 Independent scholar says Palestine's Christians under siege by radical Islamists By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, January 20, 2006 Christians who live in the Palestinian sectors of the Mideast outside the boundaries of the State of Israel are leaving the region in droves or, if remaining, risking their lives daily because the Palestinian Authority refuses to protect them, a Mideast scholar says.
Weiner is the author of Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society, a monograph published by the center. It adds detail and historical significance to some of his comments to Christianity Today. But in his interview, Weiner freshens the picture by focusing on the increasing danger for Palestinian Christians since Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza and the West Bank. Without the protection of Israelis, Arab Christians are no longer immune to Muslim radicals, whom the Palestinian Authority either actively supports or refuses to listen to their cries for help, Weiner says. Weiner does not paint a picture that resembles the position of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The 216th General Assembly adopted a one-sided resolution that calls for Israel to remove its wall separating Israel from Palestinian settlements and for the denomination to begin selling off its holdings in corporations that do business with Israel. While criticizing Islamic terrorists, the denomination placed the greater blame on Israel's defensive strategies. Three groups from the Presbyterian Church (USA) have met with terrorist leaders in Syria and expressed their appreciation for the Muslim leadership. But Weiner, both in his interview with Christianity Today and his monograph, says many Christians do not trust their own leaders, who helped arrange those visits, and that terrorist groups are deceptive in welcoming them. Many of the church leaders in the Palestinian areas are not trusted, are "even hated by their flocks," he said. Educated in Presbyterian and other Christian seminaries in Palestine, the church leaders grew up with a "different sense of their role," he said. "They were much less independent from threats and incentives." Weiner told the magazine that church members may trust their leaders for liturgy, baptisms and other Christian functions, but that "they don't like their communal leaders living so well while they're living hand to mouth. And they also don't like their leaders 'pimping for Arafat.' Arafat would snap his fingers, and the whole spectrum of Christian leaders would meet him for some festive meal celebrating this or that Christian event or holiday. And then they would give a media appearance with Arafat smiling over their shoulders." One of the key influences of Presbyterian policy in the Mideast has been the Sabeel Ecumenical Institute, a liberation theology center based in Jerusalem. Naim Ateek, director of the center, has been a major influence behind the denomination's divestment strategy. Ateek is a Palestinian and an Anglican priest who lionized Arafat in a eulogy following his death. The PCUSA lists Sabeel as one of its ecumenical partners and gives it a substantial voice on the PCUSA Web site. Among other things, it has made available a Sabeel-produced church bulletin insert and sent delegations, including young people, to Sabeel seminars. Weiner told the evangelical magazine that the Palestinian Authority "would like to continue to put forward the image that they are protecting Palestinian Christians, but during periods when they've controlled Bethlehem, Ramallah, and elsewhere, the Christians have left in unprecedented numbers. To the Christians leaders, many of whom haven't been terribly loyal to their flocks, there's a similar reason why this is not discussed. Intimidation is part of it. People who live in chaos, who never know who's going to be behind the next knock on the door, tend to hunker down. The Christian leaders would be putting themselves in danger if the wider world knew how few of them there were left." Weiner says there is no official estimate of the number of Christians fleeing the Palestinian areas since Israel withdrew its occupation forces. But he cited as an example the city of Taibe on the West Bank. "It's an entirely Christian town," he told Christianity Today. "Apparently there was some kind of romantic relationship between a Christian man and his secretary, who was a Muslim woman from a nearby village. When word got out in her village that she was seeing this guy, she was forced to drink poison. And the following day, men from the village went on a rampage in Taibe, beating people, burning some houses and cars, and raping a local woman. They didn't catch the guy who was in the relationship. He had apparently left town. But they messed Taibe up pretty good. About 1,500 Christians fled." Weiner blames Islamic fundamentalism for some of the problems. "The environment is such that if a Christian walks down main street in Bethlehem munching on a sandwich during the month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from dawn until dusk, he'll likely be berated, possibly beaten," Weiner told Christianity Today. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if he were arrested and thrown in jail for a couple of days." Weiner, a lawyer trained at the University of California at Berkley School of Law, is an adjunct lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of a legal and political analysis titled Teach Them to Hate, which describes the use of Palestinian children, often resulting in their deaths, to attack Israeli soldiers in an attempt to sway public attitude in favor of the Palestinian leaders. "The presence of rioting Palestinian children is not accidental," Weiner says. "The Palestinian Authority (PA) has intentionally mobilized Palestinian children to man the front line in its struggle against Israel, frequently using them as shields to protect Palestinian gunmen. This mobilization of Palestinian youth has, moreover, been facilitated by the long-term impact of PA curricula, government-controlled media, and summer camp programs, which indoctrinated the youth for armed confrontation with Israel even prior to the current crisis." "[T]he Palestinian leadership, in a classic case of bad faith, accuses Israel of committing human rights violations for the fatalities, while evading its own responsibility for the orchestrated appearance of children in the front lines of the conflict," Weiner argues. "This constitutes a cynical exploitation of human rights concerns." |
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