By: Stephanie Abraham / Arab America Contributing Writer Christmas has been canceled in the Holy Land. Decorations that have hung for years in Bethlehem have been taken down, parades will not take place, and streets typically overflowing with tourists are empty. Thus, the cultural and religious holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ will … Continued
As we move into the Holy Week of Easter and the Jewish celebration of Passover, it is timely to ponder Jesus’ place in the geography and history of the Holy Land. John Mason, contributing writer, wonders with us that if Jesus were alive today, he would probably want to shed a light on injustice, resist authority, defend the oppressed and poor, and, generally, raise some Cain. But that is a philosophical, religious cut at how the expected Christ figure might act. History, ethnicity, language, religion, and politics would have circumscribed Jesus’ behavior in ways we can’t know. But we can suggest how these might have shaped our perception of the historical Jesus.
His Eminence, the Most Reverend Saba Esper, is the Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East and the Holy Synod of Antioch elected His Eminence to lead the Archdiocese during its extraordinary session on Feb. 23, … Continued
Many reasons account for why Christians are driven away from the holy land. This, despite the fact that Christians were once a vital part of the Middle East landscape. While Christian monuments dot the Middle East landscape, many are unused–merely symbolic. Today, contributing writer John Mason writes, even Palestinian residents in the Middle East have difficulty reaching Christianity’s holy sites.
By: Claire Boyle / Arab America Contributing Writer Introduction: Earlier this month, Pope Francis made a historic first papal visit to the country of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf from November 3-6, 2022. Never before has any pope visited Bahrain, a country with an almost seventy-percent Muslim majority. Interestingly enough, Bahrain also happens to have … Continued
BY: Fahed AbuAkel / Arab America Contributing Writer Thank you for supporting justice and peace in the Holy Land. The Arab American Community, Palestinian American Community, Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, and the Palestinian Church with the Palestinian people in the Holy Land, want to thank the Presbyterian church for their Prophetic action. Their voice for … Continued
Major American churches, both Catholic and Protestant, have favored Palestinian peoples for decades. Namely, they support Palestinians oppressed under Israeli military occupation. Contributing writer, John Mason, writes that this does not mean the churches are anti-Israel. However, there is a highly driven opposing group of American evangelical pro-Israeli Christians, who are outright anti-Palestinian.
The Israel government has started to register land ownership in the area of al-Aqsa Mosque. That would put the sanctity of the Mosque at risk. Adding insult to injury, the government is using funds to help Palestinians to harm them. Contributing writer, John Mason, reports that in the same breath as Muslim Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem protested more Jewish settlers, Christian Palestinians also had something to protest.
BY: Lily Karam / Arab America Contributing Writer In celebration of Easter and Ramadan coinciding on this year’s calendar, Palestine Foundation had a nostalgic traditional maamoul baking day for members of the Mawtini Choir and their families. The Arab American community, Christians and Muslims, wanted to re-live their cultural traditions at home-away-from-home and pass such beautiful practices … Continued
Recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury point to the disparities between Arab Christians living in the Holy Land and those living in Israel proper. Contributing writer, John Mason, points to a semantic issue that has arisen between Israeli census counters and Christian leaders that clouds the issue of how many Christians are leaving the Holy Land to greener pastures. Christian Arabs being forced from East Jerusalem is yet another disparity.
By: Anthony Bayyouk / Arab America Contributing Writer In Bethlehem, Palestine the city where Jesus was born, Christmas is the most important time of the Year. Bayt Lahm as it is known in Arabic is mentioned many times in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the new one. St. Mary and St. Joseph … Continued
The Crusades were no doubt a series of events that altered world history as we know. To this day, the Crusades and their after-effects live on in the consciousness of Arabs, Europeans, and Americans alike. This is because the Crusades are largely remembered as an extremely brutal series of wars between “Christendom” and the “Islamic world”, which is alive in today’s political rhetoric. As right-wing pundits like to put it, today there is a “clash of civilizations” between the Christian West and the Arab Middle East, although this view is rooted in bigotry and ignorance. The first Crusade culminated in the siege of Jerusalem which saw the mass slaughter of the city’s Muslim and Jewish inhabitants at the hands of Frankish crusaders. This article will explore some of the political and cultural origins that led to this tremendously important event.
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