Articles

by Abe W. Atta

One is struck by the indignity of the American Christian Right who conveniently drop from their memory tales of oppression experienced daily by their Palestinian Christian compatriots. Why conveniently you may ask?

And why has the influential Christian Right never been courageous to bat alongside their Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters - not in times of peace, not in war !

Thirty five years ago, one in five of the 'Arab' inhabitants of Palestine was Christian; now it is about 1 in 50. Once Bethlehem was 95% Christian; now Christians are a mere 15 per cent.

Why? What brought about this catastrophic decline!

On the face of it the answer is obvious. Christians are leaving Palestine for the same reason that any Palestinian leaves: they see no future. But this does not explain why they are more inclined to leave then their Muslim compatriots.
Part of the reason, it seems to me - a ninth generation Christian born in Bethlehem - is that Christian Palestinians are treated by the West as non-people. Few outside the Middle East know they exist. Another is the persistent denial of their plight by a frighteningly influential American Christian Right. Despite their worship, rejoicing, suffering in the name of Christ, self condemnation and belittlement and yet they were not given any thought by millions of so- called American fundamentalist Christians; particularly by those who have visited the Holy Land during the past few decades.

Wake up Rev Gary Bauer, Rev Gerry Falwell and other setters of religious agendas. We are bleeding in spirit and flesh. A few hundred thousand of us are not made to feel worthy of reference in your prayers, let alone receive the support which you rightfully gave South Africans, the East Timorese and others

How will you account in Heaven for your apathy to your very brothers and sisters' suffering and conveniently opt to pray for those who need it least.

Your support to us is NO LONGER considered anti Semitic as a few unprincipled conditioned you to believe.. Jews have suffered as we did and we acknowledge this. You need no longer to wait for a Palestinian holocaust to happen before you disperse your support unequivocally ! It is enough that a million of us are now scattered around this globe Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Lutherans, Evangelical and Baptists - with no right of return !
Do let us know how, when or if you plan to address our outcry. When will you start lobbying for us in your Senate and Congress, without being made to feel guilty, ahead of our expiry date.

Yours,

Abe W. Ata (Prof.)
a.ata@asian.unimelb.edu.au