Palestinian Christians

Palestinian Christians

About 200,000 Palestinian Christians currently reside in the Holy Land, descendants of some of the oldest Christian communities in the world. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Christianity's most holy site, as well as the Via Dolorosa, the route Christ is believed to have walked to his crucifixion, are located within Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel forbids Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza to enter Jerusalem without permits, which are extremely difficult to obtain. Christian Palestinians who are citizens of Israel also suffer from widespread discrimination.

I’m a N.J. Muslim: How I Celebrate Jesus’ Birth With My Family Op-Eds & Analysis
Abed Awad, Star-Ledger

I’m a N.J. Muslim: How I Celebrate Jesus’ Birth With My Family

Jesus has been a key moral figure in my religious upbringing. I was born in New Jersey but my parents relocated to Palestine when I was in second grade. In Palestine, I attended the Quaker Friends Boys School. Yes, there are many Palestinian Christians, including Quakers. We learned about Liberation Theology...

on December 24, 2016
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Stop US Aid to Israel If Settlements Allowed to Stay News Roundup
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Stop US Aid to Israel If Settlements Allowed to Stay

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approved a resolution calling on the U.S. government to end all aid to Israel if Israel does not stop building settlements and “enable an independent Palestinian state.” Voting at its triennial assembly in New Orleans that ended Saturday, the church also sought a halt to all investment in companies that profit from Israel’s...

on August 15, 2016
After 15 Years in Gaza, Nativity Church Deportees Ask to Return to Bethlehem News Roundup
Ma'an News Agency

After 15 Years in Gaza, Nativity Church Deportees Ask to Return to Bethlehem

A group of Palestinians deported to the Gaza Strip following the 2002 siege on the Nativity Church in Bethlehem rallied outside UN offices on Tuesday, commemorating their 15th year in exile as they urged the international organization to help them return to their homes in Bethlehem.

on May 10, 2016
Open Letter from a Palestinian Christian to the United Methodist Church Op-Eds & Analysis
Philip Farah, The Huffington Post

Open Letter from a Palestinian Christian to the United Methodist Church

As an American of Palestinian Christian origin, I urge the United Methodist Church to heed the Palestinian Christian Kairos call for divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. The Kairos call is certainly one of defiance, but it is also, in its own words, truly a message of “faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” It is based on a simple premise: Righteous people ought not to profit from unjust practices inflicted upon their fellow human beings.

on May 9, 2016
Orthodox Christian Palestinians Mark Holy Saturday News Roundup
Ma'an News Agency

Orthodox Christian Palestinians Mark Holy Saturday

Orthodox Christian Palestinians marked Holy Saturday across the occupied Palestinian territory on Saturday, with thousands of pilgrims attending the "Holy Fire" ceremony in East Jerusalem's Old City on the eve of Orthodox Easter. The ceremony, celebrated by Palestinian Christians across the Holy Land, takes place each year on "Holy Saturday," or "Saturday of Light" in Arabic...

on April 30, 2016
Christians in Palestine: Life Defined by Borders, Walls and Expropriation News Roundup
Victor Gaetan, National Catholic Register

Christians in Palestine: Life Defined by Borders, Walls and Expropriation

Good news for Christians in the Holy Land generally comes with a subtext of anguish. The only Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip — a 26-mile-long slice of territory on the Mediterranean squeezed between Israel and Egypt — managed to get permits for 857 Christians to travel to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. That’s about 66% of Gaza’s entire Christian population of 1,300, which includes some 130 Catholics.

on April 6, 2016
Extremists Vandalize Jerusalem Church With Hebrew Threats: ‘Death to Heathen Christians’ News Roundup
Allison Deger, Mondoweiss

Extremists Vandalize Jerusalem Church With Hebrew Threats: ‘Death to Heathen Christians’

For the second time in a year, Israeli vandals targeted a Christian church in Jerusalem Sunday with extremist anti-Christian graffiti. Assailants tagged the religious site with threats in Hebrew: “Death to the heathen Christians, “the enemies of Israel”, “Let his [Jesus’] name and memory be obliterated” and “Christians to Hell.”

on January 18, 2016
Palestine: 2015 in Review Fact Sheets
IMEU

Palestine: 2015 in Review

Over the course of 2015, Israeli soldiers and police continued to use excessive, deadly force against unarmed Palestinians demonstrating against Israel's repressive, nearly 50-year-old occupation regime, as well as Palestinians accused of attacking Israelis. Live ammunition and massive amounts of tear gas were widely used against unarmed Palestinian protesters, injuring thousands.

on January 14, 2016
“Christmas Has No Place in the Holy Land”: Far-right Israeli Leader Wants to Expel Christians… News Roundup
Ben Norton, Salon

“Christmas Has No Place in the Holy Land”: Far-right Israeli Leader Wants to Expel Christians…

“Christmas has no place in the Holy Land,” insists Benzion Gopstein, the leader of a far-right Israeli group that has indirectly received support from the government. According to Gopstein, Christians are “vampires and blood suckers” that must be expelled from Israel, the U.S.’ closest ally. “Let us remove the vampires before they once again drink our blood,” he wrote in a recent article on an ultra-Orthodox website.

on December 26, 2015