The British Mandate (1917-1948 AD). As World War I ended, on December 9, 1917, the British forces Jerusalem controlled Jerusalem. General Allenby’s victory procession to the old city of Jerusalem through Jaffa Gate signified the end of four centuries of Ottoman-Turkish occupation of the Holy Land. The inhabitants of Palestine were happy with the cessation of hostilities, especially those living in the old city of Jerusalem. They were suffering from lack of food, and inflated prices. Few civilians in Jerusalem were not hungry for months at a time. The League of Nations issued a mandate giving military administrative control of the Holy Land to the British. By naming the Holy Land, the “British Mandate for Palestine,” the area that is today Israel and Palestine, including Gaza, became the first, and only, geographical region with the name “Palestine”, since before the Ottoman Empire in 1517.

During the British Mandate of Palestine, the situation of the Arab Palestinian people, especially Christians, was very good. The British administration worked towards developing the ravaged territory into a modern country. They improved buildings, especially in Jerusalem and the territory’s infrastructure with a focus on improving its water management and road construction. The indigenous people were very active in the development of their country, particularly its Christian religious development. An example of the Christian religious development was a survey of Palestine conducted in 1922. It showed that the number of Christians living in Jerusalem was 14,699; Muslims totalled 13,413, and Jews 33, 971. In many cases, the British Mandate used the concept of “divide and rule” of which the Palestinian Christians and Muslims disapproved and voiced their condemnation of this British policy.

It became apparent to the Palestinians especially after the Balfour Declaration that one of the strategies of the British Mandate was to establish a national home for the Jewish people. The British Mandate recognized the “historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine” and called upon the mandatory power to “secure establishment of the Jewish National Home,” with “an appropriate Jewish agency” to be set up for advice and cooperation to that end. The World Zionist Organization was specifically recognized as the appropriate vehicle and formally established the Jewish Agency in 1929. Jewish immigration to Palestine was to be facilitated, while ensuring that the “rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced.”

The Balfour Declaration was issued in November 1917 by the British government. It was one of the important turning points in the history of the Holy Land. Its impact shaped the politics and the future situation of Palestinian people about their right of existence in their own country as well as destabilising the entire region of the Middle East.

The Balfour Declaration promised the Jewish people a homeland in Palestine, regardless of what had been promised by the British regarding the protection of the Arab inhabitants in the country according to the correspondence between British High Commissioner Sir Henry McMahon in Cairo and Sharif Hussein of Mecca between July 1915 and March 1916. The Balfour Declaration came into being in 1917 after some years of lobbying the British government by several influential western Jewish and Christian Zionists who worked toward this ideological project to re-establish a Jewish national homeland and a state in Palestine. Zionists claim that all of the biblical Holy Land belongs to the Jewish people and discounts the rights of Palestinians to live in this homeland that belongs to the Jews. The implementation of this ideology was accomplished in 1948 through the establishment of the State of Israel. The two main contributors to bring this project into being were Lord Balfour, British Foreign Secretary and the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, both of whom had Christian Zionist sympathies. Christian Zionists at that time were mainly evangelical Christians, who believe that universal redemption can only happen when all the Jews are gathered in their homeland and accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

The British Mandate in Palestine encouraged European missionary work among the local people in the Holy Land. They established schools for the Palestinian people, especially the Palestinian Christians as the British Mandate favoured local Christians culturally and socially. This missionary work in education, especially through teaching foreign languages, had a clear impact on the community and its outlook. The Christian community took advantage of the opportunity these schools afforded them to improve their educational level, which developed their socioeconomic status. According to Sabella, “Scholars argued that the European educational institutions, by exposing local Christians to foreign languages and cultures, accelerated among them the concept of relative deprivation”. This relative deprivation was felt first when Christians from the Bethlehem and Ramallah areas compared the difficulties they experienced during the Ottoman Empire with the progress in Europe and America. This comparison stimulated their desire to emigrate to North, Central, and South America.” Soon after the British Mandate over Palestine began, the Christian population in Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land increased and Jerusalem became the central Christian city, but soon the Christians lost their majority there due to the high birth rate of the Muslim population and emigration of Muslims into the major cities.

The Palestinians, as well as the Arab nations around, began to realize the implications and the effects of the Balfour Declaration and the hidden agenda of the British government as they allowed increasing numbers of Jewish immigrants leading to Palestinian loss of land. In particular, the local Christian community were concerned regarding the support given by western Zionist, evangelical Christian to the vision and agenda of the creation of a national home state for the Jews in Palestine. This support was based on a particular interpretation of Biblical prophecy which seemed to contradict Christian teaching regarding justice and peace. This view denies Palestinians any rights to the Holy Land and this ideology has been strengthened by the expertise of Israeli propaganda and continues to projects this image onto all activity that transpires around the “Holy Land”.

The situation in the country was unstable due to the tensions between the Arab and the Jews. The British sought to engage Muslim and Christian Palestinian leaders in participating in government with leaders from the Jewish community thinking that this would reduce the tension by creating a representative advisory committee. In fact this did not reduce the tensions between the two communities and led to greater aggression between the Arab and Jewish communities. The Palestinians began a series of, initially peaceful, protests against the Balfour Declaration and the Zionist agenda in Palestine. Anti-Zionist protests occurred during the Muslim Festival of Nabi Musa (Prophet Moses), on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. This is considered an important Muslim pilgrimage site in Palestine that, according to the Muslims tradition, is the place where Prophet Moses’ tomb is located. On April 4th 1920, the Muslims’ protest and anti-Zionist speeches turned into a violent action between the Muslims and Jews that led to several deaths and hundreds were wounded.  In the following years, Christian participation in the protest activities and processions increased and on many occasions, placards argued that Muslims and Christians were brothers against the British and the Zionist agenda.  Serious violent outbreaks occurred in different cities all over the country, in particular in mixed Jewish and Palestinian cities. This resulted in many deaths from Jewish, Muslims and Christian communities, which caused the British High Commissioner, Herbert Samuels to write to the British Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill on May 1921. The Christian community participated in these riots and were more active in the after math by verbally protesting and signing petitions against Jewish violent attacks against the Christians and Muslims.

The tensions and violence between the Arabs and the British authorities were escalated after the Palestinian parties formed a High Arab Committee under the Mufti and called for a national strike in October 1936.  This quickly became out of control and became for many Palestinians a holy war and volunteers started to come from all over the Middle East to join the fight against the British and the Jews.

These actions took place after the British government commissioned Lord Peel, a British ex-Cabinet minister to report regarding his vision for solving the issue of Palestine in light of the Palestinian refusal to accept partition. The Peel Report proposed a two-state solution and the partition of Palestine in which 70 percent of the land would be an Arab area linked Trans-Jordanian and the Jews would take 20 percent. This excluded Jerusalem which would remain a special entity under British control.  The revolt exploded again and Mufti Husseini was one of the organizers of the revolt. He called on the Arab population to kill anyone, even Arabs, if they cooperated with the British and the Jews.  During this time the British had great difficulties to manage the country with their own military forces and serval cities in Palestine were out of control. Due to this the British started recruiting Jewish fighters from several extremist organizations such as Haganah and the National Military Organization

In response to the Arab revolt in 1936-1939, the British government adopted new policies which were detailed in the White Paper of 1939, in order to reduce the stiffness and the clash between the Arabs and the Jews. The key issue contained in the White Paper was the limitation of Jewish emigration to Palestine to 75,000 for a period of five years. It was not the intension of Britain to form a Jewish state in Palestine and the territories lying west of the Jordan River were excluded from the White Paper. The formation of two areas sharing some form of government was favoured, where the interests of both peoples would be safeguarded. The Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries rejected the White Paper as a betrayal by the British authorities.

The fighting that ensued as a result of the Arab non-acceptance of the Peel Report resulted in the United Nations taking over the Mandate for Palestine from the British. The UN Partition Plan for Palestine was approved by the UN General Assembly on 29 November 1947, based on Resolution 181. The recommended of the resolution is the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states with a special statute about of the city of Jerusalem to be administered as an international city.

The surrounding Arab countries supported the Palestinian military forces in the fighting that broke out against the Jewish forces but were no match for the better trained Jewish military, many of whom had fought in the British army in World War II. They invaded all of Palestine, except the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, causing a huge exodus of refugees to Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt and internal displacement of many others to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. At the end of this war, the Jewish State of Israel was recognised by the UN Security Council in 1948.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948 to 1967. The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was one of the important, yet distressing, turning points for Holy Land Christians. The 1948 war is considered by the Palestinians, as well as the Arab and Islamic world, as the “Nakbah” which means the “Palestinian catastrophe”. As a result of this Palestine was divided and more than 15,000 Palestinian people were killed and around 750,000 Palestinians became refugees and have not been allowed to return to their homes and land by Israel until today.  Over 500 villages and towns throughout Palestine were completely depopulated during this time and many of them had Christian congregations and church organisations.  Christians suffered the consequences of the Arab-Jewish conflict with the rest of Palestinian society. As part of the Palestinian people, forced to relocate, these 50,000 Christian refugees found themselves looking towards Jordan and the Arab Gulf countries. Others, who chose North America and other destinations, established themselves and their families as part of the Palestinian Diaspora communities there but retained the usual sentimental attachment to their homeland and its fading memories. Palestinian Christians who stayed in their country found themselves relocated to other areas in the Holy Land. They had to leave behind their homes, property, and businesses, while the Jews who settled their benefited from the possessions they had to abandon.

During the 1948 war, the Palestinian Christians stood with rest of the Palestinian people who were defending their land by fighting against the Israeli army. Some of the Christians carried out attacks against the Israeli army and the new Israeli government, while other Christians participated by giving medical assistance to the wounded Palestinian fighters. The Palestinian Christians played, and continue to play, a major role in presenting the Palestinian situation during the war to the western countries through establishing newspapers and other publications to educate Palestinians about the danger of Zionism. Several Christian-Muslim associations were established and Christian non-profit organizations were set up to help the Palestinian refugees’ access to educational, medical and social aid.

The situation after the 1948 war was very hard on the Palestinians refugees who resettled in refugee camps in nearby Arab countries and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It was also problematic for the Palestinians who stayed in the country after the war. A dramatic demographic change took place with the Palestinian population in decline and an increase of the Jewish population. Around 800,000 to one million was the estimation of Jewish emigration numbers. They were settled in villages and towns that been captured by the Israeli forces. The church in the Holy Land and its institutions played an important role in reducing the suffering of the Palestinian refugees through opening their convents and pilgrimage hostels to the Palestinian refugees and establishing humanitarian institutions. The Palestinian Christians and the church in the Holy Land played another role in helping to highlight the suffering of the Palestinian to the international community and international humanitarian aid organisations. During the 1948-1967 period Israel implemented its strategic policies against the Palestinians in the areas that they occupied and this led to discrimination in terms of poorer economic, social and topographical infrastructure.

The Israeli government isolated Palestinian cities, towns and villages by establishing Jewish settlement next to Palestinian populated areas in order to prevent any kind of communication and stop natural expansion between these areas. The Israeli government issued several laws and procedures that negatively affected the development of the Palestinian economy. This made the Palestinian economy become more dependent on Israeli production and goods. The domination of the Israelis over the Palestinian people is demonstrated by the acceptance of Palestinians employees within Israeli governmental and public institutions in lower positions while the higher position are given to Israeli Jews without taking into consideration individual job qualifications. Implementation of the Zionist ideology and the discrimination in gaining Israeli citizenship is demonstrated by the way that any Jewish person anywhere in the world is eligible to gain Israeli citizenship. However, Palestinian who live in Israeli – controlled areas are judged by other laws which make it very hard to become citizens.  Several years after the war, the Christian presence in post-1948 Israel decreased and the number of Christians who gained citizenship was 30,000, whilst 150,000 Muslims gained Israeli citizenship. The Christians who were living in Israel, including Church leaders, viewed the Israeli government as an occupier who implemented all kinds of discrimination towards the Palestinian people in general and Israel viewed the Christians as part of the Palestinian people. Christian participation in Palestinian social, economic and political life became marginalized between 1948 and 1967, due to the fact that the new generation of Muslims became more educated. They began to take the lead in getting better positions within social service institutions and Arab political entities that provided service to Palestinians within the Israeli government. On the other hand, the Christian population decreased to half due to emigration and the higher birth rate of the Muslims.  The Christian population that had been 20 percent of the Palestinian population at the establishment of the State of Israel establishment became 10 percent prior to 1967.

One year after the war ended in 1948, Jordan divided the city of Jerusalem into east and west by annexing the eastern part of Jerusalem, while the western part remained as part of the State of Israel.  The historical Judea and Samaria changed its name from Trans-Jordan to West Bank after it was occupied by military force in 1948. On April 24 1950, the Jordanian government accepted a UN Resolution making the West Bank and East Jerusalem part of Jordan. This act was denied by most of the international community, in particular the Arab countries, while only Great Britain and Pakistan recognized the Jordanian annexation. The West Bank area became completely controlled by the Jordanians and the Jordanian government issued Jordanian passports to West Bankers to facilitate their travel abroad. In the years following the annexation the Palestinians people and the Jordanian government had no interest in achieving “self-determination” either in Jordan or in the West Bank.

The 1967 War, saw another tragic turning point and extreme important changes to the entire Palestinian society located in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The 1967 War, also called the Six Day War, took place in the Holy Land between June 5th and June 10th 1967. The Israeli officials and military generals claimed that the war was a preventative military effort to counter what they saw as an impending attack by Arab nations that surrounded Israel.  Israel won this war, capturing the West Bank, the Old city of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, Golan Heights (which was part of Syria) and the Sinai Peninsula (which was part of Egypt). Economic, organisational, political, and social changes took place among rising tensions between the Palestinians, on the one hand the Israeli military authorities and Jewish settlers, on the other. With these changes, and the dramatic changes in terms of population balance between Arabs and Jews in Israel/Palestine, some Israelis and Palestinians realised that there is a need for a political solution to end the occupation and protect at least the basic rights for Palestinians.

Local Christians, tried to work towards the conventional and secular political organisations, participated in the efforts of their community to end the occupation and establish Palestinian national rights. Christians, with their middle-class backgrounds, better education among the Palestinians and professional preferences, became progressively delicate to the instability and uncertainty that accompanied long Israeli military rule. Palestinian Christians saw that between 1967 and 1993, the migration of their community was double the national rate. They saw their friends and neighbours leave because of the economic, political, and social challenges. In fact, more than 12,000 of them left East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip migrated abroad. A census conducted by Israel after 1967 War, shows that 11,000 Christians remaining in Jerusalem. This meant that some 17,000 Christians (or 61%) had left during the days of Jordanian rule over East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Palestinian Muslims from Hebron now occupied the homes of Christian friends and neighbours in the Bethlehem area who had emigrated. The Jordanian rule (1949-1967) in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as the Egyptian regime in the Gaza Strip, brought with them an Arabic Islamic culture. For example, school books in the Arabic language used in the public school system were oriented towards Islam as they are today.  After the 1967 War, the Palestinian national sense of belonging was increased among the Palestinian people locally and internationally. Palestinian Christian professionals, such as George Habash, established the nationalist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which is a left-wing Palestinian organization that aims to liberate of Palestine from the Israeli occupation. Habash served as Secretary-General of the Palestine Front until 2000. His successor was Karim Khalaf who was a Palestinian Christian attorney and served as a Mayor of Ramallah a Palestinian city located north of Jerusalem from 1972 to 1982. He reinforced a policy of denial with the military occupation and advocated a two-state peace solution. Kamal Nasser also a Christian political leader, he was a poet and writer, who was in charge of the creating a Palestinian newspaper from Ramallah and who later he became a member of the PLO Executive Committee and served as a PLO spokesman until he was assassinated by Israel in 1973. Hanna Nasser was an academic and political figure who served as a President of Birzeit University which was founded by his father. Nasser served on the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization between 1981 and 1984 and held the position of Head of the Palestine National Fund between 1982 and 1984. Israel sent him into exile but he later returned until he took a position as ambassador to the United Nations,  then based in London. The history of Palestine and the Palestinians demonstrates that Palestinian Christians have played a major role that helped to bring justice to the Palestinian people and active dissemination of the injustices perpetrated to countries throughout the world.

The First Intifada and Oslo Accords (1987-1993 AD). The hostile political relationships between Israelis and Palestinians created the First Intifada in December 1987. Christians as part of the Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip strongly participated in the Intifada, some became martyrs, others prisoners and still others escapees in hiding from Israeli pursuit. Christian communities reacted collectively as part of the Palestinian community. They pressed for an end to the occupation and for a new relationship with the Israelis based on mutual respect and recognition of rights. The Palestinians and their leaders perceived the Intifada as a call for peace with Israel based on the presence of two peoples in the land.

The success of the First Intifada was a key factor that made possible the negotiations leading to the recognition of the Oslo Accords by the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization on September 13, 1993. These accords fostered the creation of the Palestinian National Authority. With these accords, the stage was set for the political transformation of the country and the natural excitement that accompanied it was felt by all Palestinians. The time of transition and transformation called for an optimistic stance and a departure from the past. Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, through the Intifada, the Christians who were living in these areas had suffered economic difficulties and suppression. Other Christians, with good educational and international contacts, escaped the hardships of life under occupation by migrating into other countries. They hoped for a better future for themselves and their children away from the occupation.

Christians who remain in the West Bank and Gaza Strip continue to suffer with their nationals through the search for a peace process that reduces their suffering. The Israeli policies against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem is affecting their future presence and their daily life in the city. For example, West Bank Palestinians can no longer obtain residency permits if they want to live in Jerusalem. Likewise, they cannot obtain building permits for new homes construction, or expansion and repair of housing in the Old City and East Jerusalem. The Israeli policies, have prevented the natural growth of the Christian community and accelerated its reduction.

The Al-Aqsa Intifada (2000-2005 AD). In September 2000, Ariel Sharon, an Israeli right-wing politician, visited Haram al-Sharif, also known as (Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock) located in Jerusalem, in which it is considered as the third holiest site for the majority of Muslims. While according to the Jews, Haram al-Sharif built on the holiest site in Judaism that was destroyed in 70 BCE. The stated purpose for Sharon’s visit was to assert the right of all Israelis to visit the Temple Mount. Muslims interrupted his visit there and considered it as an insult to Muslims and their religion. His visit created the second uprising (i.e., Intifada) between the Palestinians and the Israelis that led to a bloody conflict lasting several years. According to political analysis, Sharon knew his visit could trigger violence and that the purpose of his visit was purely challenging. As a result of this, demonstrations broke out in the West Bank and led to the Israeli government reoccupying the West Bank and avoiding any kind of signed agreement with the Palestinians.

The Al Aqsa Intifada had a negative impact on all the west bank cities including the city of Bethlehem area. The times were very bad economically for Christians living in the Holy Land as many residents there relied upon tourism and pilgrimages for their livelihoods. Travelers were discouraged from visiting Bethlehem, Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land because it was said to be unsafe and unstable. In addition to loss of revenue, families experienced shootings, house demolitions and many of the children suffered post-traumatic stress disorder. Muslim militias, from villages in the Bethlehem district which the majority of Christians are its residence, as a cover to attack Israeli settlements and military forces in nearby Giloh, a suburb of West Jerusalem. The residents of Bethlehem district which contains Beit Jala and Biet Sahour found themselves between Palestinian and Israeli crossfire. In this situation, as well as that of the takeover of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem by fleeing Palestinians, many believe that Muslim militants sought to gain the attention of international Christians to the situation.

Once again, hundreds of Christian families left Palestinian towns such as Beit Jala and Bethlehem due to the political instability and because they feared for their families’ safety. Many Christians moved to other countries, leaving everything behind. Some sold their property very cheaply to have the money needed to leave the country and begin a new life abroad.

The Palestinian Authority Elections (2006-2007 AD). The on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict repeatedly postponed Palestinian elections. Finally on 25 January 2006, elections were held for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) and for the parliament of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The election was the first PLC election since 1996. The voters were Palestinian who are living in West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The results showed that Hamas won the election, with 76 seats out of 132 in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Since Hamas held the majority of seats, the party was able to provide a viable alternative to the Fatah party in the PNA. This change in the balance of power led to the setting up of a National Unity Government.

Hamas is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist organisation. In 1987 it came into being at the beginning of the First intifada. Its long-term goal is considered to be the establishment of an Islamic state in Palestine. Before coming to power in 2006, Hamas had two main spheres of operation: (1) Social programmes focused on building Islamic schools, hospitals and religious institutions and, (2) Militant operations effected by Hamas’ underground Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

In June 2007, Gaza Strip was totally controlled by Hamas, destroying headquarters of PNA President Abbas and other government buildings. The violence between Hamas and the people who supported the Palestinian president forced him to dissolved the National Unity Government, a power-sharing agreement, signed by Fatah and Hamas representatives on 9 February 2007. He swore in an emergency government and forced out Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, a member of Hamas. In his place, President Abbas named Salam Fayyad, an independent lawmaker, to the post. Hamas leaders condemned the move and decided not to recognize the changes and insisted that the Fatah-Hamas National Unity government remain in charge of the Palestinian Authority. Intense gun-battles continued in the Gaza Strip on the fifth day of what Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas characterized as an attempted Hamas coup in the territory. At least 88 Palestinians died during the week in battles that escalated significantly. By the evening of 14 June 2007, after a week of fierce fighting between Hamas and Fatah forces, the Gaza Strip had fallen under the sole control of the theocratic Hamas movement. President Abbas declared a state of emergency and suspended certain article of the Basic Law to allow the PNA to retain power in the West Bank, which effectively divided Palestine into two separate parts, each controlled by different political parties, one in Gaza, the other in Ramallah.

The rise of Israeli right wing extremists in the Israeli government

The Israeli general election in February 2009 brought to power extremist right- wing parties in the Israeli government let by Benjamin Netanyahu. The election that year was a clear sign that the government had shifted its policies further right, based on extremist ideology. Shortly after the general election of 2009, the Knesset appointed Benjamin Netanyahu as the Prime Minister, which gave him the opportunity to form the 32nd government since the establishment of State of Israel in 1948.  He formed a coalition government that consisted mainly of right-wing parties, consisting of Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home), HaBayit HaYehudi (Jewish Home) and also included several smaller right-wing parties such as Shas which is an Ultra-orthodox political party.

Yisrael Beiteinu is one of the right-wing political parties in Israel and is considered as a national secularist party. HaBayit HaYehudi is another religious Zionist political party that was founded in 2008: part of their basic ideology is opposition to the creation of a Palestinian State and they consider Jerusalem the eternal capital of the Jewish people and not to be shared with anyone. They emphasise the importance of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank for Israel’s security and that they should continue to be under Israeli sovereignty. The Shas party was founded in 1984 by the Chief Rabbi Rav Ovadiah Yousef, the chief Rabbi in Israel at the time and one of the foremost Talmudic authorities. Shas represents Israeli’s ultra-orthodox Sephardic (Jews of Spanish, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern descent) community. The main ideology of all these coalition parties is the unity of the nation, the State of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people and no citizenship without religious allegiance.

In March 2013 Netanyahu was re-elected as Prime Minister for the 33rd government after his party the Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu won most of the seats in the elections. Netanyahu formed a new coalition with a combination of left and right-wing political parties such as Yesh Atid  (There is a future), HaBayit HaYehudi and Hatnuah (The Movement), but excluded ultra-Orthodox parties. Several months after the new government coalition was formed, conflicts were highlighted by the members of the coalition as Netanyahu’s government became more supportive of the Zionist militancy of the Settler Movement in order to keep his coalition together. Among the issues that caused the conflict in the coalition was the issue of the Zionist settlements in the West Bank. The Housing Minister Uri Ariel, a radical settler leader who belongs to the Jewish Home Party, called for the construction of more settlements in the West Bank and the Finance Minister threatened to bring down the government if any of the settlements were separated from Israel. This opposition included the Justice Minister and the Religious Affairs Minister who threatened to leave the government for the same reason. Several issues increased the gap between the government coalition members which led Netanyahu to dismiss the Ministers of Justice and Finance and several other ministers resigned which caused the coalition government to collapse and be dissolved. This resulted in an early general election in March 2015.

As a result of the election Netanyahu was re-elected and given the authority to form a new coalition government in Israel. Just hours before the dead line that was given to form the coalition, Netanyahu managed to form a coalition government with 61 out of 120 Knesset seats, from the majority of right-wing political parties, which gave him a very slim margin. The coalition were formed by thirty seats for the Likud party, ten seats for Kulanu, eight for the Jewish Home party, seven for Shas  and six seats for United Torah’s Judaism.  Netanyahu succeeded to form a coalition for the third time since 2009 and is considered to be the longest serving Prime Minister in Israel.

The victory of Benjamin Netanyahu and his ability in forming a right-wing coalition government for three consecutive times brought into prominence right- wing Zionist parties’ involvement in decision making in Israeli politics, in particular the policies that deal with Palestinian issues. The rise of the radical Jewish parties in the Israeli government seems to be due to Israeli society being unconcerned about the consequences of violence and willingness to pay any price in the prevention of Palestinians achieving their rights. The right –wing coalition government was systematically expanding illegal settlements in the West Bank and as a result blocking peace negotiations and consolidating the Israeli occupation without taking into consideration any pressure from the international community.

Beside Netanyahu’s Zionist ideology, he is also under pressure to implement more radical and extremist ideological policies through his coalition with the right-wing parties, especially issues that deal with Palestinian and the settlements. Such pressure has led Netanyahu to declare on many official occasions, his strong support for Jewish settlements in the West Bank in order to face what he is called “Palestinian terrorism attacks”.

His declaration in support of the right-wing ideological groups in building illegal settlements in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem is not a new story but has increased over time, especially during his time as a Prime Minister in coalition with the right-wing parties. In 1996, he visited one of the illegal settlements, Eli settlement in the West Bank, which was then a small settlement with 959 settler residents, Netanyahu’s speech to these settlers promised that they would live there permanently and he promised to construct new settlements and increase Jewish communities across the land that the Palestinians claimed as their future state.  According to a report by Rudoren and Ashknas, since Netanyahu became the Israeli Prime Minister in 2009,  he has said that  he will not evacuate any settlements in the West Bank and will continues to show his support to his right-wing coalition colleagues who are reputed to be the most being brutal  in dealing with Palestinians.

The effect of the extreme right-wing government on the Christians in the Holy Land is clear. The fact that the right-wing and extremist Zionist parties are controlling the Israeli government and imposing their ideology on political decisions provides a safe ground for extremist Zionists to implement their agenda towards Palestinians in general and in particular the Palestinian Christian people and churches.

According to the office of the United Nation Commissioner for Human Rights, the settlers attacks against Palestinians has risen by about 150 percent each year since 2008, with 154 attacks in the first half of 2012 alone.  Attacks against Palestinian Christians and their churches in the Holy Land by Zionist organization vandalism amounted to twenty four incidents over the past six years, according to Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land, who is responsible for many of the Christian Holy Sites in the Holy Land. There has been little action taken by the Israeli officials against attacks on Christian properties and Israeli police promises to bring the vandals to justice has unfortunately been slow.

These attacks against Christian properties started with writing anti-Christian slogans on the walls of the churches and have escalated to burning churches and shrines and attacking Christian clergy. The attacks consisted of spray painting graffiti and other vengeful words and “price tags” including blasphemous wording against Jesus and Christians. Other attacks were on Christian cemeteries, where tombstones were defaced, destroying vehicles that belong to monasteries and clergy and spitting on clergy. The Israeli authorities did not take serious action to prevent any further actions. These actions escalated until they resulted in burning churches. On June18, 2015, the Church at Tabgha by the Sea of Galilee, also called the “the Multiplication Church”, one of the shrines related to Jesus’ miracles near the Sea of Galilee, was heavily damaged by fire.  This arson attack was intentionally started by extremist Jews in the middle of the night, causing extensive serious damage to both the inside and outside of the building and phrases were written on the wall of the church  from a Jewish prayer urging the “cutting down’ of idol worshippers”. The Israeli police unit who investigated the incident arrested sixteen youths, who were said to be Jewish religious students from West Bank settlements, but released them shortly after because of lack of evidence against them. According to the International Middle East Media Centre (IMEMC), the Israeli authorities never seriously investigated these incidents. The previous Latin Patriarch of the Holy Land, Michael Sabah said “The attack is a repetition of what happened to the same church three or four years ago, but no one was punished then because the police claimed the perpetrators were underage, and as a result, no legal action was taken against them.

He added “But those responsible this time are not minors. When I keep seeing this happening, I see a government in Israel, and I see leaders who are not doing their job”. Due to the fact that such actions were led by right-wing extremist organizations, “price tag” is the name given by extremist Israeli settlers and members of the right-wing extremist Jews. Their goal is to implement their extremist ideology through vandalism against the Christian properties in the Holy Land. During the period from January 2012 to June 2013, Israeli police registered 788 cases of suspected “price tag” assaults in which 276 arrests were conducted, leading to 154 indictments. During these assaults some Palestinians were killed. Voices among the Israel administration, including the Justice Minister, Tzipi Livini define the “Price Tag” as a “terrorist organization” but this idea was opposed by the State Prosecutor who considered these actions as the acts of individuals. In fact it could be argued that the Israeli government has allowed these extremist Zionist Jews to increase their offensive actions against Christians in order to threaten the Christian presence in the Holy land. On December 17, 2015, one of the right-wing extremist Jewish leaders, Benzi Gopstein, the leader of a Jewish extremist group called Lehava, published an article in Hebrew on the Haredi website.  He wrote that he wanted all Christians out of Israel and said “Christmas has no place in the Holy Land: let us remove the vampires before they once again drink our blood”. He claimed the establishment of the State of Israel was “the most ringing slap in the face the church ever received” after centuries of failed attempts to eliminate Jews.  Gopstein, a political activist, connected with the radical right-wing in Israel was a student of Rabbi Meir Kahane. He is the leader of those who want to prevent personal and business relationships between Jews and non-Jews in the Holy Land.

The Christian community in the Holy Land has experienced similar attacks by such Zionist organizations since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. On May 17 1948, an attack was carried out by Zionist organizations on numerous properties that owned by Christians such as convents, hospices, and churches either destroyed or cleared of their Christian owners and custodians. This led to several Christians being killed and hundreds injured. These actions are considered by the Palestinian Christians as ethnic cleansing with the full knowledge of Israeli leaders such as David Ben-Gurion, Therefore, attacks against Christian churches is not a new phenomenon but the recent attacks have increased in severity.

These Zionist organizations are supported locally by Israeli right-wing political parties which are trying to impose their radical ideology within the political system in Israel and their international support is provided by Jewish and  Christian Zionist organizations in Europe and the USA. The Christian Zionist organizations, many of whom are from an evangelical Protestant background, have a major role in supporting the State of Israel, including financial support.  Christian Zionist groups have played a major role in the decision making of western governments, in particular the United States, since 1948. Their support of Israel is based on a theology that views the Jews as God’s “Chosen People” and their support for Israel is based on their belief that God will bless those who bless the Jewish people. Others believe that supporting Israel can best save Christians from Muslim persecution in the Middle East.

The Israeli government and the right-wing political parties and Jewish Zionists benefit from this ideology in financial terms as the Christian Zionist lobby is effective in generating financial and political support for Israel in the USA and some European countries. This support for Israel and the Jewish people has negatively affected the life of the Palestinian Christian community and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in general.

Israeli Zionist extremist actions towards the local Christian community, churches and its institutions, through burning churches, vandalism and bringing to the surface the ideology of hate towards Christians through local and international media. It is a dangerous phenomenon that needs to be closely monitored by church leaders in the Holy Land and world -wide. Israel’s lack of responsibility in taking action against Jewish Zionist extremists is affecting the Christian presence in the Holy Land and puts them in physical danger.  Jewish Zionist extremists’ racist and apartheid actions against the Christians in the Holy Land  is based on the belief that the Jews are God’s chosen people and God gave them sole rights to the Holy Land.  Due to the fact the Israeli government is influenced by the Zionist right-wing party coalition ideologies increases the concerns among local and international Christian Church leaders about the implications of putting these people into such positions of authority. The potential for escalating hatred against the Christians in the Holy Land by the Zionist extremists is great because there is no clear plan by the Israeli government to stop them and because of the ideological and financial foreign support by different Jewish and Christian Zionist organizations.