Christians in Israel : A minority within a minority

ICC Note

“It can feel very lonely here. We are a minority within a minority.”

By Dina Kraft

05/04/2009 Israel (JTA)-Amid the tolling of this city’s church bells, Marwan Bahous and his family hurry across the wide stone plaza leading into one of Israel’s holiest Christian sites: the basilica where tradition says the angel Gabriel visited Mary to say she would give birth to Jesus.

Bahous, 56, a Catholic from the Arab town of Shfaram, tries to bring his teenage children here regularly for Mass to instill in them that they are part of something larger than their own small community of Christians in Israel.

“We want to preserve our heritage for our children,” Bauhaus told JTA. “It can feel very lonely here. We are a minority within a minority.”

Approximately 120,000 Christians live in Israel , making up just 2 percent of the total population. It’s a percentage that has dwindled steadily since the establishment of Israel , as Jewish and Muslim populations have grown.

Contributing to their shrinking numbers Christians, considered the most highly educated group in the country, have a relatively higher level of emigration and a birthrate that is the lowest nationally among the three religions.

Ahead of Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival here next week, local Christians are hoping the papal visit will bring attention to their community and its challenges.

Christians in Israel , the majority of whom live in the Galilee, have something of a splintered identity (Palestinian Christians live mostly in Bethlehem and West Bank villages near Jerusalem ). They comprise 8 percent of the 1.5 million Arabs in Israel and face much of the same discrimination that Muslim Israelis do when it comes to employment and suspicion about political loyalties.

As part of his mission to break people out of their communal shells, Shoufani took a group of Israeli Christians, Muslims and Jews to Auschwitz in 2003.

Shoufani says he is pained when he sees his fellow Christians leaving Israel but understands their motivation.