Christian exodus from Holy Land

I fully expected this piece to contain a description on how the Muslim Palestinians were making life so miserable for the Christians, that they were forced to leave. Instead it is an anti-Israel rant.

For starters, the article claims:

Throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories, Christians are losing both turf and population. Squeezed between opposing sides in an intractable war, Christians are slowly leaving the holy land.

Not according to palestinefacts.org (or anywhere else for that matter):

The absolute number of Christians has increased as Christians have entered Israel from Europe or areas in the Middle East. The Christian population of Israel has grown from 34,000 in 1949 to about 140,000 today.

Another article mentions that the Christian population in Israel was actually only 120,000 as recently as 1995, so there's been an increase of about 15% in the last decade.

I bolded "areas in the middle east" because the story also mentions a Palestinian whose Iranian-Christian bride is supposedly not even allowed to visit Israel, "much less live there". Then the old "but the Jews are allowed to live here" complaint comes up in an attempt to negate the entire rationale for the existence of the Jewish State. More specifically:

"Israeli immigration rules shut out people born in countries hostile to Israel. Yet Jews born in those same hostile countries can visit Israel and immigrate without a problem."

Of course I'd be interested in knowing how welcome an Israeli (Arab or Jew) is on the immigration lines in Teheran and Damascus.

But wait there's more...

Business transactions, marriages and family ties connected Christian communities of the Near and Middle East. The Christian communities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem drew population, resources and income from Beirut, Cairo, Baghdad and Aleppo. These relationships and resources were severed when the Israelis took control.

Israel’s wars with its Arab neighbors and nearly 10 years of conflict with Palestinian Muslims have done more to isolate, marginalize and drive off the Christian population.

Yup, Israel "took control" after their wars with their neighbors.

The worst the article says about the Palestinian Muslim population is that they "sometimes move in to seize their property and land".

Et cetera, et cetera.

Myabe the reporter should have read the following:

The Islamization of Bethlehem by Arafat

And if you thought the Jews have it (or had it) bad in Muslim countries, it ain't no piece of cake being a Christian either.

UPDATE: This doesn't seem very unwelcoming to me.

In keeping with its annual tradition, the Jerusalem Municipality will give away free Christmas trees to the public on Thursday morning.

The distribution of the small evergreens, which is being carried out in conjunction with the Jewish National Fund, will take place between 9 a.m. and noon on Thursday just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City, on a first-come, first-served basis.

UPDATE 2: This article from the NY Times is much more balanced in my opinion. While mentioning Israeli actions as contributing to the outflow of Christians from Betheehem, the reason why those actions were taken is made clear.

A Sad New Carol: Go Ye From Bethlehem