By now, the threat facing Christianity in its birthplace is depressingly clear. Christians represented 30 percent of British Mandate Palestine in 1948, while today in Israel and the Palestinian Territories they’re 1.25 percent. The Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, warns that the Holy Land risks becoming a “spiritual Disneyland” full of glittering rides and attractions, but empty of its indigenous Christian population.

That decline is part of a Christian exodus all across the Middle East, the reasons for which are well-known:

* Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which affects Arab Christians as much as Arab Muslims
* Lack of economic opportunity;
* Rising Islamic fundamentalism;
* Christians in the area tend to be better-educated and more affluent, and thus stand a better chance of getting out.As one observer says,in the Middle East frustrated Christians emigrate physically,while frustrated Muslims emigrate ideologically.

Yet even when the big picture is familiar, its details still pack emotional punch.
Yet awareness is the easy part. Knowing what to do is harder, because the situation is maddeningly complex.
Makhlouf, a Catholic, said that of the four problems facing Christians in the Holy Land, the first three are “occupation, occupation, occupation.”

Palestinian Christians insisted that the factors fueling their exodus; political discrimination, lack of employment, restrictions on freedom of movement ,are fundamentally the result of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Access to holy sites is one difficulty. Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have different residency cards, and movement back and forth requires a permit that’s hard to obtain. Christians in Bethlehem often cannot cross the roughly six miles to Jerusalem to worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Residency policies also divide families. Reportedly, there are some 200 Christian families split between the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The 1993 “Fundamental Agreement” between Israel and the Vatican, designed to regulate the legal status of church properties, is another frustration. The Knesset has never acknowledged the deal, and in the meantime, Israeli has declared Christian sites such as Mount Tabor and Capernaum to be national parks.
On the other hand, several speakers argued that as the lone democracy in the region, Israel gives Christians a better break than elsewhere.

Sperber said that more than 50,000 Christians have settled in Israel from the former Soviet Union, and others are arriving from the Balkans and Asia. As a result, he said, “the churches are full in Tel Aviv and Haifa” and in Jerusalem.
Sperber said there is also a “tremendous upsurge” in Christian pilgrimage so much so, he said, that his neighbors struggle to leave their houses because narrow alleyways are packed with Christian tourists.
As a result, Sperber said, there is a Christian “renaissance” in Israel.

Bernard Sabellah, a Christian academic and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, differed.

There were 35,000 Christians in Israel in 1948, he said, while today it’s 110,000. Given natural demographic increase, he said, the Christian population should be 150,000, suggesting a “missing” 40,000 Christians. Moreover, he asserted, a recent survey of young Christians in Israel found that 26 percent want to leave the same as in the Palestinian Territories.

Enthusiasm coursed through the gathering about the Arab Spring, and the vision of pluralistic, democratic societies that animates its young protagonists.

The Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani, said the Arab Spring demonstrates that “the people are demanding to be heard,” and that as Arab Christians, “we join our Arab brothers and sisters.”

Sabellah said the uprisings mean the majority of Arabs want to live “in an open, preferably secular, democratic society.” That’s especially true, he said, for Christians.
“I have no problem with Islam, but I want to be a citizen, not a tolerated minority by a gracious act of Israel, or Assad, or Abu Mazen, or the King of Jordan,” he said.

Some suggested that the right approach to aiding Christians is to focus on grass-roots initiatives, ignoring the bleak political landscape.
“We are not sitting by the wayside waiting for politicians or anyone else to create a path to peace,” Dawani said.

In the end, a both/and approach seemed to prevail small-scale initiatives as confidence-building measures, while pursuing political breakthroughs.
Sabellah stressed the importance of focusing on practical matters such as residency, housing, and freedom of movement, which could be resolved even in the absence of a comprehensive peace deal. “Lofty dialogue will get you nowhere,” he said. “Let’s not waste effort.”

By John L Allen Jr

NCR