- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 13,274
- Points
- 113
A recorded message was sent to this writer indicating that Islamists from Hebron attempted to burn the Christmas tree in Manger Square last night. The Palestinian Authority desperately tried to conceal this latest attack.
The relations between Christians and Muslims living under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank have deteriorated sharply since a series of recent events affected the Christmas holiday.
There is no secret that the attempt to link a musical event at the historic site of Nabi Musa, located east of Jerusalem, with Christmas (a link which proved to be false) left a feeling of resentment and bitterness among Christians living in the West Bank. This was used to foment anti-Christian feelings among Muslims living in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
However, the appearance of Sabri Saydam, Secretary of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and former Minister of Education, in a video standing inside the site a few days ago struck a chord with many Christians. Repeating comments that only Palestinian Muslims would remain in the land, while the attendees repeating “a nation whose leader Mohammed will not kneel,” drew widespread criticism on social media sites.
Mo Najjar, the coordinator of the Palestinian Youth Dialogue, wrote on his Facebook page, “Believe it or not, this statement comes from the former Minister of Education who belongs to the Fatah movement that portrays itself as the secular movement in Palestine. Still believe this joke?”
“All of them have become Islamic sheiks, glory to God. Let’s see who among them is a frequent visitor of Ramallah bars!,” wrote one commentator sarcastically.
Manar Al-Tell, a TV reporter at Ro’ya TV, put a harsh statement on her Facebook page about the former Palestinian minister. “I was stopped by a video of Professor Sabri Sidam shouting, there is only a place for the Palestinians here, there is only a place for the Muslims here. Then we congratulate the Christians on their religious feasts, and then we condemn the burning of the Christmas tree in Sakhnin. Sabri Saydam, you and every senior official whose actions reflect irresponsibility have brought us to this schizophrenia and reinforced hatred.”
“In my humble opinion, you should be held accountable, made aware of the importance of respecting the religion of others, and be held responsible for the safety of this nation. How sad it is.” She ended her post with.
Her Facebook account became inaccessible after she posted this strong statement; she lives in Ramallah. (This writer made sure in advance to capture a screenshot due to the seriousness of this post.)
Furthermore, the repeated postings online of short films by Muslim youths mocking the Christmas tree and the Church of the Nativity have become a factor in spreading hatred against Christians.
The Palestinian Authority forced their families to issue a statement against their children, claiming that one of them suffers from a mental disorder.
Christian clerics in Jerusalem secretly expressed their “displeasure” to this writer, but they refused to be named in this report.
But Father Yohanna Twal, an Orthodox monk of Jordanian origin who lives in the United States, did not hesitate to call the remarks of the senior Fatah leader a “racist and ISIS-like discourse, in which there is no difference between him and ISIS.”
He also criticized Christian clerics in the region who devote their time to politics, interfering in worldly affairs, and moving away from the teachings of Christ.
Professor Nidaa Khoury, of Ben-Gurian University in the Negev, Israel summed up the Christian situation in the Palestinian territories as thus: “I see a dark blackness. I feel sorrow, pain, and anxiety. It causes me to feel alert.”
“[Revealing] The truth is no longer sufficient. My determination is that we must increase our deep thoughts on what to do and how to get out of this obscurantism,” she added.
Not long ago, a senior Fatah member in Ramallah, accompanied by armed men, attacked a nearby Christian town, threatening to make its people pay Jizya (a tax levied on non-Muslims by an Islamic state).
Those incidents are reminiscent of what the France Press Agency reported twenty years ago about what Salim al-Zanoun, head of the Palestinian National Council, said about the Copts of Egypt and the Jews living in Jerusalem.
“The Jews will not take in Jerusalem more than what the Copts took in Egypt,” at which point many of the members present became angry, including Yasser Arafat.
Islamists in the village of Husan, a few miles west of Bethlehem, raised the banner of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam (the same banner as that of ISIS), to protest the closure of the village mosque due to the Corona epidemic. “This Islamic extremism has not been seen before as it is now, and it shows how quickly things are deteriorating,” said the principal of a Christian school not far away from the village.
Rather than encouraging Christians to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the Christian town of Beit Jala (near Bethlehem), the Palestinian Authority held the annual launch celebration of Fatah on New Year’s Eve in front of the Municipality. It is ironic that some dhimmi Christian clerics attended the ceremony, which exacerbated the feeling of alienation experienced by local Christians, as there was no New Year’s Eve celebration to attend.
The rioting that occurred on New Year’s Eve in Manger Square in Bethlehem (following a Fatah celebration) reflected probably an attempt by the Muslims to continue the Islamization of Bethlehem, and perhaps to eliminate its Christian character.
It is clear that the Palestinian Christians are living through a difficult period while facing enormous challenges.
What could they achieve, if an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state were established? Would it be like what the Copts achieved so far in Egypt, or would they face a fate comparable to that of the Jews who fled Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, leaving behind most of their properties?
