Jerusalem’s Christian population dwindles further
A view from the Petra Hotel at the Jaffa Gate area in Jeruslalem’s Old City shows the Dome of the Rock Mosque in the distance on 29 March 2022
Rasha Abou Jalal reports in Al-Monitor:
Israeli settlers affiliated with the Ateret Cohanim settler organization broke into the Petra Hotel, which is owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, on March 27, in an attempt to seize the premises. A small group remains in control of part of the premises, claiming to have documents proving their ownership of the hotel. The church says the documents are forged and has filed a complaint with the Israeli courts, demanding the settlers be expelled.
Representatives of Jerusalem’s Christian communities organized a vigil March 29 to protest the hotel occupation. During the vigil, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III described the settler organization as “an extremist group that practices criminal activities and acts as if it is above the law.”
Wadih Abu Nassar, a spokesperson for the Council of Patriarch and Heads of the Churches of the Holy Land, told Al-Monitor that Jerusalem’s Christians are living with increasing anxiety due to political and economic pressure that is pushing them to emigrate. He said many Christians are fleeing the Holy City amid the escalating conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, who have been targeting Jerusalem’s Christian presence. He added, “Christians used to make up about 25% of the population of Jerusalem in 1922, but today they barely represent 2%.”
According to a 2019 statistical report by the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, the city had a population of 936,000 across both eastern and western parts, including 563,000 Jews and 358,000 Arabs, by the end of 2019. Of the city’s 358,000 Arabs, 12,900 were Christians, while the rest were Muslims. The city also had 3,300 non-Arab Christians and about 11,100 residents unclassified by religion.
The Christian community in Jerusalem includes Latins, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Syriacs, and Armenians. The populations are concentrated in the Old City, Beit Hanina in the north, Beit Safafa in the south, and the neighborhood of al-Tur in the city center.
Abu Nassar explained that the political stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process made Christians feel they had no future, prompting many of them to pack up and leave the city.
Hatem Abdel-Qader, secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Committee to Support Jerusalem and Holy Sites, told Al-Monitor that a 1922 census counted slightly more Christians than Muslims, “with Christians numbering about 14,000 and Muslims 13,000.” He added, “In a 1945 census, the city had a Christian population of about 30,000,” he added.