| Islamic Treatment of Palestinian Christians by Bill Koenig, White House News Reporter, March 15, 2002 Koenig's International News www.watch.org |
| In the past two days, I have had the opportunity to speak personally - eye to eye - with three people intimately involved with Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem and Beit Jala. Their testimonies are appalling. In Bethlehem and Beit Jala which have been under Palestinian rule for some time, the Palestinian Christians continue to suffer terribly at the hands of Arafat's terrorists. Shops in Bethlehem owned by Christians have been burned to the ground and the owners terrorized... by their OWN Palestinian 'brothers'. Young Christian girls have been taken and gang-raped; entire families terrorized. While many left the area earlier in the Intifada, those still there now have no recourse, it seems. Terrorists in Beit Jala seize their homes to use as firing positions to shoot into Gilo, (a suburb of Jerusalem), and the families living there have no voice. You read yesterday that two 'suspected' collaborators were murdered (and hanged from their feet next to a large picture of Arafat) by Palestinians in Bethlehem without investigation or trial beforehand. You should see the pictures. It's horrific, outrageous... but where is the outcry from the 'human rights' groups? In the newspapers here, the photos of murdered Palestinians being dragged through the streets of Bethlehem by masked terrorists, right into Manger Square which many tourists would recognize, are absolutely revolting. Will ANY international TV news broadcast these photos for the rest of the world to see what the terrorist organizations are doing to their OWN people? Probably not; it's not 'politically correct' (in their estimation). The Palestinian Christians are suffering terribly - right along with their Jewish neighbors. But let Israel go into Bethlehem or Beit Jala with troops and tanks to take control - fully aware and deeply concerned about the suffering of the Christians there - and the world that DOESN'T know about it begins to shout 'Restraint' at Israel. One Jewish lady who has good friends in Bethlehem said to me through her tears, 'They are trapped, completely trapped. I asked them why they don't speak out, why they don't try to defend themselves and they told me it's impossible. If they do, their whole family will be tortured.' This is not a political situation. This is some of the worst religious persecution in the world today.... like that in other countries where Islamic terrorists are murdering Christians, Jews and anyone who will not convert to Islam. |