The NET Forum

The social and ethical impacts of tourism

Easter to Pentecost 2004:  Christian Solidarity?

by Dalia Abu Dayyeh

The most devastating result of the unrest in the Holy Land to me is the gradual disappearance of a way of life, a spirit, a heritage bequeathed to us more than two thousand years ago. This is my greatest fear for the Christian community in the Holy Land.

I watch as one by one, family members, friends and neighbors, with a heavy heart, tear themselves away from their historical and religious roots in search for normalcy and perhaps more importantly to escape isolation. As Christians, we have always been a minority in the Holy Land but we never felt isolated. We were connected to a vibrant Christian community in our towns and villages and to a wider very supportive international Christian community.

Sundays were alive with church bells calling us to prayer, baptisms and weddings. Families would gather for weekly Sunday lunches and religious occasions with up to five generations together under one roof such as with my family.  Christians from all over the world filled our streets and holy sites and sat as guests at our tables. And the world over celebrated Christmas and Easter with us who were fortunate enough to be at the very place where it all happened.

Now our community feels terribly isolated and for the first time we feel like a displaced minority. Our numbers dwindle. What will become of a Holy Land without Christians? Who will fill our churches? Who will remain as testimony to the unbroken chain of Christians living on the same land since the time of Jesus? Who will be the keepers of His message of peace and love? And who will fill my Grandma's house for Sunday lunches if we all keep leaving?

What is needed now more than ever is the support from Christians in the international community for their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. We should have a call to all the Christians in the world to come to the Holy Land and breathe life back into the Christian community of the Holy Land. And what more glorious occasion than Easter for the "resurrection" so to speak of Christian life in the Land of the Bible? And what more uplifting occasion than the Pentecost for the sharing of the "good news" with the rest of the world? Help us celebrate in merriment and in solidarity all that Easter and Pentecost represent. And most importantly help reignite the spirit of peace, love and hope for all, not only in the Holy Land but also for the world over in such uncertain times.

- Dalia Abu Dayyeh

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