The last decade has been catastrophic
for the Middle East’s the 14 million Christians, says William Dalrymple.
It won’t be much of a Christmas for the Christians of the Middle East.
Wherever you go in the region this season, you see the Arab Spring rapidly
turning into a Christian winter. Indeed, the entire last decade has been
catastrophic for the region’s beleaguered 14-million strong Christian
minority.
In Egypt, the political upheavals have been accompanied by a series of
anti-Coptic riots and intermittent bouts of church burning. On the West Bank and
in Gaza, the Christians are emigrating fast as they find themselves caught
between Netanyahu’s pro-settler government and their increasingly radicalised
Sunni Muslim neighbours. Most catastrophically, in Iraq, two-thirds of the
Christians have fled the country since the fall of Saddam.
It was Syria that took in many Christians driven out of Iraq a decade ago. Now those Iraqi refugees find themselves facing a second displacement while their Syrian hosts are themselves living in daily fear of having to flee for their lives. Most of the bloodiest killings and counter-killings in Syria have been along Sunni-Alawite faultlines, but there have been some reports of attacks, rape and murder directed at the Christian minority. There are more and more reports of violent al-Qaeda-inspired Salafists taking over the resistance against the Assad regime. The Christian community, which makes up around 10% of the total population, is now frankly terrified. Many are fleeing for Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan. There are tragic reports emerging of the wholesale emigration of the ancient Armenian community of Syria.
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About the author
- William Dalrymple is a writer and historian
- A Point of View is usually broadcast on Fridays on Radio 4 at 20:50 GMT and
repeated Sundays, 08:50 GMT
The article ends:
Christmas – the ultimate celebration of Christ’s humanity – is a feast which
Muslims and Christians can share together without reservation. At this moment
when Christians and Muslims find themselves facing off yet again, there has
never been a greater need for both sides to realise what they have in common
and … to gather around the Christ child, to pray for peace.
Read in full here:
BBC News – A Point of View: A long winter for Christians in the Middle East