These days Israeli Arab Christians celebrate Christmas. Who are they and how many of them live in Israel, Gaza and Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip?
Arab Christians are culturally, linguistically and ethnically speaking Arab and are adherents of the Christian faith. Arab Christians are indigenous to the Arab world, with a presence there predating the 7th century Islamic expansion in Western Asia. Many Arab Muslims today were originally Arab Christians who converted to Islam for various reasons, chief among them, avoiding the payment of jizya, a tax for non-Muslim populations under Muslim rule. Most Levantine Christians are ethnic Arabs descended from the Kahlani Qahtani tribes of ancient Yemen (i.e. Ghassanids, Lakhmids, Banu Judham and Hamadan).
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Courtesy JerusalemShots.com
The majority of the Maronite Patriarchs for the last 10 centuries descended from the widely known noble Qahtani Ghassanid Arabs that ruled the Levant in the Roman/Byzantine era and even some Frankish/Ghassanids.
Arab Christians made significant contributions to the Arab civilization and still do. Some of the top poets at certain times were Arab Christians, and many Arab Christians were physicians, writers, government officials, and people of literature.[4]
There have been occasional claims that the Maronites can trace their ancestry to Phoenicians. The Maronites were inhabitants of Orontes (Al-Assi) valley in Syria. They may be descendants of some Arab tribes which never converted to Islam or of a portion of Arameans. The eminent Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi (incidentally, a Christian) in his ‘A House of Many Mansions’ [1988] states (ch. 6): “It is very possible that the Maronites, as a community of Arabian origin, were among the last Arabian Christian tribes to arrive in Syria before Islam.. Certainly, since the 14th century, their language has been Arabic. Syriac, which is the Christian literary form of Aramaic, was originally the liturgical language of all the Semitic Christian sects, in Arabia as well as in the Levant and Mesapotamia.”[5]
There is also a portion of Arabic-speaking Christians which belong to the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people ethnic group. They use Syriac-Aramaic in their liturgy and some still speak it as a language. They are a separate ethnicity.
Some of the most influential secular Arab nationalists were Levantine Greek Orthodox Christians like Michel Aflaq, founder of the Baath Party, George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Constantin Zureiq.
Old City, Christian Quarter
Courtesy JerusalemShots.com
Israel, the West Bank and Gaza
About 75,500 Palestinian Christians live in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with about 122,000 Palestinian Christians living in Israel and an estimated 400,000 Palestinian Christians living in the Palestinian diaspora. Both the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash, and the founder if its offshoot, the DFLP, Nayif Hawatmeh, were Christians, as is prominent Palestinian activist and former Palestinian Authority minister Hanan Ashraw
E-H Dictionary
| English | How pronounced | Hebrew |
| Payment | Tashlum | תשלום |
| Nationalist | Le’umani | לאומני |
| Levant | Mizrakh | מזרח |
| descendents | Tze’etzayim | צאצאים |
| Occasional | Akrayee | אקראי |
| Diaspora | Galut | גלות |
| Tribe | Shevet | שבט |
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Good article! There are also a growing number of Arab Christians that are protestant; Baptist, Evangelical, and Charismatic. There are many that belong to independent congregations, and they can be likened to the many Jewish Messianic congregations, that believe that Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews and Gentiles alike. These Arab Christians have a hard lot, because they are rejected by Muslims as being traitors, and not accepted as friends by many Israelis. If one wants to see a glimpse of a solution for the Middle East conflict, they should visit a church service where Israeli Messianic and Arab believers worship Messiah Jesus together! Many Messianic believers in cities like Be´er Sheva and Arad are persecuted by orthodox Jewish groups, who see Messianic believers as “missionaries”, and a dangerous threat, who are trying to covert Jews, and “stop them from being Jews”. It´s a misunderstanding. Messianic Jews are still Jewish, and Arabic Christians are still Arabs, but they now feel complete, having added the Messiah to their lives. They love one another like brethren, which is something we need more of! Shalom and Salaam!
Thanks for taking the time to write that. I found it very interesting. If you get a chance you should visit my blog as well. I hope you have a great day!
Dear God, please save the world and make peace in Israel for jew and arab.
Shalom and salaam,i am a messianic jew who went to arabic christian church for 7 years. We also have a meeting once a year for the Messianic Jews and Christian Arabs here in LA.With the love of God Jews and Arabs can love each other and live in peace!