Posted on 12/26/2004 3:49:18 AM PST by miltonim
New York Times Omits Major Reason Christians are Leaving Bethlehem |
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A New York Times report on the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem and other historically Christian towns in the West Bank (, Dec 23) omitted a major reason for this demographic change - official and unofficial Muslim discrimination against Arab Christians, amid a rising tide of Islamism in the Palestinian territories. The Times cited instead:
While there’s no doubt that these are contributing factors, they are unlikely to be the major reason for the Christian exodus, which is clear if one stops to think that the Christian population is also dwindling in the rest of the Arab world. Obviously this pan-Arab phenomena has nothing to do with Israel, and everything to do with the fact that Arab Christians are made to feel unwelcome, or worse, in the Muslim countries of the Middle East. It should also be mentioned that in contrast to the Muslim countries, and in recent years has been growing at the same rate as Israel’s Jewish population. For example, in the period 1995 - 2003 Israel’s Arab Christian population grew from 101,400 to 115,700, a growth rate of 14.1 percent. To put this in perspective, the in that period grew by just 11.8 percent. Clearly, Palestinian Christians are not nearly so lucky as their Israeli counterparts. They, as the Times writes, do tend to be wealthier and better educated than their Muslim neighbors, but they have been victimized both by the Muslim-dominated Palestinian Authority, and by criminal Muslim gangs that are under the protection of the Palestinian Authority. For example, according to a , the Palestinian Authority cooperated in the theft, by a Muslim family from Hebron, of land and an office building belonging to the Christian Comtsieh family of Bethlehem:
Beyond theft, there is also a great deal of violence by Muslims against Christians, as has been reported, for example, by the Boston Globe:
For further details on the discrimination against Palestinian Christians by the Palestinian Authority, and by criminal gangs under the sanction of the PA, and the resulting exodus of the Christian population, see the JCPA report . In fairness to the Times, in addition to these serious lapses in the article there were also praiseworthy elements. For example, in pointing to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war as leading to an influx of Muslim refugees into Bethlehem, the article states clearly that the war was started by Arab states:
Many other reports from the region have described the 1948 war as having “broken out” without accurately describing who started it and why. That said, it was a major error by the Times, in an otherwise informative article, to completely omit a central factor in the Christian exodus from majority Muslim countries and regions - Muslim intimidation and violence.
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A basic principle of muslim majorities everywhere is to demean and discourage Christianity. Read "Dhimmitude" by Bat Yeor.
The NY Time's "job" isn't to report facts, but to fill space in its paper that will make it attractive to its advertisers.
If the Times was to report those facts which disturb the sensibilities of muslims in the middle-east their middle-eastern offices would be closed, their reporters jailed or killed, and muslims in this country would complain of religious bias.
All of this would cause controversy that would lead back to those who advertise in the Times, and that would impact the bottom line of the Times. Why would the NY Times risk its profits by angering muslims when Christians are so passive and cause no problems?
Is that what it is??? I thought they were all bleeding heart liberals!
This lawless behavior/violence is a taste of everyday life in a Palestinian state. Massive incompetence and fraud, rampant racism. Nothing will work, be built properly, run right, and this will all be laid at America's door. We will be tarred and feathered by our own MSM, plus AlJazeera and pals. We'll pay for this fiasco not once, but for years and years.
There, in a paragraph, you have it.
I saw someone's tagline that said, "All I ever needed to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11."
Everything I ever needed to know about the Palestinian militants was when I saw a report of three Israeli soldiers who accidentally took a wrong turn in Jerusalem were caught and taken to a Palestinian jail, then killed by Pally civilians with their bare hands. A clip of a young teenaged boy leaning out of a second-story window to show his blood-soaked hands to his cheering fellow animals has to be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.
I noticed that in its account of Christmas in Bethlehem Sky News did the same thing.
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