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Bethlehem Christmas Celebrations Limited after Muslim Threats

(Gatestone Institute) Bassam Tawil - Palestinian Christians have now become a tiny minority in Bethlehem. On Christmas day, Muslim Palestinians hurled stones at the car taking the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, to Bethlehem. On the eve of Christmas, it became clear that the real reason behind the PA's decision to cancel public celebrations in Bethlehem had nothing to do with Israel or the "intifada." The decision, it turned out, came after threats by Muslim extremists to target Christians and their holy sites. Christian residents of Bethlehem and Ramallah said they received threats and demands to cancel celebrations from various Islamic groups. The Christians in the West Bank and Gaza are no different from their brothers in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya, who face a ruthless campaign of persecution and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Islamic State and other Islamist groups.
2015-12-28 00:00:00
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