Posted: 3/28/2018 4:52:00 PM
Author: Eliram Baruch
Source: This article originally appeared on the Arutz 7 website on March 28, 2018
Christians flee PA oppression
Islam expert Dr. Ephraim Herrera explains how Christians went from 85% of Bethlehem's population before Oslo to und by Eliran Baruch,
Dr. Ephraim Herrera, an expert on Islamic studies, explained how Muslim oppression is causing Christians to leave the city of Bethlehem, where they were once the majority.
"Before the Palestinian Authority took control of these territories, about 85% of the population [of Bethlehem] were Christian citizens, and now they are less than 10% because the Palestinians prevent them from applying their faith and [performing] their customs and their prayers..." Dr. Herrera told Arutz Sheva near Bethlehem. "Therefore, they fled from here."
He pointed to nearby Beit Jala, which has a predominantly Christian population. "You see Beit Jala. I used to come there and to buy from Christians oil and eggs and we lived in peace with them. And now we cannot go there because they will kill me just for the fact I am a Jew."
"No Jew can live there. We speak about 'Apartheid' in Israel, but there is a law in the Palestinian Authority, that if you are a Jew you cannot be a citizen there. You cannot live there. And the Christians are oppressed there.
He said the Palestinian Authority (PA) accuses Israel of committing the very crimes the PA itself commits. "Saeb Erekat, who belongs to the Fatah committee, said that we oppress the Christians in Israel. We are the only country in which the Christians live in peace and they can have their faith and practice it in all the Middle East."
Dr. Herrera accused Erekat of lying to turn Christians into "another factor against Israel."
He said that the Christians in Israel cannot call out Erekat's lies out of fear that the PA will intensify its oppression of their coreligionists. "All the people in Israel, especially the Christians, know that Israel protects them."
He praised the US for passing the Taylor Force Act. "President Trump understands this point better than most people in Israel. With the Taylor Force Act he prevents the giving of money and support to the Palestinian Authority until they stop the payments to the families of terrorists who kill Jews and any tourist who come here to Israel."
