Palestinian Christians

An April 9 article in the NYT caught my attention: “Why Palestinian Christians Feel Betrayed by American Christians” by Nicholas Kristof. For this article Kristof interviewed a community of Christians at Bethlehem which is in the West Bank a few km south of Jerusalem.

The strongest supporters of Israel’s war on Gaza are not the Jewish community but the American Evangelical Christians. They believe from Biblical end-time prophecy that Israel’s destiny is to control all of “The Holy Land”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recognizes this too, once saying “we have no greater friends than Christian supporters of Israel”.

Nicholas Kristof wondered what Palestinian Christians thought about this so he visited a community of them in Bethlehem to find out. Christians in the West Bank make up a small minority of fewer than 2%.

Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian Christian writer, said that far-right American Christians embarrass the Christians who actually live in the Holy Land. “When the Bible is used to justify land theft and war crimes against civilians, it puts the faithful in an awkward position” he said.

One Christian community, Tent of Nations, promotes nonviolence. They hold youth camps on their property and promote peace towards all people. That peace has not been reciprocated – they have been subject to the same treatment as their Muslim neighbors. They have been assaulted by settlers, had their olive trees destroyed, been denied running water and electricity, and are forbidden to build new structures on their property. Some have had buildings demolished and been driven off their land by settler attacks.

Travel is restricted with frequent Israeli checkpoints throughout the West Bank. Daoud Nassar, one of the Tent of Nations family, noted that it is easier for American Christians to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (where Jesus is believed to have been crucified) than it is for West Bank Christians to get permission to do so.

Christians from other countries (like 92 year old Dutch woman Riet Bons-Storm) frequently volunteer at Tent of Nations partly to protect the residents and property because, as they explain, it would look bad if settlers or soldiers killed them.

American (and Canadian) Christians denounce persecution of Christians around the world but in Palestine they unwittingly (or indifferently) promote it. Nassar wishes more American Christians would visit them so they could see for themselves what is happening. He added “we are also people”.

Source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/opinion/palestinian-christian-us-evangelicals-gaza.html

In the comments section two readers pointed out that the reason that the Christian population in Palestine is so small is because of years of persecution by fanatical Muslims. They also pointed out that Israel is the only country in the middle East where the Christian population is growing. My response is that it is the religious fanatics of all faiths – Judaism, Islam and Christianity – that are the problem.