Palestinian Columnist: Muslims Are Harming Christian Culture

In his column in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, 'Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar criticized the persecution of Christians in Arab countries, with a particular emphasis on the Christian population of the Palestinian Authority. [1]

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Following are excerpts from the article:

"In Iraq, a crime is currently being committed - another in a series of iniquities brought by the winds of change that came in the wake of the [U.S.] occupation, which sought to impregnate Iraq with the seed of democracy. [But] the [resulting] fetus emerged deformed and weird. The worst outcome of this situation is, possibly, the carnage against ethnic communities and minorities that has swept through Iraq. Neither Sunnis, nor Shi'ites, nor Christians, nor Kurds, nor Turkmen, nor [members of] other [groups] have managed to escape it. "However, the string of murders and expulsions of Christians, which has been going on for several months, is by far the most grievous - [and] it [must be taken as] a warning that hostility and crimes against minorities may spread to the neighboring countries [as well]. "Christians are being persecuted not only in Iraq, but in most Arab countries, regardless of their numbers there. They are subjected to every possible kind of discrimination, as well as expulsion. The problem is that it is not only Arab officials who are remaining silent [in the face of these crimes] - [they do so] because their primitive mentality is centered on the cult of the ruler - but, alarmingly, so are Arab intellectuals, the elites, non-government organizations, and leaders of the private sector. All these groups look on at these unprecedented [acts of] folly without apprehending the danger with which these crimes are fraught.

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