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April 17, 2002
Church in Holy Land dying, Franciscan friar says
Economics and politics causing mass exodus of Christians from the Holy Land
By Roxanne King
Daily headlines announce the violence and terror ripping through the Holy Land as Israeli troops and Palestinian militia battle for power. Caught in the middle are Christians and their sacred sites — their quandary poignantly shown in the current standoff between the warring troops at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, where dedicated church custodians remain holed up with Palestinian soldiers.
For 18 years, Franciscan Father Peter Vasko has lived in the land where Christ founded the Church. A resident of Jerusalem, he is president of the Holy Land Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to alert the world about the dilemma of Christians in the Holy Land, provide incentives for them to remain there and uphold their right to a dignified life.
He spoke to the First Friday Forum at the John Paul II Center April 5.
The Church in the Holy Land is dying, Father Vasko said.
"During this past century an unprecedented exodus of local Christians living in the Holy Land has been taking place," he said. "So much so, that most religious leaders say that if nothing is done to stem this exodus now, which has been going on since 1900, that within 60 years Christianity will disappear from the very land where Christ founded the Church."
Of the 8.6 million people living in Israel, and the West Bank and Gaza territories, over half are Jewish, nearly half are Muslim, and just 165,000 are Christian, Father Vasko said.
"Bethlehem 35 years ago boasted a Christian population of 80 percent, and 20 percent Muslim," he said. "Today those figures are reversed: it is now 90 percent Muslim and 10 percent Christian.
"Why are they leaving?" he asked. "Two reasons: economics and politics."
Ticking off figures, Father Vasko said the average annual salary for Israelis is $23,000-$24,000, while the average annual salary for Palestinians is $5,000-$6,000. The unemployment rate for Israelis is 7 percent, he said, while the unemployment rate for Palestinian Christians and Muslims is 60 percent on the West Bank and 80 percent in Gaza. Sixty-five percent of Palestinians, 1 percent of which are Christians, live below poverty level, he said.
Although billions in foreign aid is given to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, "none of that money ever trickles down to the Christian Palestinians," Father Vasko said.
"Therefore, they have no major organizations, they have no major resources and they are the ones who are slowly and gradually leaving," he said.
Helping to cripple the Palestinians is the Israeli military's policy of "closure," he said, which denies those from the territories entry into Jerusalem. The policy effectively cuts off Palestinian access to health care, education and jobs.
"Once this closure takes place, no one goes in and no one goes out," Father Vasko said. "This is what's happening now at our church in Bethlehem."
Israel says it uses the policy to protect itself from terrorist attacks, but the policy hurts innocent civilians, he said. One of the "dirty secrets" not reported in the media, he said, is the number of people who die in cars because they were denied permission to go to the hospital in Jerusalem.
"This is what's happening to Palestinian Christians, what's happening with Palestinian Muslims," he said. "Every day thousands of people in Israel are subjected to this treatment, and it's getting worse every day."
Israel has a right to protect its people, Father Vasko said, "But we also have to understand that there is another people living on the same land who need also security, who need also rights and peace."
Media coverage of terrorist attacks by radical Palestinian Muslims has created the misconception that all Palestinians are dangerous when in fact the vast majority are hardworking people who simply want peace, Father Vasko said.
But Muslim Palestinians, too, he said, have discriminated against Christians.
"In some instances, Christians who want to rent from Muslim families ... must sign a contract saying they will not hang Christian artifacts in their homes — a crucifix, pictures of Jesus or what have you — upon pain of eviction," Father Vasko said.
In Nazareth, extremist Muslim Palestinians have burned Christians' homes, destroyed their vehicles and assaulted Catholics on their way to the Church of the Annunciation, he said. The violence erupted, Father Vasko said, after the Israeli government denied Muslims permission to build a mosque in front of the church.
Although Christians are persecuted daily by both Israelis and Palestinian Muslims, the priest emphasized that, "Not all Muslims and Israelis do this, but some do this."
To help the Christians, the Holy Land Foundation provides subsidized housing, scholarships and employment assistance. The aid is vital to maintain the Church's presence there, Father Vasko said.
"The Holy Land, our Christian heritage, our living Church in Jerusalem, our sacred holy sites — these are the shoulders upon which we stand when it comes to our faith," he said.
Catholics and other Christians, Father Vasko said, cannot stand idly by and watch the holy sites and guardians of Christianity simply disappear.
"A great challenge awaits us," he said. "Are you willing to help carry on our faith in the Holy Land? Are you willing to be the Christians' lobby? To be their platform — to be their voice for the sake of preserving Christ's kind in the Holy Land?
"If you are," he said, "then you'll be responding to the religious call first revealed to Abraham, our father in faith — to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and doing what is just."
To donate to the Holy Land Foundation, send contributions to The Holy Land Foundation, 1400 Quincy St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017. Call 202-269-5430.
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