A press release found in our inbox yesterday from an organization called "the Ad Hoc Committee for Bethlehem" states:
Every Christmas, Palestinian Christians from all over the Holy Land come together at the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square built over the manger where Jesus Christ was born. Today, the joy of Christmas in Bethlehem is overshadowed by great suffering, forced displacement and growing poverty caused by a 30-foot-high concrete wall that is being constructed around the city. Palestinian Christians who desire to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas are stopped at the entrance to the ancient city by the wall. They cannot freely enter nor can their brothers, sisters and neighbors on the other side of the wall freely exit. The Israeli military occupation stifles every aspect of life for the residents of Bethlehem today.
The release continues on in this vein, with not a mention of the dire threat of radical Islam that so many Palestinian Christians face, a threat illustrated well by this article:
Bethlehem-area Christian leaders and residents, 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 spokes of instances in which Christian shopkeepers' stores were recently 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.
The Ad Hoc Committee for Bethlehem is less concerned with the well-being of Palestinian Christians than it is with using those Christians to bash Israel. As Dexter Van Zile of CAMERA has noted, it has become a Christmas tradition for some mainline church leaders -- to their everlasting shame.