ECLJ in Middle East for UN Mission on Religious Freedom

Terrence McKeegan and Gregor Puppinck, Counsels for the ECLJ, are in Israel and the Palestinian Territories this week at the request of the United Nations Expert on Religious Freedom, to help facilitate the fact-finding mission there.

JERUSALEM

Starting on this past Sunday, the ECLJ team has been organizing a large and diverse range of meetings in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories on the situation of religious freedom. We’ve met with over three dozen Christian leaders from nearly every Christian denomination all over the Holy Land.  These meetings have given us a better understanding of the religious and political situation of the tiny Christian minority, which now comprises just 2% of the population here.

Among our activities, the ECLJ had the great opportunity to organize four joint meetings with the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion and Christian leaders. Because of the general climate of fear in many of the Christian communities in the Holy Land, many of the UN’s meetings with the Christian leaders would not have happened without our involvement. For the same reason, nearly all of the people we interviewed expressly requested their full anonymity.
 
The first meeting with the UN was a roundtable discussion in Jerusalem of a dozen individuals, including leaders from the Lutheran, Episcopal, Evangelical, Catholic, and Christian NGOs.  The ECLJ also organized joint meetings with the UN in the two most historically Christian towns in the Holy Land, Bethlehem and Nazareth, which have both experienced a dramatic exodus of Christians in recent years.  Some leaders referred to the situation in these towns as an “invasion” and gave detailed accounts of a coordinated effort by Muslims to seize Christian properties. The final meeting with the UN was held with one of the three patriarchs of Jerusalem, with our attendance requested by their office. 

Perhaps our most impressive meeting was one arranged by our colleague at CBN News with five Christians who had converted from Islam.  This meeting, which for security reasons was held in a olive tree grove, was extremely powerful.  These brave converts detailed their conversion experiences, but also testified to the persecution they have suffered as a result. They have been subjected to repeated interrogations and permanent discrimination, including the inability to find work because of their faith.  One recounted his story of being  tortured and imprisoned by Palestinian officials for many months.  As the penalty for apostasy in Islam is death, most of these converts have been forced to find protection in Israel or abroad.  Many others who are not known publicly to be converts hide their Christian faiths from their community, and even their families.

During the meetings, a number of leaders expressed their grave concern that the Christian community in the Holy Land is in serious jeopardy of extinction. Most of them worried about the growing risk of seeing a future “Palestinian State” run by an Islamic extremists. Many have resigned to prepare themselves to suffer more and more, and even, said one Christian leader, to be martyrs for their faith.