I’m in Bethlehem, the city believed to be the birthplace of Jesus.
But because Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank,
it's surrounded today by a massive concrete wall,
military checkpoints and illegal settlements.
It's imposing a system of control that I'm sure Jesus was very familiar of.
If he was born today, he would be born on our side of the wall.
Over the decades,
the percentage of Christians living in Bethlehem and the occupied Palestinian territories
has plummeted,
rendering them practically invisible.
Did you know there were Palestinian Christians before coming here?
No.
No I didn’t.
So what happened to all the Christians?
To find out, I’m here to ask the Palestinian Christians that remain.
It’s a big issue for us that one day the Holy Land will become without Christians.
This is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of the holiest sites in Christianity.
This spot right here is believed to be exactly where Jesus was born.
But, down the street at a different church,
I’m attending a Sunday service led by Palestinian Pastor Munther Isaac.
He says every year, there are fewer Palestinian Christians in his congregation.
In our church, there's a lot of old people whose children live outside,
and it makes me worry a lot about 20, 30 years from now,
will there be Christians in Palestine?
That's really our biggest nightmare.
Around the year 1900, Christians made up about 11% of the population
of what was historically called Palestine.
That’s now down to less than 2% in all of Israel and the occupied territories.
The decline is much more pronounced here in Bethlehem.
Seventy years ago, the area was 80% Christian.
Today, that number is only 12%.
Why are the numbers of Christians specifically dwindling here?
Like all Palestinians, we live under Israeli reality, Israeli oppression.
Here in the West Bank, in Bethlehem, we live under the Israeli military occupation,
where we suffer from restrictions of movements,
very limited opportunities economically.
Overall, the quality of life here is very difficult.
This used to be the main road in Bethlehem.
And then the wall cut really in the middle of the road,
and what used to be one of the liveliest streets or roads in Bethlehem
is now this dead area as a result.
To us, Jesus was one of our own.
We look at him as a Palestinian Jew.
He was born here.
And I think even if he was born today,
he would be born on our side of the wall,
because Jesus was born under the occupation, under the Roman Empire.
Israel began building the wall here in Bethlehem in 2002,
in what it says was an attempt to stop Palestinian attackers from entering its territory.
But rather than building the wall on the boundary between Israel and the West Bank,
it was built deep inside the occupied Palestinian territories.
That left massive areas of Palestinian land
inaccessible to their owners on one side of the wall,
while keeping Palestinians confined on the other side.
While walking through Bethlehem, I spoke with Sameer Lolas,
who crafts and sells souvenirs made from olive wood.
The wall is just a few feet away from the front door of his shop.
The wall cuts off access to most of Bethlehem’s farmland and, in the north,
it completely blocks off the route to Jerusalem,
another city Christians consider holy, which is just over 5 miles away.
It makes us wonder whether, if Jesus was here today and wants to go to Jerusalem,
would he need a permit to go to Jerusalem?
‘Cause you do. Everybody here does, right?
Everybody here does.
Israel has imposed this permit system on Palestinians
living in the West Bank and Gaza since 1993.
To leave those territories - even if it's to worship at Jerusalem’s holy sites
- Palestinians have to apply for Israeli permits that are often rejected.
In 2022, many local Christians were banned from attending Easter celebrations
at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
where Jesus is believed to have been buried.
It was very upsetting to see, as a Christian, that I, and others like me, can’t go
to one of our important ceremonies at Easter,
the most important ceremony.
This is of course part of a much larger violation of Palestinian Christians’ right to religion.
Because like other Palestinians, Christians have faced violence and attacks
from the Israeli state and settlers alike.
One shocking recent example of an attack on Christians at the hands of Israel was this:
In May 2022, Israeli forces attacked the funeral procession
of Palestinian Christian and renowned Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
She was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier
while reporting in a helmet and flak jacket clearly marked as press.
It was extremely upsetting. Even just her funeral, it was under attack.
It was probably one of the biggest events that I've seen in my lifetime,
where you see both the Palestinian struggle and Christian symbolisms
sort of in one place.
There were both Muslims and Christians praying together.
Often there's this desire and interest to see Palestinians split on the basis of religion,
and, by the West, also a narrative where Muslims are persecuting Christians.
But here we saw all Palestinians coming together.
You know, a lot of time when visitors come, they ask me,
how is your relationship with your Muslim neighbors?
And I simply [say], well, they’re our classmates, our business partners. They're our neighbors, literally.
Munther is also the director of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference,
which aims to teach Christians who visit Bethlehem from around the world
about the realities of the occupation.
Prior to coming here, did you know that Palestinian Christians even exist?
Not really, no. I thought they were mostly Muslim.
What are your impressions of the West Bank and specifically the occupation?
It's...
It's like, insane to me, honestly. I didn't really know much about it coming here,
which is kind of, I'm kind of ashamed of. But it really struck me
because I just have never really seen people live like this before.
Jesus is believed to have been born just down the road.
How do you think he would feel today seeing
the checkpoints and the wall and the occupation?
I think he would barge in
and give one of his parables perhaps.
He would make some pretty pressing demands on the people.
Meeting us actually opens their mind to a different narrative,
opens their mind to the fact that
maybe we did get it wrong about Palestine and Israel.
And it is through a big misconception that this is a conflict between Jews and Muslims,
as if we're caught in the middle.
Because not only we're part of the Palestinian people, but we are part of the
Palestinian movement for liberation.
Palestinian Christians were among the earliest and most fervent opponents
of British colonial rule in Palestine,
and were early leaders in fighting against the displacement of Palestinians
to make room for a Jewish state.
And that fight continues on today with people like the Nassar family.
We’re on our way to visit the Nassar family, who we met at church yesterday.
They own a 100-acre farm south of Bethlehem
that the family has had for over a century,
and it’s currently surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements.
Here we are in the center of five Israeli settlements.
There's one right there.
There’s one, one there.
We're looking at it.
You can see that all the hilltops around us
are already Israeli settlements existing, except this hilltop.
And so we are the only hilltop in this area that is without an Israeli settlement.
Daoud’s grandfather purchased this land, now dubbed Tent of Nations, in 1916,
a full 32 years before the creation of Israel.
But now Israel says it owns the land
and wants to build Jewish settlements on the Nassar family’s farm.
The family is fighting to stay on the land, but it’s not easy.
Because of those restrictions,
Daoud showed me where the family sometimes has to worship
– in an ancient underground cave.
Here we have our chapel,
where people used to worship.
Wow!
And still, we have also a church service once in a while here.
This is the place where we come together.
And it’s about being together, fellowship with one another.
Over the years, the Israeli army and nearby settlers have attacked Daoud’s farm,
setting fire to crops and bulldozing fruit trees.
Still, in the face of all this,
Daoud says they refuse to be victims.
How does your Christian faith inform how you resist this occupation?
Jesus also saw a lot of, you know, like, injustices happening.
We refuse to hate,
but that doesn't mean to accept the bad actions that people are doing against us.
We are people who believe in justice.
Daoud’s family has been defending their land in the Israeli courts for over 30 years.
I think, you know, when you're talking, people might not realize
you’re a Palestinian family on Palestinian land,
and Israel's trying to take your land.
And the only recourse you have is to resort to Israeli military court.
It's like the cards are stacked against you, it sounds.
Of course, we know that this is unjust
and we are under occupation.
For us, this is the only way to try to protect.
Keep knocking at the door of justice, you know.
In the meantime, Daoud says most of the other Christian families
in the nearby village of Nahalin have left
after being pushed out by settlements and blocked off by the wall.
You feel that we are the only hope
for the village to exist.
So our mission to protect the land is not just about protecting the private property,
but it is the hope for many people.
We ask you to bless our community here and to bless the food.
The farm hosts summer camps and activities for the local Palestinian community.
It also hosts international volunteers.
Thousands have come over the years
and have more freedom of movement than the Nassar family themselves.
At the end of your service, when you were praying,
you prayed to God to end the occupation, didn't you?
We pray for that every week.
It’s clear to me that God is not pleased with the occupation.
God weeps over the situation of Palestinians.
God weeps over the people who lose their lands.
God weeps over the children who are killed every day.
We need our Christian sisters and brothers to realize this and to help us.
While many churches around the world have spoken out against Israel’s actions,
there’s a notable voice missing
– the very devout and very politically influential American Evangelical Christians.
I look into why that is in my next video and ask,
how can Christians support a state
that persecutes members of their own faith?
Make sure you check out that video,
and, in the meantime, let me know
what you thought of this one in the comments.