Preparing for the pope: Fewer Christians in Holy Land

March 16, 2000
Web posted at: 6:12 a.m. EST (1112 GMT)

In this story: What peace may bring Facing the challenge The exodus reviewed Role of the church RELATED STORIES, SITES

TAYBEH, West Bank -- Like other towns and villages readying for Pope John Paul II's historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land next week, this West Bank village holds special meaning for the papal entourage and for Christianity, in its own birthplace.

The Holy Land, where the footsteps of Jesus have been traced through the centuries, is quickly becoming a land where Christians are fewer and farther between.

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Taybeh today stands as one of the last strongholds of Christianity, having declined in number from 8,000 in 1948 to a mere 1,500 today.

The Christian population of the village, its skyline punctuated by three church tops, has fallen prey over the years to emigration, fueled by regional conflict or the search for a better life.

So when the pope arrives next week, he will find a shrinking community of believers struggling to maintain a Christian life.

"Our main fear is that the Christian holy places will become museums," said Wadi' Abu Nassar, executive director of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land.

Church leaders fear their flock will all but disappear by the next century unless action is taken to halt the exodus.

"The pope is coming to support the local Christians," said Abu Nasser. "Of course, in his own words he will tell them 'Please stay in the Holy Land'."

What peace may bring

It is in Taybeh that Pope John Paul and other Christians may find a glimmer of hope that the exodus can be stemmed.

That glimmer of hope is illustrated in Nadim Khoury, one of few Christians who left success in the United States to return to his roots after the 1993 Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Here, Khoury owns a successful brewery that produces the only Palestinian beer, which is catching on and now sells in the West Bank as well as Israel and even some Arab and European states. But his return to Taybeh is not just about beer, or even business.

"My kids were born in Boston in America but I returned and want them to say they are Palestinians and not Americans, and be proud of it," said 42-year-old Khoury.

"I believe when the peace process moves forward and we have real peace, people will start coming back."

Facing the challenge

In the meantime, the papal entourage will face the challenge of encouraging the faithful in an increasingly discouraging environment, on virtually every step of its way through the Holy Land.

Overall, Christians now make up a tiny minority of only 2 percent of the more than nine million inhabitants of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from around 10 percent of the population before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Israel's overwhelming majority is Jewish. Islam is the dominant religion among Palestinians.

"The Christians have an inner feeling they are an oppressed minority. When they go to the United States where everyone else is Christian, they don't feel threatened, and integrate easily," said Fouad Taye', the mayor of Taybeh.

Still, Taye's village remains an exception. Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem in the West Bank and Nazareth, Israel's biggest Arab city, have majority Muslim populations. Jews and Muslims are the clear majorities in Jerusalem, where the Christian population stood at 25 percent in 1922, shrank to 13 percent after 1948 and is now just 1.2 percent.

The exodus reviewed

Christian Arabs, often the educated, wealthier class in Palestinian society, began emigrating in the 1920s, when they left British Mandate Palestine in search of a better life. Some went to Europe but the bulk moved on to the United States and Latin America.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict that involved the dispersion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, about 60 percent of the Christian population fled.

Prompting further waves was the 1967 Middle East war, when Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza, and the Palestinian intifada or uprising against Israeli military occupation that ended with the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords.

Emergence of the militant Islamic movement Hamas during the uprising, lack of economic opportunity and disillusion with self-rule under Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's PLO-led authority since Oslo have also taken a toll.

"Some (Christians) naively said Hamas started with killing the Jews, so our turn will come next," Abu Nassar said. Archbishop Lutfi Lahham, head of the Greek Catholic Church in the Holy Land, said racism or religious intolerance were not the primary reasons for the Christians' relocation.

"The main reason is political and economic instability. Therefore, achieving peace, stability, security, and creating jobs can stop this emigration," Lahham said. He said Christians in Israel had not emigrated to the same extent as those from Palestinian areas in recent years, largely because of better economic and social conditions.

Role of the church

Palestinian Christians complain that the churches have done little if anything to entice them to stay. However, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, said the Church had started a number of housing projects for young people and was trying to create jobs for them to convince them to remain.

Abu Nassar said Arafat, whose wife Suha is Christian-born, had good relations with the Christians in areas under his control and tried to protect their interests.

"In Israel, Christians suffer like the rest of the Arabs suffer from inequality. Israel looks at the Christian minority as small and divided, and we have the feeling Israel treats them with lack of respect," Abu Nassar said.

Last year, Israel angered the Vatican by approving plans by the Islamic Movement to build a mosque in Nazareth near the Basilica of the Annunciation, one of Christianity's holiest shrines.

Churches of all denominations were closed for two days in protest and the Vatican accused Israel of stoking religious and the Vatican accused Israel of stoking religious tension. The furor has since subsided, with the mosque not scheduled for construction until after the Pope visits Nazareth on March 25.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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