In less than a week, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated drastically and violently: it left at least 127 dead and hundreds of wounded by attacks from both sides.
It is the most serious situation experienced in five years. and the United Nations Organization fears for a “large-scale war.”
And in the midst of this crisis, a minority observes how a conflict – which has been going on for almost 70 unresolved years- endangers their very existence: Christians residing in the Palestinian territories.
Millennial inhabitants of this region, Palestinian Christians, who represent 1% of the population, indicate that for many the only option is to migrate. Abandon your nation.
“We are not only Christians. We are above all Arabs, Palestinians. And everything that happens here affects us directly “, Bandak Saleh, an Orthodox Christian living in Bethlehem, in the West Bank, tells BBC Mundo.
“If the conflict is not resolved, there will be no Christians left in the land where Christ was born,” he points out.
The majority of Christians living in Jerusalem They are Palestinians.
At BBC Mundo we consulted several leaders and members of Christian churches residing in the Palestinian territories to find out how they see this crisis , the scale of violence and its future within the region.
1. “An ‘extremist ideology’ bleeds the Holy City”
Currently, the Christian population in the Palestinian territories is about 50. 13 people (barely 1%), distributed in the cities of Bethlehem , Ramallah and Jerusalem. In addition to those residing in the Gaza Strip.
Of all of them, the 48% belong to the Greek Orthodox Church , a 38% to the Catholic Church and the rest to Protestant, Presbyterian and Orthodox churches of other rites (Syrian and Armenian).
In these cities are some of the central pilgrimage centers for their religious beliefs: the places where Jesus was born, preached and died , according to the biblical account and tradition Christian.
For Christian leaders in the region, the main claim is that the actions of the government of Israel are part of “an attempt inspired by an extremist ideology that denies the right or to the existence of those who live in their own homes “, as expressed by the Latin patriarch in Jerusalem, the Catholic Bishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, in a recent statement.
” And that bleeds the soul of the City Santa ”, he adds.
For his part, for the general secretary of the Council of Christian Churches of the Middle East, Michel E. Abs, there is a clear consequence:“ Any conflict, war, political confrontation it always causes displacement, that people have to leave the place where they live ”, he told BBC Mundo.
For Abs, since Christians are a minority, this underlying threat puts them at greater risk of disappearing if the conflict continues.
“The Christian Arabs who have to flee do not have many nearby countries or communities to settle in and, at the being a minority, they do not have the same possibilities of support that Muslim Arabs do, who are the majority. ”
That could condemn the community that has inhabited the region of Palestine for centuries, says the secretary of the Board.
“However, the threat is constant. You cannot grow or have a quiet life if there is constantly an entity that wants to get you out of your house, cut down the tree in your yard or that does not let you walk quietly ”, he points out.
A key point for Christians has been the help they have received from Palestinian Christians who live outside the territories -in other countries, other continents- and who have helped to strengthen the support network created by community centers, especially in the West Bank.
“The role played by Christian religious leaders has been more effective at the micro level: supporting their communities through the parishes, in a spiritual way, regardless of whether the beneficiary is Christian or not ”, he concludes.
“The Christian community has a symbolic weight, but it is very small”: Mariano Aguirre, expert on Middle East issues.
The conflict strongly affects all those who They live in Jerusalem, especially in the part called the Old City and the East side, where Palestinians live constantly displaced and who feel harassed by Israeli settlers.
The Christian community, in particular, looks very affected for two reasons. One, due to the increasing harassment of the Orthodox Christian communities and their religious representatives by Israeli settlers.
Another, because of the approximately 16. 000 Christians living in Jerusalem, around 000. 000 are Palestinians.
The Christian community in Jerusalem is very small. It has a n symbolic weight and a strong religious presence but its ability to influence politically in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is limited.
Even so, At present, as well as in other moments of high tension, Christian leaders of the Holy Land (grouped in the Council of Christian Churches of the Middle East) have denounced that, from their position, the violence in the city has its origin in the politics of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and holy sites for seven decades.
two. “If there is conflict, there is no economy”
In Jerusalem, tourism entrepreneurs have denounced Israeli entities for alleged pressure maneuvers to take over from various hotels in the old city that are owned by Christian churches.
Walid Dajani owns the Imperial hotel, which operates within a building that is owned by the Greek Orthodox Church and is located in the Christian quarter of the old sector.
Dajani says that he has witnessed the pressure exerted by radical Israeli groups to leave these places and give up his possession.
“ It has been a nightmare. This building has been owned by the Orthodox Christian Church for centuries and, due to judicial decisions that we do not understand, they are about to lose that control “, Dajani tells BBC Mundo.
“To achieve this, they have made a series of decisions: increased taxes on churches, verbal attacks and even proposals to approve the expropriation of our properties,” he assures.
The government of The city of Jerusalem and the city of Israel have denied that there is a campaign to take control of the buildings from the Christian churches, as they have repeated in different statements.
One of the Israeli entities that is indicated to be behind this pressure is Ateret Cohanim, who has denied the accusations of “harassment” and verbal attacks on Orthodox priests.
“The claims or accusations by the Greek Patriarchate about ‘radical settlers’ attacking their priests with verbal abuse, etc. they are absurd, unacceptable and shameful, ”Daniel Luria, spokesman for Alteret Cohanim, told British newspaper The Guardian.
“ Ateret Cohanim believes in coexistence with Christians and Muslims alike, living side by side without fences or borders, living in any neighborhood in Jerusalem ”, he added.
The truth is that the vast majority of Christians living in the Palestinian territories live off the tourism industry. Above all, in Bethlehem.
In the center of this city, the Grand Hotel stands out with its seven stories high. And for years it has been suffering the consequences of the conflict and now of the covid pandemic – 19.
“We had managed to survive the pandemic and when potential visitors began to book again and we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, this escalation forces us to close again ”, tells BBC Mundo Fares Bandak, Orthodox Christian and owner of the Grand Hotel.
“And it has always been like this: it is impossible to think that someone is going to come on a trip if they have to live their vacation with the feeling that there may be a bombing . Without stability it is very difficult to build a community. ”
For Bandak, therein lies one of the big problems: tourism depends entirely on what Israel allows.
“ We do not have an airport, that is, trips to Bethlehem or Jerusalem depend mostly on Ben Gurion (the international airport located near Tel Aviv, in Israeli territory) ”, he points out.
And he adds that while in Israel they have advanced a great campaign of vaccination against the coronavirus that has allowed the reactivation of tourism, in the Palestinian territories they are just beginning.
It is also aware that on the Palestinian side there are obstacles to reaching a peace agreement. And a very specific one is Hamas, the main Palestinian militant organization that controls the Gaza Strip.
“I am not part of Hamas because it is a Muslim organization and although it has an extremist position, I do not think that be a terrorist organization as Israel points out, “he points out.
” Of course Hamas is an obstacle to reaching a peace agreement, but they are seeking to defend the interests of all Palestinians from an occupation and constant harassment by Israel ”, he adds.
3. “ We cannot visit the churches “
Saleh Bandak has been repeatedly arrested. And he has spent several days in Israeli prisons.
After several years of political activism, he is now dedicated to the gastronomy business. He lives in Bethlehem where he has a restaurant near the Natividad church, one of the main centers of attraction that the so-called “Holy Land” has.
“ I am an Orthodox Christian and many times when I want to go to pray at the temple of Mary Magdalene , which is one of the sacred temples that are in Jerusalem, they do not allow me to pass, I cannot do it ”, he Saleh tells BBC Mundo.
And for him this could have an impact in the future, to the point that there are no more Christians in the Palestinian territories.
” Nobody wants to live like this. People want to live quietly, if they want to go to pray, which is something everyday, they should be able to do it without having to present documents on their way to church ”, he claims.
“I have been saying: if the conflict continues , there will be no more Christians in the land of Christ. Where Jesus was born and where he died ”, he points out.
And when asked about Hamas as a possible obstacle to reaching a peace agreement in the region, believes otherwise.
“Hamas is not our enemy. On the contrary, I have several friends who are active in Hamas. They have never been a threat to Christians in Palestine. ”
Like Saleh, Bandak is not optimistic about the future.
“It is not just that it affects the Christians in Palestine, but I am not optimistic about what will happen to the Palestinians in general. There are more and more threats and harassment from Israel, ”he says.
“And I don’t see how the conflict is going to stop.”
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