- Feb 5, 2002
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Recent developments portend more trouble for "descendants of the original followers of Christ" in Palestine.
According to an official of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) in Israel, many Christians in the Holy Land these days are studying Greek.Why? Because things are getting so bad for Palestinian Christians that the nearby island of Cyprus looks like a good place to settle for those fleeing violence and anti-Christian discrimination.
As the world observes the International Day of Peace and the National Day of Prayer for Peace in the Holy Landon September 21, Joseph Hazboun, Regional Director of CNEWA in Jerusalem, is calling on Christians in the West to remember Palestinian Christians, whom he says are direct descendants of the first Christian community of Jerusalem. That fact, he said, is supported by the historian Robert Louis Wilken, who said in his 1994 work called The Land Called Holy, that “they are, as it were, the only indigenous Christian community in the world.”
“Today, with the increased levels of violence within the Arab communities in Israel, more Palestinian Christians are closing their businesses, unable to pay protection money, or are afraid for their lives and those of their families,” Hazboun said. “In fact, many have started to learn Greek in the hopes of purchasing homes in nearby Cyprus, to flee the violence.”
Continued below.
Palestinian Christians being mis-taught their history
Recent developments portend more trouble for "descendants of the original followers of Christ" in Palestine.
aleteia.org
