Former US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene visited Bethlehem and met its mayor, who warned her of escalating persecution of Palestinian Christians by Israel, as new figures reveal the community’s steep long-term decline across Palestine.
Bethlehem (QNN)- Former US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said she discussed Palestinian Christian persecution by Israel during a recent meeting with Bethlehem Mayor Maher N. Canawati.
Greene said she felt honored to meet Canawati. She reported that the mayor spoke about Christians killed in Israeli bombardments in Gaza and about attacks on churches in the Palestinian territories.
“He told me about Christian persecution happening in Bethlehem and also in Gaza and the West Bank,” Greene wrote, adding that others had shared similar accounts with her and that she had seen videos online.
According to Greene, Canawati said Christian residents want to live in peace alongside their Jewish and Muslim neighbors in homes they legally own. She quoted him as saying that settlers continue to take Christian-owned properties.
Greene also pointed to movement restrictions in Bethlehem. She said there are about 139 Israeli military checkpoints connected to the city. She added that Bethlehem’s area has shrunk from roughly 41 square miles to about 7 square miles.
Greene urged American Christians to pay closer attention to the situation. “American Christians are largely unaware of the Christian persecution happening there, but need to learn about this and speak out,” she said, asking, “What is the Holy Land without Christians?”
George Akaroush, director of the Development and Planning Department at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, had highlighted the long-term decline of the Christian population in the occupied Palestinian capital city of Jerusalem.
He said the last census during the British Mandate for Palestine in December 1947 recorded about 30,000 Christians in Jerusalem compared with roughly 33,000 Muslims.
Akaroush added that within five months of the forced displacement during the 1948 Nakba, the number of Christians dropped by about 70 percent because many lived in western parts of the city.
Today, Jerusalem’s Christian population stands at around 9,900 people across 13 recognized churches. About 5,500 belong to the Latin Church and roughly 2,300 to the Greek Orthodox Church, together making up about 87 percent of the city’s Christians, according to Akaroush.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Get the latest CounterCurrents updates delivered straight to your inbox.