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amartien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD78904

Special Dispatch Series - No. 789 
September 24, 2004 No.789 

Iraqi Columnist: 'It is Difficult to Recall a Period in which Christian Arabs Were in 
Greater Danger than Today'

In an article in the Iraqi daily Al-Zaman, a newspaper published simultaneously in 
London and Baghdad with an independent and liberal pedigree going back to the 1940s, 
columnist Majid Aziza highlights the plight of the Christian Arab community in the 
Muslim world. The following are excerpts from the column: [1] 

"Christians, natives of Arab countries, are escaping their countries of origin. This 
is a common statement nowadays everywhere and it is correct one hundred percent. 
Statistics show that a large number of them have emigrated to safer countries for them 
and for their children, like the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The 
reason is the harassment to which they are subjected to by government agencies on the 
one hand and extremist groups on the other hand in countries they have inhabited for 
thousands of years� 

"The Christians have lived in the territory currently referred to as [the Arab 
countries] for centuries alongside other religious groups, and particularly with 
Muslims who shared with them the afflictions of life. But the Christians have lost 
their partners for many reasons, including religious extremism among some Muslims, the 
demographic increases out of religious reasons, and the acts of discrimination, 
coercion, and individual and collective expulsion of Christians, and the pressures 
placed upon them even when they were serving their countries. There are many examples 
of that in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, Egypt, and other countries. 

"Approximately 4 million Lebanese Christians have emigrated from their country as a 
result of the pressures placed upon them by others. About half a million Iraqi 
Christians have left their country for the same reasons� The situation gets worse 
today because of the discrimination by salafi [Islamic fundamentalist] extremists. In 
Palestine, the Christians are becoming almost extinct as a result of the control of 
extremist Muslims on the Palestinian issue and the marginalization of the role of the 
Christians, apart from the negative impact of the Intifada, which is led by Islamist 
organizations, on the Christians of Palestine. With regard to Christians in Egypt, the 
Copts, what happened and is happening to them equally on the part of the state and the 
Islamists will suffice to fill pages of books and newspapers to explain the coercion, 
discrimination and persecution. What is happening in Algeria, Mauritania, Somalia, and 
others is too long to explain. 

"This situation is also reflected in non-Arab [Muslim] countries. In Islamic countries 
like Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria, Christians suffer from persecution. In Pakistan, 
Islamist [spiritual leaders] have issued a fatwa [religious opinion] permitting the 
killing of two Christians for every Muslim killed by the American attacks in 
Afghanistan, as though the Americans represent Christianity in the world. In other 
countries they [Christians] live in fear, under the shadow of threat, and face a 
growing cycle of assaults whenever the United States and its allies carry out a 
military operation against any country. 

"Christians are afraid of what might happen to them in these countries. The situation 
is quite critical and requires urgent attention. It is difficult for us to imagine any 
other time in which the Christians have felt a greater danger than the danger they 
feel today in these countries�" 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Al-Zaman (Iraq & London), September 14, 2004. 






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