Christian population falls in Holy Land

[oberliner]

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - The death threat came on simple white fliers blowing down the streets at dawn. A group calling itself "Friends of Muhammad" accused a local Palestinian Christian of selling mobile phones carrying offensive sketches of the Muslim prophet.

The message went on to curse all Arab Christians and Pope Benedict XVI, still struggling to calm Muslim outrage from his remarks on Islam.

While neighbors defended the merchant — saying the charges in the flier were bogus — the frightened phone dealer went into hiding, feeling less than satisfied with authorities' conclusion that the Oct. 19 note was probably a harmless rant.
Now the dealer is thinking of going abroad.

Call it part of a modern exodus, the steady flight of the tiny Palestinian Christian minority that could lead, some predict, to the faith being virtually extinct in its birthplace within several generations — a trend mirrored in many dwindling pockets of Christianity across the Islamic world.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/christian_exodus

[ShockediSay]

1. Big News Flash! It's been falling since the the forties -

Try preaching the Gospel anywhere in Isreal occupied lands

Tell me how long you last

[Igel]

2. That's borderline incoherent.

The maxim of relevance leads me to infer (you're saying) that somehow the Israeli occupation is somehow responsible, but then you say it's been happening since the '40s, 20 years before the Israeli occupation.

But at the same time there's a contrast between Israeli-occupied Arab areas and non-Israeli-occupied areas, leading to a weak implication that Christian proselytizing is acceptable in Egypt or Jordan.

The Palestinian authorities like to point out the decline and likewise lead us to believe that the Israelis are to blame, the burning of the Qalqilya YMCA entirely at Muslim hands being somehow ignored.

[Lurking Dem]

3. Are you saying

(since you say it is since the '40s) that all of Israel is "occupied"?