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Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540575411&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Away from the Manger - A Christian-Muslim Divide
(Jerusalem Post) Khaled Abu Toameh - Off the record, many Christians in Bethlehem who were interviewed last week expressed deep concern over increased attacks by Muslims on members of their community. "The Christians here are perceived as easy prey," says a prominent Christian businessman. "After the Palestinian Authority arrived here in 1995, many Muslim families from Hebron and other parts of the West Bank have moved to Beit Jala," said a local physician. "Some of them have illegally seized privately-owned lands." Fatah gunmen in Beit Jala who fired into the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo in the first years of the intifada are also responsible for the rape and murder of two Christian teenage sisters from the Amr family. "Some of the murderers were later killed by the Israeli army, but others are now living in Europe after they had sought refuge in the Church of Nativity. It's absurd that Muslim men who rape and murder Christian girls are given political asylum in Christian countries like Ireland, Spain, and Italy," said a family member. Samir Qumsiyeh, a journalist from Beit Sahur who heads a local TV station, has drawn up a list of 93 cases of anti-Christian violence between 2000 and 2004. "Almost all 140 cases of expropriation of land in the last three years were committed by militant Islamic groups and members of the Palestinian police," Qumsiyeh said. "In 1950 the Christian population in Bethlehem was 75%. Today we have hardly more than 12% Christians."