There is a kind of acceptance among the people in the West that killing Arabs - Muslims or Christians - is a good thing for the world. Our people say this and repeat it. And I can understand, as an Arab Catholic priest, their frustration, after months of destruction and massacres by Israel. What is the world waiting for? For a holocaust against Arabs?
The Christian Palestinian population fleeing the Holy Land are saying to me: When Sharon visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Muslims from around the world stood proudly to defend their Holy Place and they were so angry that Sharon had to leave immediately in front of world wide condemnation.
But what have the Christians of the world done for the holiest place on earth, the place of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing.
Never before in the history of the Church of the Nativity has it been attacked in this way. Even when the Persians conquered Bethlehem in 622 they absolutely respected the holiness of the place, because they saw some mosaics that depict the magi coming from Persia.
In 1948, 20% of Palestinians in the Holy Land were Christian. Today, because of the Israeli occupation and its attendant violence, poverty and discrimination, that number has dwindled down to 1.8%.
The Christian Palestinian population fleeing the Holy Land are saying to me: When Sharon visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Muslims from around the world stood proudly to defend their Holy Place and they were so angry that Sharon had to leave immediately in front of world wide condemnation.
But what have the Christians of the world done for the holiest place on earth, the place of the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing.
Never before in the history of the Church of the Nativity has it been attacked in this way. Even when the Persians conquered Bethlehem in 622 they absolutely respected the holiness of the place, because they saw some mosaics that depict the magi coming from Persia.
In 1948, 20% of Palestinians in the Holy Land were Christian. Today, because of the Israeli occupation and its attendant violence, poverty and discrimination, that number has dwindled down to 1.8%.