of Palestinian society during three years of uprising. Christians say they identify with the nationalist aim of creating a Palestinian state, but only a small number have taken up arms in the revolt, which is heavy with Muslim symbolism.

In private, most are quick to point out that their faith does not embrace the notion of suicide attacks, which have been carried out mainly by radical Islamic groups and command broad support from the Muslim population.

During a 38-day Israeli army siege of the Nativity Church last year, Islamic gunmen tried to bury a slain comrade inside the compound but priests adamantly refused, fearing the grave would eventually become a Muslim shrine, local clerics said.

Adding to uneasy relations, Palestinians say Israeli soldiers sometimes give preferential treatment to Christians at checkpoints -- an allegation the army denies.

Christians have also drawn their neighbors' envy for having the money, job qualifications or established relatives abroad to ease their escape.

With no end in sight to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the exodus is accelerating. "It's hard to continue living here with so little hope," said tour guide Rafael Shomali, 24, who expects to join family in Boston or Michigan next year.