Op-Ed: Muslims Drive out Christians from PA Territories

Arutz Sheva ^ | 18/12/11 | Manfred Gerstenfeld

[Eleutheria5]

Interview Series: International human rights lawyerJustus Reid Weiner: "They flee to almost any country that will issue them a visa."

"The disputed territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and in more recent years, in part, by Hamas. Under these regimes, the resident Christian Arabs have been victims of frequent human rights abuses including intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycott, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual harassment, and extortion.

"Muslims who have converted to Christianity are the ones in the greatest in danger. They are often left defenseless against cruelty by Muslim fundamentalists. PA and Hamas officials are directly responsible for many of the human rights violations. Christian Arabs also fall victim to the semi-anarchy that typifies PA rule."

Justus Reid Weiner is an international human rights lawyer and a member of the Israel and New York Bar Associations. His professional publications have appeared in leading law journals and intellectual magazines. Weiner lectures widely abroad and in Israel and teaches international law and business courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In Weiner's view, the crimes committed against Christian Arabs result from a way of thinking that dates back to the earliest days of Islam. "Traditionally, Christians and Jews were given an inferior social status known as dhimmitude in Islam. To this day, Muslim attitudes toward Christians and Jews are influenced by the concepts and prejudices that dhimmitude has spawned in Islamic society. The widespread persecution of Christians in various Muslim dominated lands brings many proofs of this.[1]

"Israel is the only exception in the Middle East where the Christian population since 1948 has increased. It has risen by more than 400 percent....

.....

[Eleutheria5]

"....This also includes non-Arab Christians, such as Russian Christians who have moved to Israel as spouses of Jews."

"As dhimmis, Christians living in Palestinian-controlled territories are subjected to debilitating legal, political, cultural, and religious restrictions. Muslim groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad have built a culture of hatred upon the age-old foundations of Islamic society. Moreover, the PA has adopted Islamic law into its draft constitution."

"In such an environment, Christian Arabs have found themselves victims of prejudice and hate crimes. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians have left their ancestral homes and emigrated. They flee to almost any country that will issue them a visa."

"The demographics in the Palestinian areas have changed drastically. In Bethlehem, the Christian population was an 80 percent majority in 1950. Today the population of Christian Arabs in Bethlehem is hovering at about 15 percent of the city's total population. Neither the Palestinian Christian leaders nor the PA want to reveal accurate statistics. That would mean the extent of the emigration would become publicly known. They would then have to face questions about the reasons for this decline."

.....

But in 1950, when Christians were 80%, Bethlehem was under Jordanian occupation, which means that their presently dwindling population is the result of something more pernicious than the usual Dhimmitude.

[CPOSharky]

And yet somehow the US is guilty of discriminating against resident muzzies.

[originalbuckeye]

I guess he didn’t get the ‘Christians aren’t important/are evil so we can do anything we want to them’ memo. Bad writer. /s

[PubliusMM]

In the US, and elsewhere, the existing view that islam is a religion continues to be accepted as true. In fact, Islam is a complete social structure, including economic, political, social/cultural, and religious/moral elements. It is not NOW, and has NEVER been a religion.
From its cult-like founding, to the insane rants of it false prophet, and ultimate enslavement of it’s adherents, islam has been at the heart of human misery for 1400 years. In all that time, during the respites from advancing their crazed philosophies, they’ve feasted on the blood of their own with an obvious zeal.
To base the ‘treatment’ of muslims on some erroneous notion that it is a religion is foolhardy and, ultimately, quite dangerous.
It’s time to put this crackpot philosophy back into the bottle from whence it came.

[onyx]

They wouldn’t have to drive me out. I would flee.
BTW, I understand the point of the article.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Eleutheria5.

...the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and in more recent years, in part, by Hamas. Under these regimes, the resident Christian Arabs have been victims of frequent human rights abuses including intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycott, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual harassment, and extortion... PA and Hamas officials are directly responsible for many of the human rights violations. Christian Arabs also fall victim to the semi-anarchy that typifies PA rule."

[bayouranger]

Koranimals doing what they do best.

[SJackson]

Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

[dennisw]

The reason Muslims get so crazy, fanatical and destructive is because deep inside they know Mo’ was a false prophet