By Daoud Kuttab

The most recent 2022 US State Department report on religious freedom places the cause of Palestinian Christian emigration squarely on the Israeli occupiers and their policies.

Below are some excerpts concerning Christian Palestinians from the 59-page report about the situation in Palestine. The full report titled The West Bank and Gaza 2022 International Religious Freedom Report can be seen here.

 Christian presence under threat

The Christian heads of churches in Jerusalem continued to raise public concerns that the Christian presence and Holy Sites in Jerusalem were under threat. The statements identified pressure points on Christians that included violence and harassment against clergy and worshipers by Israeli extremists; vandalism and desecration of church properties; attempts by settler organizations to obtain strategic property in and around the Christian quarter of the Old City and the Mount of Olives; and restrictions on residency permits for Palestinians as part of Israel’s Citizenship and Entry Law. This law remained an especially acute problem, according to church leaders, because of the small Christian population and consequent tendency to marry other Christians from the West Bank or elsewhere (i.e., Christians who held neither citizenship nor residency). Local Christian leaders state that Palestinian Christian emigration has continued at rapid rates.  

Palestinian Christians in numbers

 According to various estimates, 50,000 Christian Palestinians reside in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and according to media reports and religious communities, there are approximately 1,300 Christians residing in Gaza.

Christian religious courts handle legal matters relating to personal status, including inheritance, marriage, dowry, divorce, and child support. For Muslims, Sharia determines personal status law, while various ecclesiastical courts rule on personal status matters for Christians.

By law, members of one religious group may submit a personal status dispute to a different religious group for adjudication if the disputants agree it is appropriate to do so.

PA has unwritten understandings of Palestinian evangelical churches

The PA maintains some unwritten understandings with churches that are not officially recognized, based on the basic principles of the status quo agreements, including with the Assemblies of God, Nazarene Church, and some evangelical Christian churches, which may operate freely. Some of these groups may perform some official functions, such as issuing marriage licenses. Churches not

recognized by the PA generally must obtain special one-time permission from the PA to perform marriages or adjudicate personal status matters if these groups want the actions to be recognized by and registered with the PA. The churches may not proselytize.

Controversial Park opposed by religious leaders

On February 18, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theopolis III, Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land Francesco Patton, and Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian sent a letter to Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg, calling on her to stop a planned expansion of the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the Old City of Jerusalem to parts of the Mount of Olives, where there are Christian holy sites. In the letter, church leaders said the proposed plan was an attack on Christians and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and seemed to be “orchestrated, advanced, and promoted by entities whose sole purpose is to confiscate and nationalize one of the holiest sites for Christianity and later its nature.”

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which is promoting the project, said the expansion was designed to restore long-neglected lands and better preserve historical landscapes, and that it would not harm the church properties incorporated into the national park. According to a February 21 Times of Israel report, the authority said it would withdraw the plan. The plan remained, however, on the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee calendar for discussion in 2023.

The positive role of Christian organizations

Religious organizations providing education, health care, and other humanitarian relief and social services to Palestinians in and around East Jerusalem continued to state that the physical barrier begun by Israel during the Second Intifada in 2003 impeded their work, particularly south of Jerusalem in West Bank Christian communities around Bethlehem.

Barrier and checkpoints

Clergy members stated the barrier and additional checkpoints restricted their movements between Jerusalem and West Bank churches and monasteries as well as the movement of congregants between their homes and places of worship. Christian leaders continued to state the barrier hindered Bethlehem-area Christians from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. They also said it made visits to Christian sites in Bethlehem difficult for Palestinian Christians who lived on the west side of the barrier. Foreign pilgrims and religious aid workers also reported difficulty or delays accessing Christian religious sites in the West Bank because of the barrier.

The Israeli government previously stated it constructed the barrier as an act of self-defense and that it was highly effective in preventing terrorist attacks in Israel.

During the year, Christian expatriate workers in Israeli settlements continued to complain that lack of public transportation on Saturdays prevented them from participating in religious activities and worship in Jerusalem.

Gaza permit quotas for Christians

In recent years, Israeli authorities issued permits for some Christians to exit Gaza to attend religious services in Jerusalem or the West Bank and for Muslims from the West Bank to enter Jerusalem for Ramadan. During the year, Israeli officials reported they issued 8,000 permits for Palestinians to enter Israel from the West Bank during Christmas season, and 500 family permits for West Bank residents to enter Gaza. Israeli officials reported they issued 500 permits for Christians in Gaza to enter Israel during Christmas.

Gisha reported that Israel designated a quota of 500 permits for Christians in Gaza to visit Jerusalem for Easter celebrations. They reported that some applicants received permits while their family members were left waiting for a response or denied outright, forcing them to choose between forgoing family and religious visits or leaving their family members behind during the travel. During Christmas, Gisha reported that Israel issued 649 permits for Christians to exit Gaza for the holiday.

Marriage of Jerusalemite Christians to West Bank Residents

According to Christian religious leaders, this situation remained an especially acute problem for Christians because of their small population and consequent tendency to marry Christians from the West Bank or elsewhere (i.e., Christians who held neither citizenship nor residency). Christian religious leaders expressed concern that this was a significant element in the continuing decline of the Christian population, including in Jerusalem, which negatively affected the long-term viability of Christian communities.

Factors causing emigration

According to NGOs, community members, and media commentators, factors contributing to Christian emigration included political instability, the inability to obtain residency permits for spouses due to the Law of Citizenship and Entry, the limited ability of Christian communities in the Jerusalem area to expand due to building restrictions, difficulties Christian clergy experienced in obtaining Israeli visas and residency permits, loss of confidence in the peace process, and economic hardships created by the establishment of the barrier and the imposition of travel restrictions. The Israeli government previously stated such difficulties stemmed from the “complex political and security reality” and not from any restrictions on the Christian community.

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