History
Approximately 98% of Palestinian residents of the territories are Sunni Muslims. The total number of Christians is widely estimated between 40,000 and 200,000 persons, with Christians primarily belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church, but also to the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Catholic Church, various Protestant churches, Syrian Orthodox Church, Armenian Orthodox Church, the Coptic Church, Maronite Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Christians are concentrated primarily in the areas of Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Bethlehem, but smaller communities exist elsewhere, including in Gaza.
According to municipal officials in Bethlehem, since 2002 approximately 2,800 Christians from the Bethlehem area have left the West Bank for other countries. According to Christian leaders, most left for economic and security reasons. Low birth rates among Palestinian Christians and the effect of the separation barrier also contribute to their shrinking numbers. There is also a community of approximately 400 Samaritans located on Mount Gerazim near Nablus in the West Bank.
Adherents of several denominations of evangelical Christians, as well as members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, reside in the West Bank. Foreign missionaries operate in the Occupied Territories, including a small number of evangelical Christian pastors who reportedly sought to convert Muslims to Christianity.
Read more about this topic: Freedom Of Religion In The Palestinian Territories
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of our era is the nauseating and repulsive history of the crucifixion of the procreative body for the glorification of the spirit.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)