This article was originally published by The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and is republished with permission.

Palestinian Christian children stand outside the Latin Church in Gaza City. (Wissam Nassar, Maan Images)

Throughout history, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho has held at least some degree of danger for the traveler. In the first century B.C., Pompey’s army wiped out bands of brigands who operated here. A century later Jesus used the highway as the setting for his famous Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which thieves pounce upon a man and leave him half-dead. Even 1,000 years later, during the Crusader period, the road was still problematic, prompting the construction of a fort halfway along the route to provide security for pilgrims.

Times do change, however, and today the 23-mile-long road is safer than ever before. And because the highway is now paved, it is faster, too, whisking one down to the Jordan Valley in about half an hour.

But to the politically aware visitor, the journey is not a carefree experience. In traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, one is making a trip that most of Jericho’s 20,000 residents cannot, since Jerusalem is off-limits to West Bank Palestinians. And while one may be struck by the beautifully barren hills dominating this portion of the West Bank — some compare it to a moonscape — the road also passes through ugly reminders of the injustice done to Palestinians since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. Illegal Jewish settlements, housing some of the 450,000 Israelis now living on the Palestinian side of the Green Line, dominate several hilltops. And not far from these are the squalid camps belonging to the Jahalin Bedouin, who were driven out of the Negev in the 1950s — and who are threatened with removal yet again, as Israel seeks to expand its hold along the highway.

Reaching the outskirts of Jericho, my vehicle stops for inspection at an Israeli military checkpoint. Once permission to pass is granted, we continue on to the town center of one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the world. I have come to Jericho to learn more about the town’s small Christian community, comprising mostly Catholics and Orthodox, and to interview its governor, Dr. Sami Musallam, a nominal Lutheran.

At 7:30 p.m. an aide escorted me into a long rectangular office. Across the room a worn-looking man sat behind a desk, with a Palestinian flag to his right and a large framed poster of Jerusalem’s Old City on the wall behind him. I wondered why he appeared so tired. Perhaps it was due to the late hour. Perhaps because 40 years of military occupation will hang heavily on any leader trying to operate within its grip. Or perhaps it is because, even though Jericho holds great potential in terms of agriculture and tourism, the future seems grim.

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A native Jerusalemite, Governor Musallam attended what in the 1960s was called Bir Zeit College. After two years he transferred to the American University in Beirut, where he earned a degree in political science.

From there he moved to Germany to complete a Ph.D. at the University of Bonn, where he wrote a dissertation exploring the stereotypes of Arabs in the German press. Recalling this period, he said, "There was no separation between being an activist and a student. It was a seamless way of being."

Having joined Fatah in 1967, he was in Beijing by 1978, serving as the PLO representative to China.

Musallam’s intimate knowledge of the history of the Palestinian national movement is a captivating story unto itself. But because we had only an hour to discuss the topic at hand — his views on faith and politics as a Palestinian Christian — we quickly moved on to other things.

He was quick to assess the Western response to Hamas’ electoral victory in January 2006 as "very stupid, very undemocratic, very naďve." Musallam went on to argue that Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli deputy prime minister known for his racist and far-right views, is no less extreme than the most radical Hamas parliamentarian. If the West were even-handed, he said, it would acknowledge this. Instead, however, the West sees only what it wants, and chooses to penalize the whole of the Palestinian people because of how they voted.

Except for a pause to request another round of coffee, Musallam continued to address a number of topics without interruption. This interviewer found his articulate use of language, as well as his grasp of history, to be delightful.

"In the United States, you exaggerate Muslim-Christian strife," he stated firmly. "If two Muslims quarrel in Palestine it is not news; if a Christian and Muslim quarrel, it is news. But many conflicts between people are not religious."

Referring specifically to the events in the Christian village of Taybeh in September 2005, in which several Christian houses were burned down by Muslims from a neighboring village, he cited "hooliganism, not religion" as the cause. Elsewhere, he said, quarrels which are often cast in terms of "Christian-Muslim" conflict would be more accurately understood if cast in terms of "haves versus have-nots."

Historically speaking, Musallam pointed out, Christians outside the Holy Land often have posed a more serious threat than Muslims to local Christians. In the 7th century, for example, when Christians were arguing over Monophysitism, "the Byzantine emperor slaughtered Christians who didn’t agree with his theology." Because of such persecution, Musallam explained, Christians in Palestine welcomed the Islamic armies when they arrived and pushed out the Byzantines.

But it is not only in years past that outside Christians have harmed their local co-religionists, Musallem added — and a population can be decimated by means other than the sword.

"The greatest harm done to Palestinian Christians — after Israel’s harm — is done by Christian fundamentalists," he replied emphatically when asked what he would like to tell American Christians. Citing Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem as examples, he elaboraed: "They have done a lot of harm to the image of Christianity in the Arab East because they are so pronounced that Muslims started thinking all Christians are like this. Our Muslim neighbors have two fallacies. First, that the pope represents all Christians. Second, that these American Christians represent all Christianity. One stupid comment by Falwell and everything is destroyed."

By willfully failing to criticize Israel’s oppressive policies in the occupied territories, Musallam warned, Christian Zionists are contributing to the disappearance of Palestinian Christians, who are migrating in droves. Ironically, he noted, the Zionist worldview adhered to in thousands of American churches and in numerous offices on Capitol Hill threatens Palestinian Christians in a way that a Hamas-dominated parliament does not. By not only discouraging criticism of Israel’s immoral and illegal policies but even encouraging them, Christian Zionists contribute to the suffocating grip in which Palestinian Christians — and their Muslim neighbors — find themselves.

Musallam also rejected the theological approach of Christian Zionists, who so closely wed the Israel of the Bible with the Israel of today. "The only way the two are connected," he maintained, "is by the name."

Although Musallam’s face retained its worn look thoughout our hour-long interview, not once did it dampen the conviction with which he spoke. As the interview drew to a close he offered three suggestions to American Christians seeking to play a constructive role in Israel/Palestine:

• Ask Congress to stop being anti-Palestinian.


• Support initiatives that will generate income so that skilled Christians do not have to emigrate. "University graduates cannot find jobs," he explained. "If you want to maintain a Christian presence here, you need to invest in helping Christians."


• Come visit. Take one of your annual vacations here, and don’t visit just Israel.

While the road from Jerusalem to Jericho may be fast and safe, the future of Christianity in this small town—and in towns and villages across the West Bank—is precarious. Not far from the governor’s office one can visit several archaeological sites, including Hisham’s Palace and Tel Jericho, which once hosted living communities. Musallam, like many others, worries that because the lifeblood of the Palestinian Church is being so quickly drained, it, too, might one day be merely a dusty, dead shell, a reminder to future visitors that something alive had once dwelled here, but now is gone.

Joel Carillet, a freelance writer based in Tennessee, worked for the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel in 2003. His short stories and photo essays can be found at http://jcarillet.gather.com.