It is no secret that Palestinian Christians have been leaving the Holy Land in recent decades. But what are the real root causes of this migration in search of greater stability, security and equality?
A survey conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research between January 27 and February 23 in 2020 confirmed that Christians are far more likely to seem to emigrate than Palestinian Muslims.
The Palestinian Christian minority lives in a number of West Bank cities such as Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus and Jericho, and in the Gaza Strip as well. By 2017, official figures indicated that their numbers had plummeted to just 47,000 people out of about four million Palestinians living in the West Bank and another two million in the Gaza Strip.
In the West Bank in particular the Christian population has decreased significantly over the past 100 years. For example, in 1922 Christians made up 84 percent of the population of Bethlehem. In 2007, they were just 28 percent of the local population in the city of Jesus’ birth.
Desire to emigrate
Thirty-six percent of Palestinian Christians in the West Bank who responded to the survey said they consider leaving the country, while 64 percent say they refuse to emigrate. But in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas holds sway, the percentage of Christians seeking to leave jumps to 84 percent. Among Muslims in general, just 23 percent said they would like to emigrate.
Most looking to leave would prefer to resettle in the United States or Canada, with Europe as their third choice.
What drives Palestinian Christians to leave their country?
The poll, which was conducted on a sampling of 995 people from the West Bank and Gaza, reveals that there are three main factors that drive Christians to consider emigration, those being difficult economic conditions, religious harassment, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Deteriorating economic conditions
The primary reason for Palestinian Christians to want to leave is the inability to make an adequate living. Fifty-nine percent in the West Bank and 72 percent in Gaza said economic considerations drive their desire to emigrate. See: Palestinians Recognize Their Economic Dependence on Israel
Fifty-eight percent of Christians describe their economic conditions as bad or very bad, while 42 percent of Christian respondents said their economic conditions are good or very good. Interestingly, the poll indicates that overall the economic situation of Christians is better than that of the Palestinian public in general.
At the same time, 47 percent of Christians said the Church is negligent in terms of providing any kind of humanitarian or economic aid to those in need. Just 23 percent consider the Church to be properly caring for the Christians of the Holy Land.
Along with the economy in particular, Palestinian Christians also identified general societal problems such as lack of personal security, crime, suppression of freedoms and governmental corruption as reasons for thinking about emigrating to the West.
Like their Muslims neighbors, Palestinian Christians indicated that they do not trust the Palestinian government, the local security forces or the courts. Local Christian clergy, too, earned a mark of distrust.
See: Palestinian Human Rights Abuses Revealed
Muslim persecution
While the vast majority of Palestinian Christians say that they are not subjected to harassment by their Muslim neighbors or in schools and workplaces, some 27 percent did say they had been the target of blasphemous insults. And 43 percent said they feel that most Muslims don’t want them living in the Palestinian Territories.
Again, about a quarter of Christian respondents said that while they might not face overt harassment, they do feel that their religion results in discrimination when looking for work in or requesting service from government institutions.
The percentage of Christians who say they were discriminated against on the job market jumps to 44 percent when looking for work in the private sector.
Thirty percent of Palestinian Christians said they do not feel integrated into Palestinian society due to Muslim animosity.
While most do feel accepted on a societal level, about a quarter of Christian respondents said that Muslim friends and acquaintances have asked them to covert to Islam. Seven out of 10 said they had at one time or another heard a Muslim state that Christians will go to Hell.
Palestinian-Israeli conflict
Christians also identified the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a reason for wanting to emigrate, even if it wasn’t at the top of the list. Many complained about Israeli checkpoints, alleged attacks by Jewish settlers and land confiscation. Most also believe that Israel wants to expel them from their homeland, despite the fact that the Christian population in Israel-proper is flourishing.
More than half of Palestinian Christians want a political solution to the conflict with Israel that leads to the establishment of a single state with equal rights and responsibilities for Palestinians and Israelis. Just 30 percent said they want a two-state solution in which they would live under a Palestinian Authority government. A majority of Palestinian Christians see a one-state solution as the safest outcome for them. This is somewhat ironic given that a single state would be half Jewish, and quite possibly still have a Jewish majority. Yet, as noted earlier, most Palestinian Christians believe that Israeli Jews want to expel them.
