35,000 Christian Palestinians 'Losing Hope,' Awaiting One-State or Two-State Solution

Christian Palestinians are "losing hope" amid the desperation and oppression they face, asking for human rights while world leaders continue debating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"People are losing hope that there will be any solutions. They feel that things are going back instead of going forward. The whole political instability, the economic pressure that ... the Palestinians are facing ... with no solutions," Jack Sara, president of Bethlehem Bible College, told Mission Network News.

There has been a stall in recent years when it comes to talks over a two-state or one-state solution to the conflict, which has made the lives of 35,000 or so Christian Palestinians near Bethlehem difficult.

"A lot of the Christians are still desperate to find a place where they, their kids are growing in peace and the ... atmosphere where in Palestine it's not that way. Still, the checkpoints are all over the place. The wall is being just erected, continued to kind of like suffocate almost the life of our Palestinians, especially in Bethlehem where the concentration of Christians is the highest in all of the West Bank," Sara said.

The economic sanctions on the West Bank have been imposed against hardline Palestinian factions and terrorist groups, but many regular people are suffering. Christians have faced various obstructions, such as not being able to visit family living in Jerusalem and other places inside Israel.

"Palestinians don't have the right to move around the country. They have no access to borders that they could fly out from except for Jordan. There's a lot of, I would say, [a] lack of freedom in many ways, and lack of opportunities because of that. The economy's being controlled still by Israel," Sara continued.

The missionary college director said that Palestinian Christians feel forgotten, as their story is often ignored and overlooked amid news of bombings and fighting in the region.

"I think it's worthwhile for Christians first to dig deeper into understanding the realities on the ground and specifically how Christians are living. If we are concerned about the Church, we have to be concerned about the Christians in the Holy Land because the Holy Land is bleeding from its Christians," Sara advised the global Church.

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