Palestinian Christians

"Palestinian Christians" is an oxymoron to most Westerners, for whom "Palestinian" is synonymous with "Muslim." But just as American, Canadian or British Christians are Christians who happen to be American, Canadian or British, Palestinian Christians are simply Christians who happen to be Palestinian.

Persecuted by both Jews and Muslims, Palestinian Christians have been emigrating. From 1948 to 2000, the percentage of Christians among the Palestinians in Israel, West Bank and Gaza dropped from 15% to 2%. It is even lower today, and of the Palestinian "Christians" who still remain, over half are Orthodox, most of the rest are Roman Catholic, and only a tiny minority are Bible-based.

The Bible-based Palestinian Christians in Israel share that they feel persecuted not only by Muslims and Jews but also by foreign Christians, who they say turn a blind eye to them and the persecution they face, but love the Jews. They lament that of the millions of Christians who visit Israel annually, hardly anyone reaches out to them.

Furthermore, even though the US government aid to Israel annually exceeds $3 billion, the government of Israel continues to block US and other Christian missionary and aid organizations from the West Bank and Gaza.

Why?

American and other foreign Christians tolerate Israel's oppression of the Palestinians but that could change if significant numbers of Palestinians were to be evangelized and become Christians.

It should be noted that while the Bible tells us to support God's chosen nation of Israel, Jews who deny the deity of Jesus do not share our faith and therefore are not our brothers and sisters in Christ. The true Christians among the Palestinians are and deserve our help ahead of the Jews: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10).

Bethlehem Bible College in Israel and Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary in Jordan are two of the groups in the region that are run by Bible-based Arab Christians and that need our prayers and support, for their sake, as well as ours: see Matthew 25:32-46.

"Issa," founded painted on an East Jerusalem alley (above), is "Jesus" in Arabic.

Travel Tip
"Jerusalem" in Hebrew is "Yerushalaim," which means "to see peace," and in Arabic is "Al Quds," which means "the holy."

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