MUSLIMS DRIVING CHRISTIANS OUT OF P.A.

O, Muslim Town of Bethlehem - Elizabeth Day
Life for Palestinian Christians has become increasingly difficult in Bethlehem - and many of them are leaving. The town's Christian population has dwindled from more than 85% in 1948 to 12% in 2006. There are reports of religious persecution in the form of murders, beatings, and land grabs. The sense of a creeping Islamic fundamentalism is all around in Bethlehem. Samir Qumsieh, general manager of Nativity, the only Christian television station in Bethlehem, has had death threats and visits from armed men demanding his land. "As Christians, we have no future here," he says. "We are melting away. Next summer I will leave this country to go to the States....I would rather have a beautiful dream in my head about what my home is like, not the nightmare of the reality." (Daily Mail-UK)

See also Christians Flee Growing Islamic Fundamentalism in the Holy Land - Justus Reid Weiner
The Christian population of the areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority has sharply declined in recent decades, as tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to live abroad. Those who remain comprise a beleaguered and dwindling minority. In sharp contrast, Israel's Christian community has prospered and grown by at least 270 percent since the founding of the state.

While Israel understands that the construction of the security barrier inconveniences some of the Christian communities living in its vicinity, Israel has shown sensitivity to Christian interests in planning the route of the barrier. The plight of Christian Arabs remaining in the PA is, in part, attributable to the adoption of Muslim religious law in the PA Constitution. Israel, by contrast, safeguards the religious freedom and holy places of its Christian (and Muslim) citizens. (Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

See also Bethlehem's Christians Are Voting with Their Feet - Tim Butcher (Telegraph-UK)

See also Sectarian Violence Accelerates Exodus of Bethlehem's Christians - Joel Greenberg (Chicago Tribune)