Christian population of Jerusalem decreasing under Israeli scheme

Bishop Attallah Hanna: Christian population of Jerusalem decreasing under Israeli scheme

Jerusalem / PNN – Palestinians of both the Christian and Islamic faiths face routine attack in Jerusalem under expanding Judaization as reported by residents and groups such as the Al Aqsa Foundation and the Islamic – Christian Front for the Defense of Jerusalem. Although the colonization is political, Israeli actions are often pointed toward religion in order to color public perception into believing it is a "religious conflict." Palestinian official Hatem Abdel Kader said yesterday, “Israel wants to shift issue of Jerusalem from the political to a religious conflict.” The land grab is notable to the naked eye with this month olive fields being turned under for settlement expansion. Hundreds of Palestinians are losing their Jerusalem identification cards and are thereby being forced out of the city. Settlers are walking in the streets of East Jerusalem near the Old City and a synagogue opened this week next to Al Asqa Mosque. The examples are as ample as they are disturbing to any interested party as religion comes to the front in another way. The Jordanian government called this week for aid in saving Al Aqsa Mosque from Israeli threats. What concerns Bishop Attallah Hanna at the moment is the shrinking number of Christian residents of the city. The population is down to 10,000 after being 40,000 in 1967 at the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Bishop told the Sixth International Jerusalem Conference this week in Doha, Qatar, “The decrease is a dangerous phenomenon that must be addressed.” Some 46 countries are represented at the major conference attending by political and legal forces, and members of the foreign and Arab press. A Keynote speaker, Hanna attributed this decline to the “dangerous Israeli practices against the holy city and its inhabitants, where” he said, “Israel seeks to empty the city of its Palestinian inhabitants, whether Christians or Muslims.” The Christian and Muslim character of East Jersualem's Old City is being chipped away and replaced by Jewish settlers, Israeli flags and synagogues. The Bishop told the Gulf conference that the Israeli administration is “putting Jews in their places, in their houses, or taking them down and putting up others on the spot. This is already the case with hundreds of thousands of settlers coming from all corners of the earth to live here and set up Jewish settlements of housing and infrastructure. They pressure and assault the Palestinian population, establish checkpoints and limit movement, prevent Palestinians from construction and prosperity, and are forcing more to leave the city.” “Christians have emigrated from Jerusalem to the West Bank, other Arab countries and overseas in an ongoing relocation scheme,” the Bishop told the conference, “to make a purely Jewish Jerusalem. Israel also continues the planned displacement of Arabs from Israel and the full conversion to a Jewish state. We must use our energies to protect sacred Jerusalem.” The prestigious Sunni Muslim scholar and scientist, Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi commented, “What I have just heard from Bishop Atallah Hanna on the decreasing presence of Christians in Jerusalem is a very dangerous matter with an unpredictable stopping point. The threat to Christians is a threat to Muslims and if this decline continues Israel will succeed in turning the city into a Jewish city. We must support our people in Jerusalem politically, morally and religiously with vital projects in housing, health, education and economy. The protection is needed for all Arabs, Islamic and Christian alike.”