Palestinian Christians facing an existential threat

Every year, at Christmas, much of the world turns its eyes to Bethlehem and the world of two millennia ago. Images of the baby Jesus in a manger surrounded by shepherds and wise men adorn Christian churches across the world.

For the last six decades, this has been completely decontextualized from Bethlehem’s modern-day fate. Few realize the city is Palestinian, let alone illegally occupied. The media often falsely describe it as being part of Israel. By Christmas 2025, that might actually be the case, given the Israeli plans to annex the West Bank.

Scant attention is paid to the fate of Palestinians living there or in Palestine as a whole. Many just lazily think all Palestinians are Muslims.

Very few think of the Christians in Gaza. It was a small but ancient community of about 1,000 before this war. They, like all Palestinians in Gaza, have now endured almost 15 months of suffering that few can imagine, in what many consider to be a genocide. Many worship in the Church of Saint Porphyrius, one of the oldest churches in the world. For more than a year, it has served as a shelter to both Christians and Muslims.

Much of the church is now in ruins owing to an Israeli bombing on Oct. 19 last year that killed 18 people. The deliberate targeting of religious buildings is a war crime in international law. Many mosques have been bombed as well. The loss of Palestinian cultural heritage in Gaza is massive, though far from the most devastating aspect of Israel’s atrocities.

But Palestinian Christians in the West Bank have much to fear too.

Bethlehem, a city already cut off from most of its land, faces complete encirclement by illegal Israeli settlements. Israeli ministers have been accelerating settlement expansion under the cover of war.

In August, the go-ahead was given for the settlement of Nahal Heletz, next to Battir, a world heritage site to the west of Bethlehem. This new settlement in the Makhrour Valley will connect the Cremisan and Al-Walaja valleys and aims to sever the connection to the Bethlehem area. Christians own 91 percent of this valley. Once completed, Bethlehem will lose one of its last areas for agriculture

Tourism, a major source of income in Bethlehem, has ground to a halt. Previously, the city could expect 1.5 million visitors per year. Local businesses have been forced to close.

Bethlehem, a city already cut off from most of its land, faces complete encirclement by illegal Israeli settlements.

Chris Doyle

The Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, including Christians, is arguably under even greater threat. The proportion of Christians in the city’s population has dwindled from about a quarter at the start of the 20th century to less than 2 percent today.

Ever since this far-right extremist Israeli coalition government took office in December 2022, its fanatical supporters have increasingly targeted Christians in the holy city, pointing to a rise in attacks against Christians. Even priests get pushed. Some Israeli extremists have been chanting, “Death to Arabs, Death to Christians.” Many have been spat on. Graves have been desecrated.

Settler bodies have also targeted the Armenian quarter of the Old City, where a large plot of land is at risk of being seized. Armenians, who have had a presence in the Old City since at least the fourth century, have had to mount a constant watch to protect their sites.

All of this is part of a determined strategy to Judaize the entirety of the holy basin of the city. Jerusalem is known as the city of peace, but it is anything but that today. Its times of greatest strength have been when all three major monotheistic faiths have coexisted in harmony.

Palestinian Christians, like all Palestinians, deserve our solidarity at this time, when their very existence is threatened.

Chris Doyle

Palestinian Christians outside the city are cut off. Those in Bethlehem largely cannot go to Jerusalem to pray, even at Easter and Christmas. Some have never even been there. For those in Gaza, it is totally impossible right now, and even before the current war it was almost an impossibility. It is easier for me in London to get to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem than those living 10 km away.

Palestinian Christians are an integral part of Palestinian society. They, like all Palestinians, deserve our solidarity at this time, when their very existence is threatened.

What is perhaps most extraordinary is the way in which many Christian communities, not least in the US, are totally blind to their suffering and the systemic discrimination they face. Christian Zionists, who number in their millions, back the very Israeli occupation that threatens to eradicate a 2,000-year-old Christian presence in the Holy Land.

Yet, even in the ranks of other Christians, the ignorance of the plight of their Palestinian co-religionists is impressive. One could also extend that to those in Lebanon and Syria, who will be marking another tough Christmas. Perhaps, as Christians gather in churches around the world this Christmas, they might spare more than just a passing thought for those that are struggling to keep their faith going in the land where it all began.

• Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech