Scholars characterize this emigration as a structurally driven phenomenon linked to political conflict, economic pressures, and migration networks, rather than religious persecution. The topic has been misrepresented in propaganda relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Background
The phenomenon is part of the wider trend of Palestinian emigration, which has been higher among Christians due to historical circumstances,[1] and part of a wider trend of emigration among Arab Christians.[2]
History
Early emigration
Christian emigration from Palestine predates the Arab–Israeli conflict, beginning in the late Ottoman period and intensifying during the British Mandate, when drought, economic marginalization, and early transnational family networks facilitated large-scale movement to the Americas. Scholarly studies describe this emigration as structural rather than episodic, rooted in unequal access to land, capital, and political power rather than solely in sectarian relations.[3]
Thousands of Christian Palestinians "emigrated to Latin America in the 1920s, when Mandatory Palestine was hit by drought and a severe economic depression."[4] Today, Chile houses the largest Palestinian Christian community in the world outside of the Levant. As many as 350,000 Palestinians reside in Chile, most of whose families came from Christian villages such as Bethlehem and surrounding villages.[5] Also, El Salvador, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and other Latin American countries have significant Palestinian Christian communities, some of whom immigrated almost a century ago during the time of Ottoman Palestine.[6]
Nakba
Following the 1948 war, Palestinian Christians were disproportionately affected by displacement, with an estimated 35–40% becoming refugees, accelerating the demographic contraction of historic Christian centers such as Jaffa, West Jerusalem, and Galilee towns.[7] Subsequent Israeli policies restricting return, residency rights, family reunification, land use, and access to employment have been identified as long-term drivers of Christian out-migration from East Jerusalem and the West Bank.[8][7]
After discussion between Yosef Weitz and Moshe Sharett, Ben-Gurion authorized a project for the transference of the Christian communities of the Galilee to Argentina, but the proposal failed in the face of Christian opposition.[9][10][11]
Current period and chain migration
Such emigration decisions of often pursuit of better living standards, primarily economically driven.[12][13]
Chain migration is a significant factor particularly from areas such as Bethlehem and addictent towns which produced some of the largest Palestinian Christian communities outside the Middle East. Scholars note that remittances and return visits have mitigated—but not reversed—the long-term population decline of Christian communities in Palestine.[14][15]
The Christian population has also decreased due to low birth rates.[16][13]
The Vatican and the Catholic Church blamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the Christian exodus from the Holy Land and the Middle East in general.[17]
Most of the Gaza Strip's Christian population lived in Gaza City, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.[18] As of October 2024, most of Gaza's Christians had in the churches' compounds decided to remain in northern Gaza.[19] In November 2024, Israel announced that no Palestinians would be allowed to "return" to North Gaza.[20][21][22]
Other claimed causes
Contrary to some politicized claims, the emigration phenomenon is not primarily driven by Muslim-Christian relations.[23][bettersourceneeded]
In a 2020 study, similar factors were noted for emigration of Christian communities in Gaza.[24]
The Jerusalem Post stated that the "shrinking of the Palestinian Christian community in the Holy Land came as a direct result of its middle-class standards" and that Muslim pressure has not played a major role according to Christian residents themselves. Hanna Siniora, a prominent Christian Palestinian human rights activist, has attributed harassment against Christians to "little groups" of "hoodlums" rather than to the Hamas and Fatah governments.[25] In his last novel, the Palestinian Christian writer Emile Habibi has a character affirm that: "There is no difference between Christian and Muslim: we are all Palestinian in our predicament."[26]
In a 2006 poll of Christians in Bethlehem by the Palestinian Centre for Research and Cultural Dialogue, 90% reported having Muslim friends, 73% agreed that the Palestinian Authority treats Christian heritage in the city with respect, and 78% attributed the ongoing exodus of Christians from Bethlehem to the Israeli West Bank barrier causing an economic crisis in Bethlehem.[27] Daniel Rossing, the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs' chief liaison to Christians in the 1970s and 1980s, has stated that the situations for them in Gaza became much worse after the election of Hamas. He also stated that the Palestinian Authority, which counts on Christian westerners for financial support, treats the minority fairly.[25] The United States State Department's 2006 report on religious freedom criticized both Israel for its restrictions on travel to Christian holy sites and the Palestinian Authority for its failure to stamp out anti-Christian crime. It also reported that the former gives preferential treatment in basic civic services to Jews and the latter does so to Muslims. The report stated that, generally, ordinary Muslim and Christian citizens enjoy good relations in contrast to the "strained" Jewish and Arab relations.[16] A 2005 BBC report also described Muslim and Christian relations as generally "peaceful", while noting that some Christians complain of harassment and discrimination.[13] The Arab Human Rights Association, an Arab NGO in Israel, has stated that Israeli authorities have denied Palestinian Christians in Israel access to holy places, prevented repairs needed to preserve historic holy sites, and carried out physical attacks on religious leaders.[28] Kairos Palestine—an independent coalition Christian organisation, set up to help communicate to the Christian world what is happening in Palestine—sent a letter to The Wall Street Journal to explain that "In the case of Bethlehem, for instance, it is in fact the rampant construction of Israeli settlements, the chokehold imposed by the separation wall and the Israeli government's confiscation of Palestinian land that has driven many Christians to leave," the unprinted letter, quoted in Haaretz, states. "At present, a mere 13 percent of Bethlehem-area land is left to its Palestinian inhabitants".[29]
Debates over the causes of Christian emigration from Palestine have become a recurring feature in media coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, in efforts to influence opinion of Christian communities in the West. [30]
In 2006, a draft bill was introduced by Representatives Michael McCaul and Joseph Crowley, drafted by their staffers Ari Stein and Gregg Sheiowitz,[31] which attributed the decline of the Christian population primarily to alleged failures by the Palestinian Authority.[32] According to Professor Daphne Tsimhoni of the Israel Institute of Technology “almost all the bill’s assertions are either exaggerations, misrepresentations or sheer fabrications.”[31] Representatives of churches in Palestine submitted a letter to the U.S. House Committee on International Relations stating that the resolution misrepresented the causes of Christian emigration by emphasizing internal religious or political factors while omitting the impact of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including movement restrictions and economic constraints. Critics noted that the resolution had been drafted without consultation with Palestinian Christian institutions and risked reinforcing politicized narratives about Christian–Muslim relations in the region. The resolution was quietly withdrawn following the criticism.[33]
In 2012, the CBS News program 60 Minutes aired a report titled “Christians of the Holy Land”, presented by correspondent Bob Simon, examining the decline of Christian communities in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and surrounding areas. [34] The segment linked emigration to conditions associated with the broader Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including restrictions on movement and economic pressures. Michael Oren, then Israeli ambassador to the United States, attempted to influence CBS to withdraw it prior to publication, arguing that it placed disproportionate blame on Israel. Simon responded by defending the reporting both on air and in subsequent interviews, stating that the segment reflected the testimony of local Christian residents and clergy and was consistent with available historical and empirical research.[35]
↑Kårtveit 2014, p.203: "Since the late Ottoman period, a large number of Palestinians have left their home communities in response to warfare, political oppression and lack of economic opportunities. Due to historical circumstances, emigration has been especially high among Palestinian Christians."
↑Sabella 1998, p.127, 128: "Christian Arabs emigrate virtually for the same general causes, irrespective of country. Specific causes highlight the course of emigration for individual countries."
↑Masalha, Nur (1996). "An Israeli Plan to Transfer Galilee's Christians to South America: Yosef Weitz and "Operation Yohanan," 1949–53". CMEIS Occasional Paper. Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham. ISSN1357-7522.
↑Sabella 1998, p.151, 152: "The causes for Palestinian Christian emigration do not include the rise of ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ as a factor. There is no direct effect of this phenomenon on effective Palestinian Christian emigration. Considering the history of good Muslim—Christian relations in Palestine and the fact that Christians are a small numerical segment of the population, not exceeding 3 per cent at the most, there is no reason for alarm over inter-religious relations… While in Egypt some Copts actually emigrate to escape the tense, intercommunal environment, there are no recorded cases in Palestine to indicate a similar trend."
↑Schmitt, Kenny (2020-11-09). "Gazan Christians: Pilgrimage Permits, Migration, and the Exchange of Precarity". Exchange: Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context. 49 (3–4): 316–338. doi:10.1163/1572543X-12341572. ISSN0166-2740. Retrieved 2025-12-29. The Gazan Christians in this study articulated several primary factors that influenced their motives for migration. The most significant motives involved the negative push factors drawing them away from the Strip and centered on the overwhelming precarity of their experience. This precarity was temporal and spatial in that Gazans were subject to a strict blockade; it was economic in that finding work and providing for families became exceptionally chal-lenging; it was political because they could only envision a stalemate between contending political parties, and it was religious because they were concerned about deteriorating Muslim-Christian relations under Hamas' authority. Gazan Christians were also pulled to the West Bank by the precarity of personal factors. They desired stronger social connections with family and friends outside Gaza, and they needed to address the practical problem of finding marriage partners for young people among a dwindling population. The dominant constellation of Christian interviewees' motives for escaping Gaza included the blockade, the economic collapse, the destructions of wars, the lack of consistent electricity and clean drinking water, and the pervasive sense of despair. Every interviewee explained that these factors played a decisive role in the decision to escape.
↑Kårtveit 2014, p.209: “While local churches and community leaders struggle to keep Christians in Palestine and to keep their communities alive, there is also a struggle over how to interpret these events, and how to tell the story of Christians within the Palestinian community and to the outside world. The proposed congressional resolution mentioned at the start of this book and the local responses it provoked represent two different sides to their story. While the McCaul and Crowley resolution ignored the devastating effects of Israel’s occupation and explained Christian sufferings solely in terms of Muslim hostility and oppression, local organizations often paint a picture of national unity and harmonious relations across sectarian lines. This battle over narratives is fought again and again. The dispute over who is to blame for Christian emigration is part of an Israeli–Palestinian battle for international sympathy, one that also challenges Israel's traditional support among Christian communities in the West.”
↑Kårtveit 2014, p.1-2: “The contents of this resolution were met with shock and disbelief within the Christian community of Bethlehem. It turned out that neither community leaders nor church representatives had been consulted on the situation of Christians in Palestine. As a response, Palestinian churches, Christian NGOs and the Municipality of Bethlehem issued their own statements, declaring that this resolution was marred by false accusations and that it created a distorted image of a Christian minority disconnected from their own national community. They pointed out that contrary to the McCaul and Crowley resolution, Palestinian Christians have good relations with their Muslim neighbors and that the real aggressor against local Christians is the State of Israel. In particular, the statements stressed that emigration among Palestinian Christians was fueled not by internal persecution, but by ongoing Israeli policies of collective punishments, the continued growth of settlements, the Separation Wall constructed on Palestinian land, and a policy of closures that has devastated the Bethlehem economy and ruined livelihoods.”
↑Kampeas, Ron (2006-10-30). "Palestinian laments Christian plight". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 2025-12-30. The response had an effect: By the end of summer, Crowley and McCaul quietly withdrew the resolution.
↑Kårtveit 2014, p.209-210: “More recently, this was highlighted with the controversy over a report aired on the cbs news program 60 minutes in April 2012. In the months ahead, 60 minutes had prepared a report on the flight of local Christians from the West Bank. Fearing a story that would blame Israel for the hardships of Palestinian Christians, Michael Oren, Israel’s Ambassador to the US, contacted the head of CBS News in an attempt to kill the story. In a bold move, 60 minutes correspondent Bob Simon responded by confronting the Ambassador on air. The report itself contained interviews with several prominent Palestinian Christians, who all related their hardships to the Israeli occupation (Wright 2012). After it was aired, the program ignited protest from political pressure groups and individuals in the US, who accused CBS of inciting hatred against Israel. Not surprisingly, the report was well received in the West Bank, where the interviewees were praised for ‘setting the record straight’, and identifying Israeli policies as the primary source of their hardships.”
Tsimhoni, Daphne (2016-02-15). "14 - Christians in the State of Israel: Between Integration and Emigration". In Allen D. Hertzke; Timothy Samuel Shah (eds.). Christianity and Freedom. Cambridge University Press. p.397–430. doi:10.1017/cbo9781316408643. ISBN978-1-107-12472-1. Retrieved 2025-12-30.
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