Posted on: 2004

By Bernard Sabella

The involment and participation of Christians in the affairs of their national community is not surprising, given the good relations, which obtain between Christians and Muslims, and the fact that Palestinian Christians are indigenous to the land and society. A number of factors have contributed to good Christian-Muslim relations:

1- The modern history of Palestine with the Arab-Israeli conflict affecting the entire population equally, with the experience of dispersal and loss of homeland.

2- The contribution which Christian institutions, mostly Western, have made since the 19^thcentury to the education, health and other needs of the population irrespective  of religion.

3- The presence of the Holy Places, and the recognition by Islam of the centrality of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to Christianity. This recognition is best crystallized

in Khalif’Umar’s al- ‘Uhda al-‘Umariyya, which was his guarantee of the safety of Christians and their holy places in 638 when Islam entered the country.

4- The urban nature of the Christian population and its living in religiously mixed neighbourhoods, thus emphasizing openness and neighbourly relations between Christians and Muslims. In those instances where the Christians lived in villages and rural areas, friendly co-operation and communal sharing.

5- Christians take equal pride in their national and religious rots. Being a good Christian has never detracted from being a god nationalist Palestinian, and vice versa.

6- The Ottoman millet system, which recognized the autonomy of the Christian communities to run their own internal affairs, especially those related to religious and civil matters. The system allowed Christians of the Ottoman Empire to assume important positions, especially in certain areas, such as commerce and finance, which were previously frowned upon by Muslims.