HolyLandJustice.org

A brief history of 50 years of Israeli occupation.

By Mary J. Pneuman / Bishop’s Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land

[Ed. note: After returning from a recent trip to the Holy Land, the author has updated her previous writings. We offer The Promised Land or the Land of Promise Revisited here in serial form.]

Mainstream Israelis now take it for granted that Israel should take over the West Bank as a legitimate claim related to their deep historical roots.

A visitor to the West Bank needs little time “on the ground” to observe the damaging effects of the 50 years of Israeli military occupation on the lives of the Palestinian people. Nowhere have these “facts” been more dramatic than in the towns and rural villages near Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus. During our stay in the spring of 2016, we saw a proliferation of new red-tiled roofs on the hills around Ramallah, and nearly every hilltop encircling the city now had trailers denoting yet another new settler “outpost.” In February 2017, Israel approved the retroactive legalization of scores of illegal Jewish outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land (The Guardian, 2.17). This law stipulates that the original landowner should be compensated either with money or alternative land — even if they do not agree to give up their property.

Over half of some hundred outposts are home to ultra-orthodox Jewish settlers who believe that the land is and has always been theirs since God gave the land of Palestine to the Israelites, and they are becoming increasingly hostile to their Palestinian neighbors, committing violent acts that are creating a strong incentive for Palestinian families to consider leaving for fear of their lives. Attacks by settlers take the form of destruction of olive groves, orchards, and vineyards, threats or physical attacks on Palestinian harvesters, damage to homes and vehicles, and hate graffiti and arson on Christian and Muslim places of worship (Americans for Peace Now, 7.17). Continue reading “Palestinians struggle to stay on their land, part 1”

By Mary J. Pneuman / Bishop’s Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land

[Ed. note: After returning from a recent trip to the Holy Land, the author has updated her previous writings. We offer The Promised Land or the Land of Promise Revisited here in serial form.]

“The future is guaranteed by reaffirming the best in our Palestinian past and present, celebrating our humanity and overcoming the prejudices that come with narrow identities that lead to violence and the exclusion of others.”
— Bernard Sabella, PhD, professor of sociology at Bethlehem University

Population statistics that are both current and reliable are hard to come by because of the shifting demographics now taking place. In his detailed status report A Place of Roots (2014), Dr. Bernard Sabella[1] states that Palestinian Christians in both Palestine and Israel numbered below 2% of the overall population. Inside the State of Israel, the number of resident Christian citizens stood at about 120,000 or about 1.4% of a total Israeli population of 8.3 million. More recent reports seem to indicate that the number of Christians in Israel is actually growing. According to Dr. Sabella, Israeli Christians comprised about 7.1% of its Arab citizenry, and together, Arab Christians and Muslims numbered about 1.7 million or roughly 20% of Israeli citizens. In Palestine, as of his report, the number of local Arabic speaking Christians stood at about 50,000 or 1.1% of a population of about 4.5 million Palestinians. The Christian population of Jerusalem had fallen from approximately 32,000 in 1945 to about 8,000 today. As of 2015, it was estimated that about 38,000 Christians live in the West Bank, centered primarily in and around Bethlehem (down from about 50,000 less than 10 years ago). The National Catholic Reporter (12.16) reported that in 1950, the Christian population of Bethlehem and surrounding villages was about 86% of the total; presently, the number stands at about 11,000 Christians, or 11.7%. Once a predominantly Christian town, Ramallah is now home to 7,000 Christians out of a population of just under 60,000. Figures from 2013 estimate 1,000–1,300 Christians in Gaza (pop. 1.7 million). Continue reading “Christians in the Holy Land today, part 2”

By Mary J. Pneuman / Bishop’s Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land

[Ed. note: After returning from a recent trip to the Holy Land, the author has updated her previous writings. We offer The Promised Land or the Land of Promise Revisited here in serial form.]

“Often permits [to travel to Jerusalem] are issued for only some members of the family — the wife, or the children. Some permits are issued for dead people . . . even if people have permits, they often cannot travel because of closures due to military restrictions or Jewish holidays, when only emergency medical vehicles are allowed through the checkpoints.”
— Yusef Daher, secretary general of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Center

All was calm in Bethlehem’s Manger Square as I stood with my husband Fred among hundreds of Palestinian Christian and Muslim families while they gathered together around a 30-foot lighted Christmas tree to sing carols and enjoy the beginning of the Advent season in 2013. Throngs would come again and again over the next four weeks to share the spirit of Christmas as they prepared to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. As visitors enjoying the festivities, we understood that many Palestinian Christians would not be allowed to come to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus at the Church of the Nativity or able to travel to Jerusalem for Good Friday or Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Jerusalem is off-limits to most West Bank Christians unless a special permit can be obtained. In fact, many of the Christian holy places, such as Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee — the locations of churches that commemorate the Annunciation, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Feeding of the 5,000 — fall inside the boundaries of the State of Israel. Tourists can come and go, but without special permits, West Bank Palestinians are not allowed to enter or travel freely inside Israel. Continue reading “Christians in the Holy Land today, part 1”