Arab Orthodox - Arab Discontent

Arab Discontent

The Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem has been run by Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians from Greece or Constantinople (Istanbul) since the Ottoman conquests and the Turkish imposition of the Phanariot Ethnarchy. In the 20th century many of those who made up the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre were not only Greeks but Greeks from Samos Island. Patriarchs Damianos I and Timotheos I were accused of "flooding the Patriarchate with Samiotes." The local Arabs and their local clergy (who were married, unlike the Greeks in the Brotherhood who refused admittance to any married men), began to rebel and their cause dovetailed with Arab nationalism.

In 1909, Arab Orthodox Christians formally petitioned the Ottoman highest authority demanding more Arab inclusion in the upper ranks of the Patriarchate. Eventually, several Arab Christian Orthodox conferences were held to promote this cause:

• The First Arab Orthodox conference was held in Haifa on July 15, 1923.
• The Second Arab Orthodox conference was held in Jaffa on October 28, 1931.
• The Third Arab Orthodox conference was held in Jerusalem on September 23 and 24,1944.
• The Fourth Arab Orthodox conference was held in Jerusalem on March 23, 1956
• The Fifth Arab Orthodox conference was held in Amman on December 8, 1992.

In addition, especially during the Mandate, there were Orthodox clubs in Haifa and elsewhere and Orthodox Scouting groups.

Arab Orthodox were leaders of the Palestinian National Movement, formed the leadership of the Arab portion of the Communist Party of Israel and later Rakah and edited the leading newspapers in Mandatory Palestine including Filastin, edited by the Isa brothers (Daoud Isa), and Al Carmel which was edited by Najib Nassar. Khalil Sakakini, a prominent Jerusalemite, was also an Arab Orthodox as was the PFLP founder George Habash and George Antonious, author of The Arab Awakening.