RTE No 20 Interior - Road to Emmaus Journal

Road to Emmaus Vol. XI, No. 4 (#43)Taybeh’s PleaAs Orthodox, we are the largest Christian denomination in numbers, butwe give the least humanitarian services to people. In contrast, there are only2,500 Anglicans in the Holy Land, but they give the most in terms of preschools,nurseries, grammar schools, homes for the elderly, hospitals, andclinics. It’s amazing that the smallest number of people give the most servicesto both Christians and Muslims.We do have Christian schools in Palestine and we need these schoolsto exist whether they are run by the Orthodox, Lutherans, Roman Catholics,or the Anglicans, because Christians liketo associate with other Christian people andto have Christianity taught in school. Manymoderate Muslims also like to have their childrengo to Christian schools because of ournon-violent message. In these schools wetry to present Christ’s love and peace, whichmeans not only loving our neighbors, but ourenemies as well. These Christian schools offercomputer classes, sports, French from thefourth grade and English from the first grade—a little more than what the government schoolsoffer, so this is another reason why the Muslims Mayor David Khoury.like our schools, and why, in the Christian schools, Muslim students are inthe majority. We are a minority even in our own schools, but these Christianinstitutions are still very important.RTE: What is life like for Palestinian Christians?DR. KHOURY: Palestine is under military occupation by Israel, and has beensince 1967. In 2002, Israel began building what they call a “security fence,”which is a 26-foot-high, 280-mile concrete wall that has affected about 80%of Palestinians. For example, if you live near the wall, you used to walk acrossthe street to go to school, but now you have to go all the way around by thegate. What used to be a one-minute walk to your school ends up being anhour or more. You used to go across the street to check on your grandmotheror to work in your dad’s shop, but now the wall separates people from theirfamilies, from their own lives. The wall went up, not on any internationallyrecognized borders, such as those of 1967; it went where Israel wanted it toOpposite: Maria C. Khoury89