The Middle East Media Research Institute , MEMRI, issued a press release earlier this week that quotes the columnist ‘Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar writing for the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam . The journalist argues that the Christian culture in Palestine needs to be preserved for the sake of society as a whole:
There has been an attempt to marginalize Christian culture in Palestine, even though it is rich and deeply rooted [there]. This began with [accusations] of unbelief [against Christians] — a move that ultimately harmed Palestinian society as a whole . . . .Despite all the injustices [against the Christians], no one has seen or heard of any constructive action to curb it and to [defend] the Christians’ rights - whether by the elites, by any of the three branches (executive, legislative, and judiciary), by non-government organizations, or even by the political factions themselves. [Such action should have been forthcoming] not out of kindness and compassion, but [due to] regarding Palestinian Christians as indigenous to this land, and [therefore] no different from us, with the same rights and obligations [as Muslims].
We continue to instill a horrific culture in our children, one that sees Christians as infidels . . . and as ‘the other.’ We need an injection of humanistic and national awakening; we must raise an outcry and stand up to restore the Christians’ rights, of which they have been deprived — [and we must do this] in order to preserve the demographic balance, which will safeguard the unity of our homeland and the justness the Palestinian cause.
[Let us] remember that the tribes of Arabia were Christian. The best writers and poets were Christian, as were [many] warriors and philosophers . . . . It is they who bore the banner of pan-Arabism. The first Palestinian university was established by Christians.
