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In a meeting today with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert granted permission for terrorist leaders expelled from Israel after seizing Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in 2002 to return to Bethlehem, top Palestinian sources told WND.The terrorists, members of Abbas' Fatah militias, long have been accused of engaging in campaigns against Bethlehem's Christian population."This is a victory for the Palestinian people and for the Fatah militias. It is a very happy day," Jihad Jaara, the exiled director of the Nativity siege told WND.Jaara was the Bethlehem-area chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group at the time of the siege. The Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, took responsibility for all suicide bombings in Israel the past two years.WND first reported three weeks ago Israel was studying allowing the exiled Bethlehem terrorists to return.Christian persecution in Bethlehem
Bethlehem consisted of upwards of 80 percent Christians when Israel was founded in 1948, but when Israel handed over the territory to the PA in 1995 the Christian population started drastically declining to its current level of about 23 percent with a large majority of Muslims. The 23 percent Christian statistic is considered generous since it includes the satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem's actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating each year.Israel signed the territory over to the PA as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Reports of Christian intimidation by Muslims immediately began to surface after the PA gained control.Local Christian leaders speaking to WND stated they are concerned by what they said was growing radicalization and militancy among Palestinian groups, including Fatah, who reportedly have been targeting Christians in the city.Christian leaders, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said they face an atmosphere of regular hostility and intimidation by Muslims. They said Palestinian armed groups stir tension by holding militant demonstrations and marches in the streets. They spoke of instances in which Christian shopkeepers' stores recently were ransacked and Christian homes attacked.The Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs, including those related to Fatah.
Bethlehem consisted of upwards of 80 percent Christians when Israel was founded in 1948, but when Israel handed over the territory to the PA in 1995 the Christian population started drastically declining to its current level of about 23 percent with a large majority of Muslims. The 23 percent Christian statistic is considered generous since it includes the satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem's actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating each year.Israel signed the territory over to the PA as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords. Reports of Christian intimidation by Muslims immediately began to surface after the PA gained control.Local Christian leaders speaking to WND stated they are concerned by what they said was growing radicalization and militancy among Palestinian groups, including Fatah, who reportedly have been targeting Christians in the city.Christian leaders, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, said they face an atmosphere of regular hostility and intimidation by Muslims. They said Palestinian armed groups stir tension by holding militant demonstrations and marches in the streets. They spoke of instances in which Christian shopkeepers' stores recently were ransacked and Christian homes attacked.The Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs, including those related to Fatah.
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