Palestinian Christians call on American evangelicals to stop ignoring their plight

Bethlehem, West Bank — Father Munther Isaac, who has 2,000 years of Christian faith and practice as his backdrop, fears the birthplace of Christ may face a more challenging future due to ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the actions of some of his fellow Christians. In Jerusalem, Christians often encounter verbal and physical assaults daily, but Isaac believes the plight of Palestinian Christians remains largely unnoticed by American evangelicals who back the return of the Holy Land to Jews.

Isaac, the director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, along with Father Bashar Fawadleh from the only Christian town in the occupied West Bank, are urging American evangelicals to witness the reality on the ground. Isaac and Fawadleh seek to attract Christians from the Christian Zionist movement, which perceives Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, but argue that this overlooks Palestinian Christian communities and contradicts the Christian principle of loving one's neighbor.

Isaac, born in Beit Sahour, has witnessed the encroachment of Jewish settlements on his childhood playground and can no longer stroll to Jerusalem from his Bethlehem home, as the West Bank town is hemmed in by Israel's 26-foot-high separation wall erected during the Second Intifada to prevent suicide bombers. The town's Christian population, numbering around 50,000, has been dwindling due to Israel's support for building on Palestinian land, leading to the exodus of over 90 residents in the last three years.

Now, Taybeh, also known as Ephraim in the Gospel of John, is left with approximately 1,200 residents, and the trend is expected to continue. Fawadleh and Roland Bassir, whose cement factory near Taybeh is frequently targeted by settlers, lament the future uncertainty faced by their communities.