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Palestinian Christians not persecuted, say leaders, but tensions exist

This Easter season, Jerusalem Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan received visits to his office from a string of journalists. It happens every year at this time, with reporters wanting to write about the Holy Land during Christianity's most important annual festival. As is often the case, many of this year's interviews focused on whether Christians in this part of the world are persecuted, reports Ecumenical News International.

"I feel there is a trend to show that Palestinian Christians are living in a difficult situation," Bishop Younan told Ecumenical News International. "Of course, there are some cases [of Muslim-Christian tensions] but people exaggerate them, especially on the Christian right." Younan acknowledged that there was ignorance about Christians in some sectors of society in the region, and that social problems existed that needed to be tackled. Still, he believed that Palestinian Christians are not being persecuted by the Palestinian Authority, or Muslims, or by the State of Israel, or Jews.

[04/27/2008]

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