Christians In The Middle East Suffer The Effects Of U.S. Policy In The Region

By BlackJack

I've compiled three stories of Christians in the Middle East from various news reports and blogs. I've tried to credit the reports as I could. It saddens me that we as a nation that claims to protect religious freedoms can support foreign policy that weakens the religious freedoms of others.

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Rimaz Kasabreh is a Palestinian Christian woman who lives in a suburb of Jerusalem called Beit Hanina. She and her husband, Ghassan, were in married in 1996. Ghassan, who was a lifelong resident of Jerusalem, had a "Jerusalemite" ID card as issued by the Israeli government, but Rimaz did not.

At first Rimaz was told repeatedly that her case would be considered. Then the law was changed to require that she reapply every year. Finally in June 2003, the Israeli government officially suspended issuing such permits. Rimaz was cut off from the world and she became an illegal alien in her own homeland.

In 2002 the Israeli government began construction of a separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank. Most Israelis refer to it as the "security fence," whereas most Palestinians refer to it as the "segregation wall." Whatever the name - barrier, fence, wall - it left Rimaz cut-off from her church, her job and her life.

For 11 years, in spite of her conscientious efforts to gain the necessary permits, Rimaz was denied "Jerusalemite" status and was told she could not reapply. As a result, she was unable to legally enter even East Jerusalem, which is on the Palestinian side of the internationally recognized border, but administered and controlled by Israel. The schools and hospitals that serve the greater Jerusalem Palestinian population (including Rimaz’s children) are in East Jerusalem and, therefore, were all “off limits” to her.

She was prohibited from attending her church. She was prohibited from going to work at the Christian school where she was a music teacher. She was forbidden to take her children to the doctor’s office or—in an emergency—to the hospital. She wasn't even able to do the grocery shopping for her family.

In 2007, Rimaz was granted a 12-month residency permit by the Israeli government that must be renewed this year. This is not a full reunification permit, because it must be renewed every 12 months and does not grant her any of the privileges of having a Jerusalem ID. This means that she cannot drive or obtain any of the health or pension benefits that go with the Jerusalem ID, but she is at least allowed to be in Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, Rimaz' story is not unique. According to the BBC, there are over 11.2 million Christians of all denominations in the Middle East, including between 188,000 to 286,000 in Israel and the occupied territories and an estimated 700,000 to more than 1 million in Iraq.

Perhaps the mainstream media is unaware of the number of Christians who reside in the Middle East or, perhaps, the story goes untold simply because it doesn't fit into our understanding of the region. There has been a portrayal in the media, and by our government, of a Muslim hatred of the United States and therefore Christianity by proxy. This simply does not seem to be true when you hear the voices of Christians from the traditionally Muslim regions. Palestine itself was traditionally Christian and historically they have had a good relationship with their Muslim neighbors.

"The Oriental Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Churches invited the higher Islamic council, Chief Islamic Justice Sheikh al Tamimi, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, Islamic Awqaf Adnan Hussein, Jerusalem PLC members and about 100 other dignitaries and civil society leaders both Christian and Muslim to celebrate a traditional "iftar" meal Tuesday after the Ramadan fasting day ended. The speakers called for an end to recent tensions between Muslims and Christians, with Sheikh Tamimi recalling the Covenant of Omar in the 7th century which calls for good relations between Muslims and Christians. He recalled that the majority of Christians and Muslims have lived together in peace since then." - October 2006, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

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Appearing before an Israeli judge on July 2, 2007, Mordechai Vanunu was sentenced to six more months in jail for violating a ban imposed on him in 2004 and for attempting to attend Christmas Eve mass at the Church of the Nativity, five miles away in occupied Bethlehem.

Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician, had leaked details of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently kidnapped in Rome by Israeli agents and smuggled back to Israel, where he was tried and convicted of treason. He spent 18 years in prison, including more than 11 years in solitary confinement.

Vanunu was released from prison in 2004, subject to a broad array of restrictions on his speech and movement. Since then he has been briefly arrested several times for violations of those restrictions, including giving various interviews to foreign journalists and attempting to leave Israel.

In an interview with the BBC in April of 2004 Vanunu stated "I am neither a traitor nor a spy, I only wanted the world to know what was happening... We don't need a Jewish state, there needs to be a Palestinian state. Jews can, and have lived anywhere, so a Jewish State is not necessary."

An American who had lunch in the American Colony of Jeruselem told a journalist "At the table next to us was the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem and a lot of photos were being taken of him. I wasn’t concerned about myself, but I was afraid to meet Vanunu for his sake; that he would get arrested. I told him this and he just shrugged. I do believe he was arrested on Christmas Eve just because he is a Christian."

On Feb. 5, 2008, Vanunu met with prison officials to arrange community service and learned that to his "surprise they say there is no community service in East Jerusalem. I told them the agreement for community service was on this condition that it will be only in the East Jerusalem. They say no one told them about this… I will do community service in the East Jerusalem or the appeal begins and may be the prison sentence."

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Yesterday, March 13, 2008, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul was found half-buried in an empty lot in his home city in Iraq. Archbishop Rahho had been kidnapped on February 29th by al Qaeda in Iraq, who killed his driver and two guards in the attack.

The Chaldeans belong to a branch of the Roman Catholic Church that practices an ancient Eastern rite. Most of its members are in Iraq and Syria, and they form the biggest Christian community in Iraq, although tens of thousands are reported to have fled Iraq after threats from al Qaeda.

Pope Benedict, who had made several appeals for the archbishop's freedom, called Rahho's death "an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being" in a letter to Iraqi church leaders. The Pope has repeatedly spoken of his concern about the plight of Christians in the Middle East. A number of Christian clergy have been kidnapped and killed and churches bombed in Iraq since U.S.-led forces invaded.

Some mourners blamed the invasion for triggering attacks on Christians, who make up about 3 percent of Iraq's 27 million population.

"When the coalition forces came these things started to happen. We have not had discrimination between Christians and Muslims before. There are many Muslims here. He was well known by everyone," Christian mourner Gabriel Siktor said.

A Muslim mourner echoed his comments. "We're really sorry for what's happened. The archbishop used to provide financial and other help. We are very close to Christians, they are our family and our neighbours. These problems started after the occupation," Mohammed Hammoudy said.