Islamic Pogrom Against Christians in the Holy Land

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It ain’t just the Jews, folks.

Last weekend the Christian village of Taybeh, Palestine, was ransacked and burned by a Muslim mob chanting “Allah akbar” (God is great). They were incensed that a Christian man from Taybeh had a romance with a Muslim woman from the neighboring village of Deir Jarir. She was murdered by members of her family. Muslim extremists do not tolerate such attractions.

Was this simply a family feud, as Muslim apologists have said? No.

Or an isolated event? No. It happens a lot.

Palestinian Christians have handed over a dossier to Church leaders in Jerusalem detailing incidents of violence and intimidation by Muslims against Christians (news.telegraph.co.uk,9/9/05). The dossier includes:

• 93 incidents of violent abuse
• 140 cases of land theft, in which Christians in the West Bank were forced off their land by Muslim gangs backed by corrupt officials

As a consequence the Christian population in the Holy Land is shrinking precipitously. Christians form about 2 percent of the population, down from almost 20 percent 60 years ago. Bethlehem and Nazareth, historic Christian towns for nearly two millennia, are now primarily Muslim. In 1922 Christians outnumbered Muslims in Jerusalem; today, Christians amount to a mere 2% of the population.

Where’s the outrage? ELCA and LWF leaders pontificate regularly on Middle East politics. But they are silent as Muslim extremists drive Christians out of the Holy Land.

Perhaps they do not regard the Muslim raid on Taybeh a pogrom, but that is exactly what the pogroms of eastern Europe were meant to do – move an ethnic/religious minority off of land desired by nationalists or religious extremists, or both in alliance with each other. The same appears true in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank. Islamist terrorists act with impunity against Christians while the Palestinian Authority does nothing to stop it, except issue meaningless appeals.