By Drew Christiansen, S.J.
 

The reports that Christians have begun fleeing the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, a traditional Christian stronghold in the Holy Land, should serve as an urgent wake-up call to Catholics in the United States.

Hidden behind the headlines of recent months has been the suffering of Christians amid the second "intifida" or uprising by Palestinians against Israel. That conflict began in late September when Israeli hard-liner Ariel Sharon, in the company of a thousand troops, visited the Haram al Sharif, or the Temple Mount, in a plainly provocative gesture. Now Sharon has been elected Israeli's Prime Minister.

The emigration of perhaps hundreds of Beit Sahour residents, leaving for the United States and Canada, comes in the wake of severe economic hardship as well as violence. The Israeli government has imposed a blockade on West Bank towns and villages -- which Secretary of State Colin Powell asked to have lifted during his visit there in late February. Sharon rejected the appeal.

My friend, Father Majdi al-Siryani, a pastor in Beit Sahour, says a feeling of hopelessness has set in. He finds himself collecting donated food for his proud parishioners. "And this is Beit Sahour, a community that never begged for food," he tells me.

Father Majdi has asked his parishioners to persevere, as they have through much suffering. He has hired some to do work around the parish and bought various wood-carved items from parishioners who make their living that way. But this is clearly not the solution.

In an illuminating report, Catholic News Service correspondent Judith Sudilovsky told of a parishioner who recently sat with Father Majdi in the priest's living room and explained, "What can I do, Father? There is no work for me, and there is no life here for my family. They are afraid all the time."

The parishioner's house had been destroyed by Israeli gunfire in December, and he has no money to rebuild. He told Sudilovsky: "It is not good to leave our country where Jesus was born. We want to stay here. Father Majdi always tries to convince us to stay, but I don't know what kind of future there is here."

In his Lenten message, Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, made a passionate plea to the whole flock. "Brothers and sisters, do not leave your land. Be patient. It is here that God wants you, as believers in Him and witnesses of Jesus Christ in His land. Stand firm around the Holy Places. In this land, you are part of the mystery of God in it."

Turning to the Israelis -- whose retaliatory strikes have destroyed hundreds of homes -- the Patriarch declared: "Destroy our churches but spare the homes of our faithful. If you must impose, at any price, collective punishment we offer our churches. Destroy them; we will find other places in which to pray and we will continue to pray for ourselves and for you."

Patriarch Sabbah made a similar plea to Palestinian militants who have used the so-called Christian triangle -- Beit Sahour, Bethlehem, and Beit Jala, just south of Jerusalem -- for cover, thus inviting Israeli counterattacks.

Palestinian Christians have a long list of worries that include harassment by Muslim extremists and a calculated lack of police protection by the Israelis. One would expect that the shelling of the Christian towns would magnify the desire to escape. But Palestinian Christians have typically remained firm, in their quietly determined way. That is why the new reports from Beit Sahour are so troubling, if not entirely surprising.

Despite recurring persecution, Christians of the Holy Land have endured for two thousand years through the rise and fall of empires. They have preserved the holy places of Christianity for generations of pilgrims who have come to worship there and for waves of hermits, monks, nuns and scholars who have come to dwell among them. In their variety, they reveal the rich heritage of Oriental Christianity, and as Arabs they enjoy a special charism for relating Christianity to the Islamic world.

We ought not to forget that Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came into being with enormous political and financial support from the United States. The very least American Catholics can demand is that Christians be free to enjoy their civil and human rights under Israeli and international law.

Should these communities continue to suffer to the point that the living Christian heritage is at risk of disappearing from the Holy Land, much of the burden for that unhappy outcome will belong to Americans.

Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen is a senior fellow of the Woodstock Theological Center, Washington, D.C., and counselor for international affairs to the United States Catholic Conference.