Palestinians not wanting to leave
Reader comment on item: Palestinians Who Cling to Israel

Submitted by Fehr, Bettina (United States), Jul 7, 2005 at 18:25

Dear Dr.Pipes.

thank you for your interesting article above. I am curious how many of the Palestinians who want to live in Israel and "panic" when being assigned to the PA territories, are actually Christian Arabs? I am aware that Christian Arabs in Palestine are getting increasingly suppressed and dwindling in numbers. Historically Christian majority cities like Behlehem and Nazareth are being acitvely islamized, i.e Christians have become the minority within the past 10-50 years. I read that currently the only growing Arab Christian community in the Middle East in fact is in Israel. So it is all the more deplorable that some Christian groups even in the West are so anti-Israel. If Christian "dhimmis", under Islamic oppression and indoctrination with current Middle Eastern Antisemitism are "anti- Israel", it can be somehow forgiven (since they could risk their safety and lives if they would openly speak up), but Christians living in the safety of Western countries should live up to higher standards. Throughout the Middle East Christians are dwindling, as Jews have almost become extinct in the past 100 years.

It is unfortunate that Christian communities in the West are not more aware of these facts.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

The number of Christians left among the Palestinians is tiny. (See my article at http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1050.)

And the names of the people I quote in nearly all cases suggest the speakers are Muslim

DP