Photos by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org

In the annual Palm Sunday procession, Palestinian Christians carry signs naming their West Bank communities, all of which are cut off from Jerusalem by the Israeli separation barrier, requiring their residents to obtain special permits to enter, March 24, 2013. Such restrictions have dramatically reduced the number of Palestinians able to participate in religious traditions of any faith in Jerusalem.

Whether during Ramadan or Easter, every year, Palestinians with West Bank IDs face challenges entering Jerusalem for religious worship. Despite claims by Israeli authorities of granting more permits and relaxing restrictions, each year thousands of worshipers are denied entry.

This Easter season, early reports indicate that Palestinian Christian communities from the northern West Bank had to cancel their Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem due to a lack of permits. Parishes from the Bethlehem and Ramallah areas received between 30% and 40% of the permits they requested.

One individual from the Bethlehem area lamented that while he was granted entry, the rest of his family was turned away at the checkpoint. Such arbitrary policies are typical with Israel’s permitting system, which rarely provides a coherent rationale for who is granted and who is denied, other the than the catch-all excuse of “security reasons”.

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi was quoted as saying:

There should not even be a question of needing permits to visit one’s own city…. East Jerusalem is the occupied capital of the Palestinian people and freedom of worship is a basic human right for all of our Christian and Muslim citizens; a right which is being systematically and increasingly denied by a foreign occupying force. The fact that so many Palestinian Christian communities are denied their simple human right to worship freely in their own capital city is unacceptable.

Palestinian Christians and Muslims rightly ask why if they are granted special permission to visit Jerusalem for religious holiday seasons–and are at that time not considered a security threat–why they are not allowed to freely visit throughout the year.

The heavy Israeli military presence along the procession route contrasts with the original meaning of the holiday. Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’ “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem, marking the beginning of the Christian Holy Week. According to the Christian scriptures, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there lay down their cloaks in front of him and waved palm branches as a symbol of victory. Additional symbolism included his choice to ride on a donkey, perhaps referring to Eastern traditions that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war. A king came riding upon a horse when he was bent on war and rode upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem would thus symbolize his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.

The Gospel of Luke also contains this prescient passage of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem: “As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.’”

The procession begins at the Church of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, also known as the “Palm Sunday Church”, which is located directly next to a Palestinian home that was demolished by Israeli authorities several years ago.

Palestinian Christians carry a mock Israeli permit for entering Jerusalem. All Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are cut off from Jerusalem by the Israeli separation barrier, requiring their residents to obtain special permits to enter.

Israeli soldiers watch as Palestinian Christians in the annual Palm Sunday procession. Palm Sunday is the Christian celebration of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the “Prince of Peace” the week before his crucifixion.

Palestinian and international Christian pilgrims march past an Israeli settlement on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law.

Palestinian Christians carry a banner for the West Bank town of Birzeit with a sign attached reading “Entry Denied”. This year, residents of Birzeit and several other West Bank communities did not receive the additional permits typically issued for religious seasons in time to participate in the Palm Sunday celebration.

A Palestinian flag waves among palm branches entering the Old City of Jerusalem at the end of the Palm Sunday procession.

While Prime Minister Netanyahu is using the holiday to present his tea-party talking points against anything Muslim, it’s a good time to remember that roughly 200,000 more than 170,000 Palestinian Christians are living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, without proper political representation, freedom of travel, equality before the law, and many other civil and human rights. Unlike the Israeli prime minister, the occupation doesn’t know the difference between a Muslim and a Christian.

By Philip Farah | Originally published in the Huffington Post on May 1, 2012

In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren claimed that Christians in Israel are better off than their brethren anywhere else in the Middle East. Two Sundays ago, “60 Minutes” made clear he attempted to intimidate Bob Simon by going over Simon’s head to speak to Jeff Fager, the head of CBS News and executive producer of “60 Minutes,” to complain that Simon’s story on Christian Palestinians was “a hatchet job” against Israel. In fact, it was a hard-hitting, but honest piece in which Simon helped to expose the terrible harm the Israeli occupation — not Muslim Palestinians as the ambassador claimed — is doing to Christian Palestinians in the Holy Land.

I am a Palestinian Christian, now a U.S. citizen, and my own experience and that of my family attest to the falsity of Ambassador Oren’s assertion. I was born in East Jerusalem, Jordan in 1952, only a few years after my family and the majority of Palestinians fled from their homes when the newly established Jewish state took over three-quarters of historical Palestine. My family, like almost all the other Palestinians who fled — Christians and Muslims alike — became refugees, losing their fields, orchards, homes and practically everything else, to Israel. Israel defied the international consensus and a U.N. resolution calling on it to allow the Palestinian refugees to return.

Had Israel allowed the Palestinians to return, it would not have become a majority Jewish state. Israel’s fear of a Palestinian presence within its borders continues to drive its brutal policies of occupation, which victimize Palestinian Christians as well as Muslims. Israel occupied the rest of historical Palestine in 1967, gaining control over a large Palestinian Arab population which many Israelis view as a threat to the “Jewish character” of their country.

There is a simple test of Ambassador Oren’s claims: I say to him, “Mr. Ambassador: If your country is so good to Christians, why don’t you allow me, my family and thousands of Palestinian Christians to return to our homes in the part of Jerusalem which Israel occupied in 1967 or the western part of the city from which Palestinians were forced out in 1948? Why is it that any Jew from any country in the world can claim full rights of citizenship as soon as he or she sets foot in Jerusalem, while I, whose family roots in Jerusalem go back many centuries, am barred from living with full human rights in my hometown?”

Ask Ambassador Oren about the Palestinians who hail from the predominantly Christian villages of Iqrit and Kufr Bir’im which, like the majority of Palestinian Arab villages, were razed to the ground after 1948. Iqrit and Kufr Bir’im are only two of many such Christian villages, but well known because of the long — but unfortunately failed — campaign waged on their behalf by courageous Israeli human rights advocates.

There is no doubt that Arab Christians face problems in the Middle East. The worst examples were during the Lebanese civil war and in the aftermath of the war in Iraq, when political and economic stability collapsed. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon played a major role in destabilizing that country, and Israeli hawks cheered the loudest for the U.S. invasion which destabilized Iraq.

Palestinian Christians are, indeed, worried about the militancy of extremists who cloak themselves in distorted Islamic rhetoric. Yet, the majority of Palestinian Muslims and Christians have chosen peaceful resistance. To say that Hamas is the cause of the declining Christian population in the occupied Palestinian territories is standing the truth on its head.

Our people are fleeing their homeland because the Israelis are confiscating the land of Palestinians — Muslims and Christians alike — to build Jewish-only settlements and the Apartheid Wall which is ghettoizing many Palestinian communities. Palestinian Christians are leaving because of Israeli checkpoints and barriers that severely restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians, destroying their economy and preventing their access to their holy places in Jerusalem. They are leaving because Israel diverts Palestinian water resources in a way that gives illegal Jewish settlements the right to enjoy swimming pools while the fields of Palestinian farmers next door go fallow for lack of water.

But Palestinian Christians are speaking for themselves through the Kairos Palestine Document:

“We, a group of Christian Palestinians, after prayer, reflection and an exchange of opinion, cry out from within the suffering in our country, under the Israeli occupation. … Today, we bear the strength of love rather than that of revenge, a culture of life rather than a culture of death. … [We] endorse nonviolent resistance based on hope and love that puts an end to evil by walking in the ways of justice.”

There is no difference at all in the degree of suffering that Palestinian Christians and Muslims are experiencing under Israel’s long military occupation. To suggest that Palestinian Christians are doing well under Israeli domination couldn’t be further from the truth.

American Methodists and Presbyterians are increasingly troubled by Israel’s ongoing subjugation of Palestinians — Christians and Muslims alike. Though they have long-standing concerns for the welfare of Israelis, many Methodists and Presbyterians believe the time has come to move beyond words and into actively demonstrating to this right-wing Israeli government that they will not stand aside silently as Israel oppresses generation after generation of Palestinians.

In the days and weeks ahead, both the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) will consider resolutions to divest themselves from companies — Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard — profiting from Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian territories.

If they do so, they will be alerting the Israeli government that the occupation will no longer be tolerated as business as usual. Palestinians have the right to live free of Israeli domination. Methodists and Presbyterians alike could send a very strong message to the Israeli and American governments if they move ahead with these sensible resolutions to divest from companies that shamefully benefit from the repression of Palestinians.

Philip Farah is the co-founder of Palestinian American Christians for Peace and of the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace, www.wiamep.org. This post was originally published in the Huffington Post on May 1, 2012. 

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There have already been a number of articles written in response to CBS’s 60 Minutes report about Christians in the Holy Land. The sexy story in all this appears to be Michael Oren’s interview with Bob Simon of 60 Minutes, and the attempt by Israel, its embassy in the United States and syndicate of lobbying groups to prevent the report in some capacity from airing.

The real story told in this piece has been to some degree overshadowed by the Michael Oren story, but also lacks appeal because it does not ultimately stray too far from the accepted argument about why Palestinian Christians are leaving the Holy Land—only enough to make the Israeli government sweat and overreact in characteristic fashion.

While the report makes some good points and does counter the argument that Palestinian Christians are fleeing solely as a response to Muslim fanaticism and persecution, I still feel that the overall message of this piece is that Palestinian Christendom is being squeezed out of Palestine because of a religious conflict between Jews and Muslims—which is altogether false.

The piece does not properly identify Christians as a seamless part of the Palestinian population, which faces persecution from Israel without prejudice to religion—rather Christians are portrayed as the “collateral damage” of this inter-religious conflict between Muslims and Jews.

Contrary to this portrayal, Palestinian Christians are an integral part of the Palestinian people and have been at the forefront of the movement for national liberation. From the earliest days until now, Palestinian Christians have comprised many of Palestinian nationalism’s intellectual pioneers, advocates and political leaders—not the hapless minority caught up in a struggle in which they have no part, as this piece portrays them as being.

Taking a closer look at the meat and bones of Bob Simon’s report, we see that even though every Palestinian Christians interviewed in the piece point to Israeli occupation and not Islamic extremism as the root of the exodus, Simon still insists on drawing the conclusion that Islam is at play in the flight of Christians.

Truly there are historical tensions between religious communities in Palestine, as there are in countries throughout the world. Some of the worst of these tensions are actually between different Christian denominations inside Jerusalem. But the true culprit in this tragic phenomenon that is emptying the birthplace of Christianity from its indigenous adherents is a political battle being waged on all Palestinians alike, irrespective of religion.

Both Palestinian Muslims and Christians must go through the same arduous procedures to obtain permits to visit their holy sites in Jerusalem. Both suffer the endless growth of Jewish settlements, home evictions and demolitions, mass imprisonment, the circuitous route of the wall and the daily torment of living under occupation–not to mention the Nakba.

Yet Simon continues to frame the Christians as “squeezed between a growing Muslim majority and Israeli settlements.”

Even those elements of the occupation that put pressure on Christians to leave the country, such as the separation barrier, are portrayed as byproducts of that conflict and an outcome of Israel’s need to protect its citizens from Islamic terrorism.

Juxtaposed with Ambassador Oren’s statement that although the checkpoints are inconvenient for Palestinians, Israel needs to do what it must to survive (“it’s their inconvenience, it’s our survival”)—Simon posits the endangering of Palestinian Christian culture, the threat to which is the growing Muslim majority. “The veil is replacing the cross,” he narrates ironically as a Christian nun with a veil walks by in the following shot. In other words, while Israelis face a threat to their livelihood, Palestinian Christians face a threat to their culture brought on by the Muslim majority, as if it is Israelis that have the exponentially higher death toll as a result of this conflict and not Palestinians.

It is difficult to understand where Bob Simon gets his conclusion, given that every one he interviews except for Ari Shavit (and obviously Michael Oren), would counter this claim. Yet even Sharit’s second comment to Simon says, “Israel is not persecuting Christians as Christians. The Christians in the Holy Land suffer from Israeli policies that are a result of the overall tragic situation.”

Palestinians of all stripes face the Israeli occupation and colonial enterprise together. Some are leaving. Others remain steadfast.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

—Matthew 5:9

We are writing to you, our fellow Christians from the United States, with which the State of Israel has enjoyed a unique relationship since its founding, because we are concerned with the nature of support that many American Christians provide for Israel’s policies.

Like you, we support the right of Israel to exist and thrive, to be a democracy based on principles of justice described in the Law and the Prophets, and to live in peace with its neighbors.

Like you, we feel a deep reverence for the land in which many of the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus himself, lived and spoke.

And like you, we deeply respect the Jewish people for preserving the Hebrew Bible, for the immense suffering that they have valiantly endured, and for so many other reasons.

Unfortunately, this is not enough for many of our fellow Christians. For them, being truly “pro-Israel” seems to mean that one must never suggest that Israelis could do more than they currently do to live in peace with their closest neighbors.

We are concerned that leaders such as Mac Hammond, Gary Bauer, and John Hagee regularly criticize any suggestion that Israel’s policies could take better account of the rights of Palestinians living within the territories that Israel occupied in 1967. It disheartens us that such leaders often justify discrimination against Palestinians by painting all of them as terrorists. While violence against innocent civilians is a major concern, statistics show that the vast majority of Palestinians have nothing to do with it.

It troubles us that we cannot tell from the public rhetoric of such leaders if they really believe that Palestinians, like Israeli Jews, are human beings made in the image of God, and therefore worthy of the same fundamental rights. It concerns us that such voices regularly accuse anyone who advocates for the creation of a sovereign state of Palestine that will live in peace with Israel as being “anti-Israel”, “hostile” to Israel, or worse.

Please consider organizations such as B’Tselem, Machsom Watch, Yesh Din, and Gisha.

Each is run (primarily or fully) by Israeli Jews. It is unreasonable to accuse these organizations of being “hostile” to their own country. Each has taken painstaking care, over many years, to document and protest widespread violations of the rights of innocent Palestinians by the Israeli military and/or settlers in the West Bank and Gaza. These violations include severe restrictions on movement; systematic theft of land, water, and other resources; arbitrary detention of children; torture, and many others.

To the extent that self-critical human rights organizations like these flourish within Israel, they are one indication that Israel is a robust democracy. Along with millions of other Christians around the world, we very much want this democracy to continue to exist and to thrive.

But the fact that Israel consistently oppresses innocent Palestinians in the occupied territories can’t be ignored. There is simply too much documentation.

Part of the reason that there is so little discussion of the rights of Palestinians among American Christians seems to be that many believe that the Bible tells us to provide unwavering support for Israel’s policies, regardless of how it actually treats non-Jews. One serious problem with this view is that it ignores the fact that the government of Israel, like any other government, is composed of human beings who might be capable of making mistakes.

Another problem is that this view misrepresents the focus of the Bible. It is based on prophetic passages that are difficult, if not impossible, to interpret with precision, but it ignores straightforward passages such as the following:

For the LORD your God… shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

—Deuteronomy 10:17-19

Perhaps the biggest problem with such views, however, is that they force many American Christians to avoid showing solidarity with the Palestinian Christians living in the occupied territories.

If one listened only to American Christians, one might never realize that there has historically been a large Christian presence among Arabic-speaking Palestinians. Here are some of the basics of this history. Looking at the data, a number of facts become clear.

First, tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians still live in the West Bank. Many live in the area around Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ.

Second, like most Palestinians in the West Bank, Christians there suffer various forms of oppression from the Israeli military occupation.

Third, the number of West Bank Christians has fallen dramatically since 1967. They cite the occupation of the West Bank as largely responsible for the mass exodus of Christians from their ancestral homes.

Fourth, some of these Palestinian Christians are evangelicals, and they accept precisely the same doctrinal statements as American evangelical Christians.

Fifth, American evangelicals have, as a community, done little to advocate for the rights of Christians living in Bethlehem and the rest of the West Bank. Rather, the most visible efforts of evangelical leaders have been directed at labeling people who speak up for the rights of Christians (and other Palestinians) as “anti-Israel,” “hostile” to Israel, etc.

In this and other ways, American Christians have contributed to discrimination against tens of thousands of Christians in the Holy Land, and have contributed to the exodus of tens of thousands more Christians from their ancestral homes.

This situation is intolerable. Very soon, one of us will be traveling to Bethlehem to participate in a conference hosted by Palestinian evangelical Christians who live there. It breaks our hearts to participate knowing that our community has contributed to the suffering of our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters who live so close to Christ’s birthplace.

If we could express our hearts to you, our fellow American Christians, we would say the following: First, please stop spending so much time trying to apply with precision the imagery and symbolism of the Bible, particularly the Apocalyptic passages. It is good to support Israel’s right to flourish, but it is also good to do so without trying to help God bring about the battle of Armageddon. God does not need our help to fulfill his predictions.

Second, please pay attention to those things that God wants us to pay attention to. The prophets of old make it clear that God wants us to focus on seeking impartial justice, supporting the disadvantaged, seeking true shalom, and other such actions, which they emphasized over and over again.

Finally, when you see American Christians justifying discrimination against innocent Palestinians (Christians or otherwise), speak up. Explain to them why this is unhealthy for us, as well as for both Palestinians and Israelis. We are showing friendship to no one when we allow the oppression of the innocent to go unchallenged.

In closing, please consider again the following passages from the Biblical Prophets. They are only a small sample among many, many others that speak the same message.

And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

—Leviticus 19:33-34

For if… you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

—Jeremiah 7:5-7

Therefore, because you tread down the poor

And take grain taxes from him….

Afflicting the just and taking bribes,

Diverting the poor from justice at the gate…

Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!

For what good is the day of the LORD to you?…

But let justice run down like water,

And righteousness like a mighty stream.

—Amos 5:11-24

James-Michael (“JM”) Smith is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and author of “Cleansed and Abiding: A Proposed View of Christian Perfection.” He is the founder of Disciple Dojo (JMSmith.org), an ecumenical discipleship resource ministry.

Andrew Miller is an American Christian living in Bordeaux, France. He blogs (sometimes) at http://andrewsbethlehemblog.wordpress.com/ and elsewhere.

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Christian emigration from Palestinian cities has been a source of concern about the future presence of Christians in the Holy Land.

According to Maan News, Shtayyeh also expressed concern about land confiscation in Beit Sahour, a Christian town near Bethlehem. He sent a warning message to Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu that if he doesn’t recognize the difference between Abu Ghoneim (the site of a Jewish settlement north of Beith Sahour) and Tel Aviv, then the Palestinians will not recognize the difference between Ramallah and Jaffa.

Shtayyeh had been one of the most outspoken Palestinian leaders about the possibility of strategy shift in the Palestinian leadership’s approach to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Last November Shtayyeh warned that the Palestinian leadership is considering downgrading the Palestinian Authority if no progress is made on establishing the Palestinian state.