Published by At our church last night, two Palestinian Christians visited and gave a powerful presentation on the history and the current plight of the Christians in Palestine.
Less than 2% of the population of Palestine is Christian; the dominant population is Muslim. Less than a century ago, the area was more than 30% Christian. This dramatic demographic shift occurred because the Christians in Palestine have been leaving for two reasons: persecution, and the difficulty in finding jobs.
The persecution is sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle. The issue discussed last night was focused on employment; a Christian in Palestine has trouble getting hired except by other Christians.
Up until 9/11, tourism was bringing in three to four million people per year. That number has dropped down to thousands because people are afraid and/or unable to travel to the Holy Land. There are many Christian families who are not getting even one meal per day, and there are a significant number of families in which the bread-winner has had to leave the country in search of employment.
The gentlemen who came to our church are from Bethlehem and the surrounding area (Bethlehem is in Palestine, not Israel). There is a cooperative of over one thousand Christian families who make their living by selling the Olivewood carvings that they have made with their own hands.
Our visitors brought many of the pieces with them to sell at our church. These carvings are absolutely beautiful and are quite reasonably priced.
This cooperative has a web site through which you can buy their carvings. Check out this site: Holylandcsc.
Whether or not you buy a carving, please keep the Palestinian Christians in your prayers.
Hey! Great and informative message. We should always be ready to spread the word when our brothers and sisters are in need. I went to the site. Wow! They have great stuff. You can buy gifts for all and give the gift of life literally to others. Thanks!
Touching story. Hope peace upon the holy land!
Hi, nutuba, how are you?
I like the message in this piece. I didn’t realize there were so many Christians left in that country. It’s a shame they have to put up with such bigotry though, but then, there are many such places in the world. Prayers and best of wishes will go out for them. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting piece, very good.
Thanks,
Clay
will do
Good work highlighting the troubes palestinian Chritstians face , You managed to avoide getting bogged down in facts and get to the heart of the matter. Good idea posting the link will check it out.