In the Old City of Jerusalem, Zionists are harassing the Armenian Palestinian Christians with the objective of seizing their tiny patches of land inside the city, including churches, communal buildings and even parking lots.
No one doubts that the Zionists want to de-Palestinize all of Palestine, which means to erase and delete both Christians and Muslims from their ancestral homeland. This is consistent with War Criminal Netanyahu's declaration that "Israel will be a Democracy for Jews only".
But there is a deafening silence by an otherwise vocal Zionist propaganda as to what exactly the foreign colonial settler Zionists want to do with the non-Jewish indigenous Palestinians, all 5 millions of them that they have not yet managed to kill, displace or deport. They have never proposed an idea or a plan for how they see the native Palestinians fitting in their "Democracy for Jews only" Jewish valhalla resort on the Mediterranean. Thus, it seems that whatever their plan is, it will not include the Palestinians who, logically, must somehow vanish out of existence. Ethnic cleansing, genocide, mass deportations, demographic pruning... You name it. There are many options, all of barbaric biblical vintage.
Christians across the Middle East have been ravaged by radical Islam. Iraq and Syria have lost much of their Christian populations due to wars between radical Islam and a western world bent on intervening in the region. There a few Christians left in Jordan. In Palestine, they too are under stress, with Israel determined to rid itself of its Christian Palestinians as part of its grand scheme of Judaizing all of Palestine.
The only significant Christian populations in the Near East are in Lebanon and Egypt. Although they make up some 15% of the 115 million-strong Egyptian population, the Egyptian Coptic Christians face daily persecutions, including church burnings, forced conversions, and rampant discrimination.
In Lebanon, the Christians have also been reduced to some 25% of the population through 50 years of wars and emigration, unfortunately enabled by the indifference of a West eager not to offend the wealthy oil-laden Muslims of the Arabian peninsula. Throughout the Assad dictatorship in neighboring Syria, which invaded and ruled Lebanon for the same 50 years, the West gave a carte blanche to the Assad regime to continue oppressing the Christians and strip them of the little power they have historically held. As in Palestine under the Zionist occupation, the Lebanese Christian community has under the Syrian occupation dwindled from a majority of some 65% in the early 20th century to the 25% left today. The only reason the Lebanese Christians have managed to maintain political relevance and freedom is that they dwell in their rugged mountainous hinterland hideouts, despite facing a constant state of siege and a chronic challenge to their existence as a free community.
It is interesting to note that American "Christians" - of the protestant evangelical breed - have long hated the Christians of the Near East because they are Catholics and Orthodox, and not Protestants. Which explains the ease with which Zionists have been persecuting Palestine's Christians; the Americans do not care for non-protestant Christians. Historically, there are no protestants in the Near East. Attempts by British and American protestants to proselytize and implant themselves there have utterly failed. American Univeristy of Beirut is a flagrant example in which a failed British-American missionary endeavor in the mid-1800s metamorphosed into an "educational" one after World War I.
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Christmas under occupation: Israeli attacks against Palestinian Christians
Mohammed Haddad, Marium Ali
Thu, December 25, 2025
Palestinian Christians have gathered at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for the first time since Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza began in 2023 to celebrate Christmas.
Bethlehem’s mayor says the municipality has chosen to restore the city’s festivities after a long period of darkness and silence.
At a Christmas market, Safaa Thalgieh, a mother from Bethlehem, told Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim: “Our joy doesn’t mean people are not suffering, have lost their loved ones, or are desperate, but we can only pray that things get better.”
Palestine: The birthplace of Christianity
Palestinian Christians make up some of the oldest Christian groups in the world.
According to the Bible, Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born and placed in a manger. The Church of the Nativity was built at this location, and its grotto holds great religious significance, attracting Christians from all over the world to the city of Bethlehem every Christmas.
However, making that trip today would be very different due to several Israeli checkpoints, illegal settlements, and the separation wall, as highlighted in the map below.
INTERACTIVE - Christmas Could Mary and Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem today-1766598851
Palestinian Christians living under Israeli occupation
Once a thriving community, the number of Christians living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza is now fewer than 50,000, according to the 2017 census, making up about 1 percent of the population.
In the early 20th century, Christians made up about 12 percent of the population. However, Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank has squeezed communities, created economic hardships, and deprived them of the conditions needed to exist on their land, pushing many families to seek a more stable life abroad.
A nun surveys heavy damage caused to the Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, on the Sea of Galilee, in northern Israel, which was set on fire by Yinon Reuveni, on June 18, 2015 [Ariel Schalit/AP Photo]
Most of Palestine’s Christians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, totalling approximately 47,000 to 50,000, with an additional 1,000 in Gaza before the war.
The Christian population in the West Bank is highly concentrated in three main urban areas:
Bethlehem governorate (22,000–25,000): This is the largest concentration, centred in Bethlehem and the surrounding towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour.
Ramallah and el-Bireh (10,000): A major administrative and economic hub, including nearby historic villages like Taybeh, Birzeit, and Jifna.
East Jerusalem (8,000–10,000): Primarily located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City and neighbourhoods like Beit Hanina.
Like the rest of the Palestinian population, Palestinian Christians are subjected to Israeli military control, settler violence, and a legal system that discriminates against them.
INTERACTIVE - Occupied West Bank population-1743158487
Israeli attacks against Christians and churches
Across Palestine, Christian communities and their churches have faced numerous attacks by Israeli forces and members of the Israeli public.
The Religious Freedom Data Center (RFDC) has been monitoring violence against Christians through an incident hotline operated by volunteers and activists.
Between January 2024 and September 2025, the group documented at least 201 incidents of violence against Christians, primarily committed by Orthodox Jews targeting international clergy or individuals displaying Christian symbols.
These incidents include multiple forms of harassment, including spitting, verbal abuse, vandalism, assaults and more.
The majority (137) of these incidents took place in Jerusalem’s Old City, located in occupied East Jerusalem.
INTERACTIVE - Attacks on Christians in Jerusalem-1766601642
Jerusalem holds profound significance to multiple faiths, including Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and is home to many holy sites. One of the most notable for Christians is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.
In 2025, Christian communities in the occupied West Bank faced an alarming surge in targeted violence and land seizures.
In the predominantly Christian town of Beit Sahour, just east of Bethlehem, Israeli settlers, backed by the military, bulldozed the historic Ush al-Ghurab hilltop in November to establish a new illegal settlement outpost.
Meanwhile, in Taybeh, the predominantly Christian town in the West Bank, the ancient St George Church was targeted by arsonists in July.
In June, a group of Israelis was filmed attacking the Armenian Monastery and Christian holy sites during a raid on the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of East Jerusalem, which has come under attack numerous times.
Father Aghan Gogchyan, chancellor of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, stands outside St James Cathedral in the Armenian Quarter of occupied East Jerusalem [File: Francisco Seco/AP Photo]
In Gaza, numerous places of worship, including churches, have been attacked by Israeli forces.
An Open Doors report from early 2025 estimated that roughly 75 percent of Christian-owned homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the start of Israel’s genocidal war.
On October 19, 2023, Israeli forces attacked Gaza’s oldest Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, killing at least 18 displaced people, including children who were seeking shelter in the church.
The church, built in 1150, was Gaza’s oldest active place of worship and had been serving as a multi-faith sanctuary for hundreds of civilians.
A grief-stricken father told Al Jazeera that his three children were killed in the blast. “We sought refuge here, thinking it was a safe haven – our last safe haven, in a church. The house of God,” he said. “They bombed my angels and killed them without warning.”
Israeli forces have also repeatedly attacked the Holy Family Church, Gaza’s only Roman Catholic church, which has long served as a refuge for the local Christian community.
On November 4, 2023, an air attack on the church compound partially destroyed a school inside the complex. The attacks continued in July 2025, when an Israeli tank shell struck the church, killing three people and wounding several others.
The Holy Family Church has long held symbolic importance beyond Gaza. Throughout the war, the late Pope Francis called the parish almost daily, maintaining a direct line to the besieged community.
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