The Christians who live in what most people hope will be soon be Palestine live in agony. Many Christians understood their fate and followed their instincts to the U.S., Australia, Canada. The not-so-long-ago largely Christian town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born is now almost 80% Muslim, and it is only the tourism to the Church of the Nativity--built over the sacred manger- that sustains the facade of a non-Islamic presence. Gaza is now down to 3,000 Christians, the others having been driven out by
harassment, torchings, murder and the tolerance for these by the 1.5 million Muslims in the Strip. No, it's more than tolerance. It's enthusiasm.
An Associated Press report tells you just how unmerry Christmas will be this year in Gaza. It won't be much happier elsewhere in Palestine.