Dear Grthumongous,
More than 90% of the Palestinian population is Sunni-Muslim.
Therefore, the analogue to the Northern Ireland sectarian conflict is
less relevant here: the Christians consist of the small, sometimes
oppressed, minority.
They belong to several Christian denominations:
Greek Orthodox---- 25,835------------ 52.0%
Latins------------------- 15,168------------ 30.5%
Greek Catholics---- 2848--------------- 5.7%
Protestants---------- 2443---------------- 4.9%
Syriacs--------------- 1498----------------- 3.0%
Armenians---------- 1500----------------- 3.0%
Copts----------------- 250------------------- 0.5%
Ethiopians---------- 60--------------------- 0.1%
Maronites----------- 100-------------------- 0.2%
Palestinian Christians have deep roots in the land. The great
majority, estimated at 400,000 worldwide or roughly 6.5 percent of all
Palestinians, are of indigenous stock, whose mother tongue is Arabic
and whose history takes them back, or at least some of them, to the
early church. At present, the 50,000 Christians in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip make up only 2.2 percent of the total population estimated
in the mid-nineties at 2,238,0001. Palestinian Arab Christians in
Israel were estimated, for the same year, at 125,000 or 14 percent of
all Arabs in Israel'. Christians in Palestine and Israel make up
175,000 or 2.3 percent of the entire Arab and Jewish population of the
Holy Land.
(SOURCE: Bernard Sabella, ?PALESTINIAN CHRISTLANS: CHALLENGES AND
HOPES?, http://www.al-bushra.org/holyland/sabella.htm)
Aside from the Christians, there?s also a small Samaritan community
next to Nablus. These two groups receive special seats in the
Palestinian parliament, so it is rather easy to see what their
political declinations (1996 results) are:
Jerusalem ? 2 Christian seats ? 1 Independent and 1 Fatah
Bethlehem ? 2 Christian seats ? 2 independent
Ramallah ? 1 Christian seat ? Fatah
Ghaza City ? 1 Christian seat ? Fatah
The Samaritan candidate was also an independent one.
(SOURCE: Central Election Commission < http://www.elections.ps/>).
The general percentage also favoured independent candidates (57.51% of
the votes and 39.7% of the seats) and after that, Fatah (30.90% of the
votes and 56.8% of the seats ? no it?s not a mistake, that?s
Palestinian democracy for you?).
To understand the difficult position of the Christians in Palestine
today, you can read the Jerusalem Summit site:
Bethlehem Christians under Palestinian Authority
< http://www.jerusalemsummit.org/eng/bethlehem.php> . Of that, the
most relevant point for us is ?28% of Palestinian Muslims support
Arafat's Fatah, 21% support Hamas , and the total Islamist vote at
29%, with 0% Christian support?. Christians are hardly likely to
support Islamist parties, while one in every Muslim Palestinians is.
Naturally, Hamas leadership claims otherwise: Ahmed Yousef (2002) ?THE
NATURE OF HAMAS RESISTANCE: MISPERCEPTIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS?, World
Affairs Monthly, < http://www.worldaffairsmonthly.com/guestwriters.php?archive=1020574800&articleId=33>.
As I said before, the Christians are between the rock and the hard
place in Palestine. ?Christian Arabs have literally fled the area with
only small remnants still staying. Beth Lehem is a good example of
turning from an 80% Christian majority to an 80% Muslim majority in a
period of 50 years ("Mideast: Christian-free zone?" Joseph Farah,
WorldNetDaily.com, December 30, 2003, <
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36367>).?
I hope this helps to clear up the situation. Please contact me if you
need any clarification on this answer before you rate it. |
