Forgotten Christians: Not All Displaced Palestinians are Muslims,
by Anders Strindberg

UN Observer
May 18 2004

2004-05-18 | “The Palestinian Christians see themselves, and are seen
by their Muslim compatriots, as an integral part of the Palestinian
people, and they have long been a vital part of the Palestinian
struggle. As the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, the Reverend Riah Abu
al-Assal has explained, ‘The Arab Palestinian Christians are part and
parcel of the Arab Palestinian nation. We have the same history, the
same culture, the same habits and the same hopes.'”

Introduction by Jude Wanniski: The Christian Palestinians.

I’ve noted before the high quality of Pat Buchanan’s weekly magazine,
The American Conservative, which he co-publishes with Scott
McConnell. There is always at least one piece in each issue that by
itself is worth the price of admission, and always several worth
reading. The current May 24 issue offers this dazzling piece by
Anders Strindberg on a major missing piece to the Middle East puzzle.
Read it and you can begin to see why the most important barrier to
peace in the Middle East is neither Arab nor Jew, but a Christian
Zionist from Houston named Tom DeLay. Yes, the American Jewish
Political Establishment has a powerful lobby in Washington, but it
would not be nearly as powerful if it did not have the leverage of
the born-again fundamentalists.

Jude Wanniski

The following article is republished in conjunction with

Forgotten Christians
Not all displaced Palestinians are Muslims.
By Anders Strindberg

Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” is playing to full houses in
the Syrian capital Damascus. Watching it here turns out to be much
the same as watching it on opening night in New York – customarily
rowdy moviegoers observe a reverent silence, the usual sound of candy
wrappers is replaced by sobbing and gasping, and, at the end of it
all, the audience files out of the theater in silence and
contemplation. Many of those watching the movie on this occasion are
Palestinian Christian refugees whose parents or grandparents were
purged from their homeland – the land of Christ – at the foundation of
Israel in 1948. For them the movie has an underlying symbolic meaning
not easily perceived in the West: not only is it a depiction of the
trial, scourging, and death of Jesus, it is also a symbolic depiction
of the fate of the Palestinian people. “This is how we feel,” says
Zaki, a 27-year old Palestinian Christian whose family hails from
Haifa. “We take beating after beating at the hands of the world, they
crucify our people, they insult us, but we refuse to surrender.”

At the time of the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, it is
estimated that the Christians of Palestine numbered some 350,000.
Almost 20 percent of the total population at the time, they
constituted a vibrant and ancient community; their forbears had
listened to St. Peter in Jerusalem as he preached at the first
Pentecost. Yet Zionist doctrine held that Palestine was “a land
without a people for a people without a land.” Of the 750,000
Palestinians that were forced from their homes in 1948, some 50,000
were Christians – 7 percent of the total number of refugees and 35
percent of the total number of Christians living in Palestine at the
time.

In the process of “Judaizing” Palestine, numerous convents, hospices,
seminaries, and churches were either destroyed or cleared of their
Christian owners and custodians. In one of the most spectacular
attacks on a Christian target, on May 17, 1948, the Armenian Orthodox
Patriarchate was shelled with about 100 mortar rounds – launched by
Zionist forces from the already occupied monastery of the Benedictine
Fathers on Mount Zion. The bombardment also damaged St. Jacob’s
Convent, the Archangel’s Convent, and their appended churches, their
two elementary and seminary schools, as well as their libraries,
killing eight people and wounding 120.

Today it is believed that the number of Christians in Israel and
occupied Palestine number some 175,000, just over 2 percent of the
entire population, but the numbers are rapidly dwindling due to mass
emigration. Of those who have remained in the region, most live in
Lebanon, where they share in the same bottomless misery as all other
refugees, confined to camps where schools are under-funded and
overcrowded, where housing is ramshackle, and sanitary conditions are
appalling. Most, however, have fled the region altogether. No
reliable figures are available, but it is estimated that between
100,000 and 300,000 Palestinian Christians currently live in the U.S.

The Palestinian Christians see themselves, and are seen by their
Muslim compatriots, as an integral part of the Palestinian people,
and they have long been a vital part of the Palestinian struggle. As
the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, the Reverend Riah Abu al-Assal has
explained, “The Arab Palestinian Christians are part and parcel of
the Arab Palestinian nation. We have the same history, the same
culture, the same habits and the same hopes.”

Yet U.S. media and politicians have become accustomed to thinking of
and talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as one in which an
enlightened democracy is constantly forced to repel attacks from
crazy-eyed Islamists bent on the destruction of the Jewish people and
the imposition of an Islamic state. Palestinians are equated with
Islamists, Islamists with terrorists. It is presumably because all
organized Christian activity among Palestinians is non-political and
non-violent that the community hardly ever hits the Western
headlines; suicide bombers sell more copy than people who congregate
for Bible study.

Lebanese and Syrian Christians were essential in the conception of
Arab nationalism as a general school of anti-colonial thought
following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the
20th century. During the 1930s, Hajj Amin al-Hussein, the leader of
the Palestinian struggle against the British colonialists, surrounded
himself with Christian advisors and functionaries. In the 1950s and
’60s, as the various factions that were to form the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) emerged, some of the most prominent
militants were yet again of Christian origin. For instance, George
Habash, a Greek Orthodox medical doctor from al-Lod, created the Arab
Nationalists’ Movement and went on to found the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine. Naif Hawatmeh, also Greek Orthodox, from
al-Salt in Jordan, founded and still today heads up the Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Among those better regarded in
the West, Hannan Ashrawi, one of the Palestinian Authority’s most
effective spokespersons, is a Christian.

In fact, over the decades, many of the rank and file among the
secular nationalist groups of the PLO have been Christians who have
seen leftist nationalist politics as the only alternative to both
Islamism and Western liberalism, the former objectionable because of
its religiously exclusive nature, the latter due to what is seen by
many as its inherent protection of Israel and the Zionist project.

Among the remnant communities in Palestine, most belong to the
traditional Christian confessions. The largest group is Greek
Orthodox, followed by Catholics (Roman, Syrian, Maronite, and
Melkite), Armenian Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans. There is also
a small but influential Quaker presence. These communities are
centered in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, and
Ramallah.

For them, the conflict with Israel is quite obviously not about
Islamism contra enlightenment but simply about resistance against
occupation. To be sure, there have been periods of tension between
the Christian communities and members of the Islamist groups, yet to
many Christian Palestinians the Islamist movements have emerged by
default as the heroes in the conflict with Israel. Following the
incremental atrophy of leftist ideals, the Islamists are seen as the
only ones who are willing and able to fight the occupation. The
Lebanese Hezbollah, widely seen as a nonsectarian organization that
is able to cooperate with people of all faiths, is particularly
admired both among the refugees in Lebanon as well as those who
remain in Palestine. “We have received far more support and comfort
from the Hezbollah in Lebanon than from our fellow Christians in the
West,” remarked one Christian Palestinian refugee in Damascus. “I
want to know, why don’t the Christians in the West do anything to
help us? Are the teachings of Jesus nothing but empty slogans to
them?”

This is a justified and important question, but the answer is not
straightforward. The Catholic Church has, in fact, long argued for an
end to the Israeli occupation and for improvement of the
Palestinians’ situation. The leaders of the Eastern Orthodox churches
have taken similar, often more strongly worded positions. Likewise,
many Lutheran and Calvinist churches run organizations and programs
that seek to ease the suffering of the Palestinians and draw
attention to the injustices with which they are faced. Usually
working within strictly religious frames of reference, however, their
impact on the political situation has been minimal.

This political limitation has not applied to those parts of the
Evangelical movement that have adopted Zionism as a core element of
their religious doctrine. Christian Zionists in the U.S. are
currently organized in an alliance with the pro-Israel lobby and the
neoconservative elements of the Republican Party, enabling them to
put significant pressure on both the president and members of
Congress. In fact, they are among the most influential shapers of
policy in the country, including individuals such as Ralph Reed, Pat
Robertson, and Jerry Falwell, and groups such as the National Unity
Coalition for Israel, Christians for Israel, the International
Christian Embassy Jerusalem, and Chosen People Ministries.

Christian Zionism is an odd thing on many levels. A key tenet of
Christian Zionism is absolute support for Israel, whose establishment
and existence, it is believed, heralds Armageddon and the second
coming of Christ. The politically relevant upshot of this is that
without Israel’s expansion there can be no redemption, and those who
subscribe to this interpretation are only too eager to sacrifice
their Palestinian fellow Christians on the altar of Zionism. They do
not want to hear about coreligionists’ suffering at the hands of
Israel.

Israeli and Jewish American leaders have until recently kept their
distance from the Christian Zionist movement. But Beltway alliance
politics coupled with a sharp turn to the right among American Jewish
organizations since Israel began its onslaught on Palestinians in
September 2000, has driven them into each other’s arms.

One of the most potent forces behind the Evangelical Zionist
influence in Washington is Tom DeLay, leader of the Republican
majority in the House. DeLay insists that his devotion to Israel
stems from his faith in God, which allows him a clear understanding
of the struggle between good and evil. Be that as it may, he is also
able to cash in financially and politically from his position. Part
of DeLay’s growing influence within the Republican Party stems from
the fact that his campaign committees managed to raise an impressive
$12 million in 2001-2002. Washington Post writer Jim VandeHei
suggested, “In recent years, DeLay has become one of the most
outspoken defenders of Israel and has been rewarded with a surge of
donations from the Jewish community.”

In Oct. 2002, Benny Elon, Sharon’s minister of tourism and a staunch
advocate of a comprehensive purge of Palestinians from the Holy Land,
appeared with DeLay at the Washington convention of the Christian
Coalition. Crowds waved Israeli flags as Elon cited Biblical
authority for this preferred way of dealing with the pesky
Palestinians. DeLay, in turn, received an enthusiastic welcome when
he called for activists to back pro-Israel candidates who “stand
unashamedly for Jesus Christ.” In July 2003, Tom DeLay traveled to
Israel and addressed the Knesset, telling the assembled legislators
that he was an “Israeli at heart.” The Palestinians “have been
oppressed and abused,” he said, but never by Israel, only by their
own leaders. DeLay received a standing ovation.

Christians find themselves under the hammer of the Israeli occupation
to no less an extent than Muslims, yet America – supposedly a Christian
country – stands idly by because its most politically influential
Christians have decided that Palestinian Christians are acceptable
collateral damage in their apocalyptic quest. “To be a Christian from
the land of Christ is an honor,” says Abbas, a Palestinian Christian
whose family lived in Jerusalem for many generations until the purge
of 1948. “To be expelled from that land is an injury, and these
Zionist Christians in America add insult.”

Abbas is one of the handful of Palestinian Christians that could be
described as Evangelical, belonging to a group that appears to be
distantly related to the Plymouth Brethren. Cherishing the role of
devil’s advocate, I had to ask him, “Is the State of Israel not in
fact the fulfillment of God’s promise and a necessary step in the
second coming of Christ?” Abbas looked at me briefly and laughed.
“You’re kidding, right? You know what they do to our people and our
land. If I thought that was part of God’s plan, I’d be an atheist in
a second.”

Anders Strindberg is an academic and a journalist specializing in
Mideast politics.

Azeri minister meets Musharraf

Daily Times
May 19 2004

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf said Pakistan would
continue to support Azerbaijan till it gains sovereignty in Nagorno
Karabakh and other Azeri territories occupied by Armenia.

The president said this in his meeting with Deputy Foreign
Minister Khalaf Khalafov on Tuesday. He said the Azeri government
had supported Pakistan in the Kashmir issue and the peace process.
President Musharraf said Pakistan wanted to consolidate its relations
with Azerbaijan by strengthening commercial and economical ties.

Mr Khalafov said his government and people respected President
Musharraf for taking courageous steps at the time of the 9/11
attacks. staff report

Halley’s comet portrayed on ancient coin
Heather Catchpole, ABC Science Online

ABC Science Online, Australia
May 19 2004

Could the star shape on the king’s crown be Halley’s comet?
A rare ancient coin may feature an early record of Halley’s comet,
researchers say.

The coin features the head of the Armenian king Tigranes II the Great,
who reigned from 95 to 55 BC. A symbol on his crown that features a
star with a curved tail may represent the passage of Halley’s comet
in 87 BC, say the Armenian and Italian researchers.

Their research will be published in Astronomy & Geophysics, a journal
of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Halley’s comet, which was last visible in 1986, has cropped up
periodically in the Earth’s history, with regular observations in 1531,
1607 and 1682.

This led Edmond Halley to declare in 1705 that this was the same
comet, with an orbit taking it past the Earth about every 76 years.
He predicted successfully it would return in 1758, and the comet was
named after him.

Now researchers have found further evidence that the comet was
significant thousands of years before Halley was born.

Tigranes could have seen Halley’s comet when it passed closest to the
Sun on 6 August in 87 BC, according to the researchers, who said the
comet would have been a “most recordable event”.

The appearance of the comet in Armenia, which borders Turkey and Iran,
could be useful to date the coin accurately. While the coin dates back
to before 83 BC, when Tigranes conquered the ancient city of Antioch,
the capital city of Syria at the time, researchers do not know its
precise date.

Halley’s comet (Image: NASA/Ames Research Center) Halley’s comet is
a ball of dirty snow and ice about 15 kilometres long. Like other
comets that periodically pass the Earth, it has a highly eccentric
orbit that changes as the larger planets pull at its orbit.

Astronomer Vince Ford from the Research School of Astronomy and
Astrophysics at Canberra’s Australian National University said the
comet would have been bigger and brighter 2000 years ago.

“As comets come round the Sun they lose a lot of material, up to 10%,”
he said.

Although Halley’s comet wasn’t losing that much, it would still get
smaller over time as the Sun burnt away icy dust and gas.

Like other comets that return within 200 years, Halley’s comet is
thought to come from the Kuiper belt, a disc of comets and icy planets
including Pluto, which periodically sends icy material hurtling into
the solar system.

Ford said the oldest confirmed observation of Halley’s comet was from
Chinese recordings on 25 May in 240 BC.

Art had often been the source of evidence of sightings of Halley’s
comet, he said.

For example, the Bayeux tapestry depicted the comet in the lead up to
the Battle of Hastings in 1066. But art had also mislead astronomers,
Ford said.

“Giotto painted it into his nativity scene, probably because he has
recently seen Halley’s comet and he was impressed,” Ford said. “But
the comet only appeared in 12 BC, way before the birth of Jesus.”

Musharraf Assures Pak Support To Azerbaijan

Pakistan News Service, Pakistan
May 19 2004

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan : May 19 (PNS) – President General Pervez Musharraf
Tuesday said Pakistan will continue to support Azerbaijan till its
sovereignty is restored to Nagorno Karbakh and other Azeri territories
occupied by Armenia.

He was talking to Khalaf Khalafov, Deputy Foreign Minister of
Azerbaijan, who called on him here. Mr. Khalafov is on an official
visit to Pakistan. During the meeting, the President conveyed to the
visiting dignitary Pakistan’s abiding interest in augmenting relations
with Azerbaijan, particularly in the economic and commercial spheres.

The President thanked the Government of Azerbaijan for its consistent
support to Pakistan’s principled stand on the Kashmir dispute and
endeavours of the Government of Pakistan for resumption of dialogue
with India.

Mr. Khalafov informed that the President and people of Azerbaijan
hold the President in a very high esteem for the courageous stand
taken by him in the wake of events of 9/11 and his endeavours for
global peace and security as well as for his role in the political
and economic reconstruction of Pakistan. He reaffirmed support of
the Azeri Government for endeavours of the President for resumption
of dialogue and resolution of Kashmir dispute, by peaceful means.

Glasgow Daily Record, UK
May 19 2004

BOXING: I WON’T POOL MY PUNCHES May 19 2004

Champ Scott turns to underwater training
By Hugh Keevins

SCOTT HARRISON has been working under water in a bid to triumph on
dry land.

The WBO world featherweight champion has been punching in a pool as
he prepares for his title defence against William Abelyan on June 19.

He turned to the unusual rehabilitation technique after damaging the
bicep in his right arm.

Now he’s vowed to make a real splash and give US-based Armenian
Abelyan the hammering of a lifetime in their rescheduled fight at
Braehead Arena.

Harrison’s father and trainer, Peter, said: ‘The injury was sustained
doing every-day push-ups on the training bars.

‘But Scott could come back stronger than before because of the work
he’s been doing at the sports rehabilitation centre at Hampden. He’s
been punching under water and that resistance work is strengthening
his arm.’

Harrison has also been putting in some tough training sessions on
the hills as he prepares to get into the ring with Abelyan.

Their original meeting in March was postponed when the challenger
injured his arm and the Scot had to fight South American Walter
Estrada as a late replacement.

Last night Harrison said: ‘Now I’m ready to go. I’m sure this will
be a case of third time lucky for me but it will be no such thing
for Abelyan because he’s going to get the hammering of a lifetime.

‘The injury was unfortunate and happened at a bad time because my
training was going so well. But now I’m back in the gym and the arm
feels great again. I’ve started punching and, if anything, it feels
a lot stronger.

‘The rest and treatment have done me the world of good and I can’t
wait to get it on with Abelyan.’

Harrison senior has been poring over video footage of the little-known
opponent and has arrived at the conclusion the challenger has more
nuisance value than star quality.

The trainer said: ‘Armenians based in the States aren’t big box office
so he won’t have fought on many big shows.

‘Abelyan says he won’t be intimidated by the 5000-capacity crowd at
Braehead Arena but I can assure you it will have an affect on him.

‘Some people on the other side of the Atlantic try to tell you they
don’t where Scotland is on the map, so how can they be frightened?
Then they feel the passion of the ticket-buying public and there is
a sudden change of mind.

‘Abelyan will come here to steal the fight with counter-punching. All
of the commentators over there describe him as the kind of fighter
you would want to avoid.

‘He is awkward enough to make you look bad and can bang a bit if he
gets the chance.

‘But I don’t believe he can be a harder target to hit than Manuel
Medina.’

It was the Mexican who gave Harrison only the second professional
defeat of his career last July and relieved him of his title.

Revenge was taken in November and the double header has convinced
Harrison senior the champion will not relinquish his crown a second
time.

He said: ‘Nobody can be more awkward than Medina. He was so
unpredictable in his movements.’

KLO Stages Picket In Front Of British Embassy, Protesting BBC

Baku Today
May 19 2004

Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) staged a picket in front of the
British embassy in Baku on Tuesday in protest against BBC s sending
its reporter Steve Eke to Nagorno-Karabakh without getting permission
from Baku.

The picketers also voiced dissatisfaction over what they called biased
reports by Eke and Mark Grigorian, an ethnic-Armenian producer of BBC
s Russian service. The protestors began chanting Shame on Britain
after British embassy officials refused to meet them on the grounds
that the ambassador was not in Baku.

But later KLO deputy head Barat Imami was invited to the embassy
and promised that the picketers complaints would be delivered to the
ambassador Laurie Bristow.

Burbank Leader
LATimes.com
May 19 2004

YWCA honors women of heart

Mary Lou Howard, Burbank’s first woman mayor, will be feted at
luncheon for life of public service.

By Lauren Masters, The Leader

Burbank’s first woman mayor will be honored for her work helping
women expand their role in local government at this year’s YWCA Legacy
Award luncheon.

Mary Lou Howard, who served as mayor from 1982 to ’83 and again in
1985 and ’86 and now serves on the Burbank Civil Service Board, will
join four Glendale women to be honored for their work as community
leaders at the organization’s seventh annual luncheon Thursday.

“It is a way for us to recognize women in the community who are
making a difference and creating a legacy for other women through
the work they are doing today,” said Mary Boger, chairwoman of the
YWCA Awards Luncheon.

The YWCA committee chose this year’s honorees from 12 women nominated
by local civic organizations for their work, leadership and ability
to be a role model for other women.

Howard, nominated by Chris S. Carson, president of the League of Women
Voters of Glendale/Burbank, was the first female on Burbank’s City
Council and paved the way for other women to enter local government.

“She has a very forward- thinking approach to governance,” Boger
said. “She encouraged her council to have an open stance, initiated
town council meetings and imple- mented long-range planning.”

During her two terms, Howard encouraged the city manager to include
more women on the city’s management teams.

“The time was right and I felt I should go for it,” Howard said of
her first City Council bid. “In those days, women were on the library
board but never elected to office. I’m so honored by this award and
to be among these other women.”

The other award recipients include Wanda Bistagne, a longtime volunteer
in the Glendale community; Frieda Jordan, founder of the Armenian
Bone Marrow Donor registry in Glendale and Armenia; Louise Lewis,
a volunteer at Glendale Memorial Hospital who has logged in more than
30,000 hours; and Jean Maluccio, executive director of the Crescenta
Valley Chamber of Commerce. Erika Solomon is this year’s Jane O’Connor
award recipient for her work teaching mentally challenged students
to ride horses.

“It’s the role of the YWCA to empower women,” said Susan Hunt,
president of the YWCA board of directors. “These women have left
a legacy on the lives of others. They have compassion and high
expectations.”

Event proceeds will benefit the YWCA’s Domestic Violence programs
and ENCOREplus, a program that provides breast- and cervical-cancer
screenings to low-income women.

The cost to attend is $75, and reservations can be made by calling
Debbie Hinckley at 244-9183.

Azeri pressure group pickets British embassy over BBC reports on Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
18 May 04

The Karabakh Liberation Organization (KLO) has staged a picket outside
the British embassy in Azerbaijan to protest at the activities of
BBC employees, Azerbaijani TV station ANS reported on 18 May.

The pickets were protesting at the visit by a BBC journalist, without
the consent of the Azerbaijani authorities, to the self-declared
Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, which remains de jure Azerbaijani
territory. ANS reported that they were also protesting at the “abuse
of power” by another BBC employee and “promotion of the so-called
Armenian genocide”.

The deputy head of the KLO, Barat Imani, was received by the British
consul, ANS reported. He passed to her a letter for the British
ambassador.

Slovene president receives credentials of Armenian ambassador

STA news agency, Ljubljana
18 May 04

Ljubljana, 18 May: President Janez Drnovsek was handed Tuesday [18 May]
the credentials of the non-resident Armenian Ambassador to Slovenia
Vahram Kazhoyan. During their meeting, the officials expressed an
interest in furthering relations between Slovenia and Armenia.

According to Drnovsek’s office, the president stressed that Slovenia’s
presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) in 2005 should prove to be an excellent opportunity
for strengthening relations.

Drnovsek also highlighted that both countries are relatively young
and have had to build their relations from the ground up, which means
that there is still a lot of room for expansion.

The Armenian ambassador congratulated Drnovsek on the recent entry
of Slovenia into the European Union, an important development for
Armenia as well, which could benefit from the experience Slovenia
has gained in the accession process.

Armenian and U.S. officials discuss economic cooperation

AP Worldstream
May 18, 2004

Armenian and U.S. officials met Tuesday to discuss this ex-Soviet
republic’s proposals to receive funding from a U.S. foreign aid
program.

Armenian officials said they have been working on project proposals
for the Millennium Challenge program for the past three months that
focus on reducing poverty. Millennium Challenge is a program launched
by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of an effort to increase
spending on foreign aid.

Carlos Pascual, the U.S. State Department coordinator for assistance
to Europe and Eurasia, said the U.S. funds _ if approved _ would be
directed at developing a free economy, productive investments and
the fight against corruption.

“The US expects sustainable progress in the development of political
and democratic systems in the countries participating in the program,”
Pascual said. It was not clear when a decision would be made about
Armenia’s proposals, but a Millennium Challenge team is expected in
Armenia soon, officials said.

The United States has already allotted US$94 million to Armenia this
year, Pascual said. The bulk of the money is focused on economic
development and job creation, he said.

Pascual’s meetings in Armenia were part of the 8th session of the
Armenian-American Economic Working Group. Participating from the
Armenian side was Vardan Khachatrian, the finance and economic
minister.