Palestinian Christians

Description

Palestinian Christians are Christians of Palestinian descent, that are descended from the peoples of historic Palestine, today including modern Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as Christians who emigrated to the area. In this area, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Anglican, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic, Protestant, and others. In both the local dialect of Palestinian Arabic and in classical or modern standard Arabic, Christians are called Nasrani or Masihi. In Hebrew, they are called Notzri, which means "Nazarene". Today, Christians comprise less than 4% of Palestinians living within the borders of former Mandate Palestine. They are approximately 4% of the West Bank population, less than 1% in Gaza, and nearly 10% of Israel's Palestinian population. According to official British Mandate estimates, Mandate Palestine’s Christian population in 1922 comprised 9.5% of the total population and 7.9% in 1946. Today, the majority of Palestinian Christians live outside of the former Mandate Palestine because of emigration. The reasons for the emigration are hotly debated, but the same pattern is unfolding in several other Arab countries where Christian communities are under increasing pressure. (via Freebase)

Also See

Israel

Israeli-occupied territories

Gilo