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The number of Christians in the Palestinian Territories where Christ was born has halved since 2000, dropping from 2 per cent of the population to 1 per cent — a “social disaster” in the opinion of a researcher.
And in Jerusalem there were 27,000 Christians in 1948, but today there are only 5000, according to Professor Hanna Issa, professor of international law and secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Committee for the Protection of Jerusalem and the Holy Places.
The drastic decrease of the percentage of the Christian presence in the Holy Land is due to emigration and to the population growth rates of Christians being much lower than those recorded in the Muslim majority component of the Palestinian population, Professor Issa told the Fides news service.
According to Father Manuel Musallam, a longtime parish priest in Gaza and now with the foreign relations department of the Fatah political party, where he is in charge of relations with the Christian communities, serious action is needed to deal with the political, economic and social factors that encourage the flight of Christians from the Holy Land.
Christians emigrate to seek new prospects for work and study, and to raise a family, Father Musallam said.
“From Gaza and other areas,” he says, “people go away for lack of minimum requirements to guarantee a dignified existence.”
In Jerusalem, many were persuaded to sell their homes because they received high offers that were enough to ensure the transfer of the whole family to some Western country, where they would have a higher standard of living.
Father Musallam called on the Palestinian Authority to put in place measures to support a permanent Christian presence in the Holy Land.
He said Christians need protection of the right to education for students, access to the labour market and the possibility of establishing a home for new families.
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Image: Seetheholyland
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