Palestine is the cradle of Christianity, and the West Bank and Jerusalem form much of the heart of the Christian Holy Land. This legacy attracted Crusaders from Europe during the Middle Ages, as they attempted to ‘free’ the area from Muslim rule. In modern times, however, Christian-Muslim tension has been overshadowed by Israeli-Palestinian tension.
The founding of Israel in 1948 displaced Palestinian Christians as well as Muslims, and to the extent that Israel has engaged in collective punishment of Palestinians in succeeding years, Christians have suffered alongside Muslims. Yet Christians have emigrated in higher numbers than their Muslim neighbours, and have had lower birth rates, leading to a drop in the Christian share of Palestine’s population over the decades – from an estimated 10 per cent in 1948 to around 1 per cent today.
Christians have been represented in Palestinian Authority governments, Christian children have separate religious classes in school, and family law for Christians is left to Christian ecclesiastical courts. However, since the launch of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, Christians have also faced some increase in religious discrimination, especially since the onset of the second intifada in 2000. Some Christians, especially land-owners in Bethlehem, reported that officials of the Palestinian Authority singled them out for extortion, or at least failed to act against criminal gangs engaged in extortion.
In addition to these problems, Christians also faced problems from Israeli authorities. According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the Israeli security wall begun in 2002 ‘made it particularly difficult for Bethlehem-area Christians to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and it made visits to Christian sites in Bethany and in Bethlehem difficult for Christians who live on the other side of the barrier, further fragmenting and dividing this small minority community.’
