Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight; and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-5

The Palestinian Christians of today are the descendants of [the] early Christians, yet this is no cause for hubris. With a humility that befits their Lord, they accept it as a privilege that carries with it a responsibility for service. Palestinian Christians of today are the present generation of that great cloud of witnesses to Jesus who came before them and who will, God willing, come after them until Christ comes again. They and their ancestors have maintained a living witness to Jesus and his Resurrection from the beginning of the Church, and they should see themselves dynamically continuing such a witness in the land, witnesses to the Resurrection.
Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek
Director, Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem

Since 1948, the living stones of the Holy Land Church-the Palestinian Christians-have dwindled so rapidly that the continued existence of the community is endangered. These Christians, many of whom trace their ancestry to the first Church, have emigrated at increasing rates from the land of Jesus' birth under the pressure of Israeli occupation. In 1940, 45,000 Christians lived in Jerusalem. Today there are less than 10,000. In all of modern Palestine at the beginning of this century, Christians composed over 20 percent of the population. Today they amount to less than two percent . The local Church leaders struggle to maintain a strong community among those that remain. Yet as the elders continue to age and the younger generations seek brighter futures overseas, many fear that the once-vibrant Church of the Holy Land will be reduced to a mere series of museums: cold stones visited only by tourists.

The Exodus
A number of factors have contributed to the mass emigration of Palestinian Christians. The war of 1948, after which Israel declared independence in most of historic Palestine, saw the flight, and in some cases, expulsion and massacre, of thousands of Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike. When Israel occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip in 1967, conditions deteriorated further. Israel has maintained military closures in the West Bank that strangled the Palestinian economy. The lack of opportunities, combined with the psychological distress of living under military occupation, has prompted many more Christians to leave their homeland.

Although emigration has increased among Palestinians in general, the Christian population has declined more rapidly than that of Muslims. Christians tend to exhibit a lower birthrate than the Palestinian population at large. Furthermore, Western missionary educational institutions have contributed to a highly educated Christian population that is well poised for a move to Europe or North America, where Palestinians can find employment in their fields and adjust relatively smoothly to life in the West.

Christian-Muslim Relations
Despite their minority status in Palestinian society, Christian Palestinians have historically maintained excellent relations with their Muslim neighbors. Christians fully identify with their Palestinian identities, and their psychological trauma at the loss of their homeland was as deep as that of all other Palestinians. Christians and Muslims have struggled together in the Palestinian nationalist movement, and these shared experiences have fomented cooperation, solidarity and unity among the two faith groups.

Isolated incidences of discrimination or tension between Christians and Muslims have occurred, but generally the press that these cases receive grossly exaggerates the actual conflicts. Many Palestinians believe that Israel has purposely exacerbated tensions between Christians and Muslims, categorizing them on a confessional basis in order to employ a "divide and conquer" strategy as occupiers and to defame the Palestinian Authority in the international arena.

Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority President, has actively condemned intolerance between Christians and Muslims under his leadership. Arafat, who is Muslim, has appointed several Christians to top positions in the Authority and his wife, Suha, is of Christian background.

Building Faith & Community: The Struggle of the Indigenous Church
Leaders of the Palestinian Christian community are striving to build an ecumenical atmosphere in the Holy Land, bridging divisions that were weakening the already-fragile community. Furthermore, they are challenged to find meaning for their suffering in the Scriptures, often having to counter the biblical claims of Christian Zionists who are willing to subjugate the interests of all Palestinians-Christian and Muslim-to the interests of the Jewish State.

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, points out that "Holy Scripture is the book about a minority. The Old Testament is the faith experience of a Jewish minority in a non-Jewish world; the New Testament is the faith testimony of small Christian communities in a pagan Roman world. Persecution is a part of the experience of minorities. Thus the Bible is also a book about persecuted people, written by persecuted people." From this foundation, Palestinian Christians can find meaning in their suffering and accept the calling to be forces of peace and reconciliation in their troubled world.

I believe that the Church in Israel-Palestine has a unique role to play: to probe in depth the meaning of justice as it can be understood both biblically and theologically. To pursue peace with justice is the Church's highest calling in Israel-Palestine today, as well as its greatest challenge.
Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek

1 Naim Ateek, Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation (New York: Orbis Books, 1989), p 113.
2 Charles M. Sennott, "Christian numbers dwindle in Israeli, Palestinian areas," The Boston Globe, January 17, 1999.
3 Mitri Raheb, I am a Palestinian Christian (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), p. 62.
4 Ateek, p. 73.