Hamada Fara'neh, a Palestinian-Jordanian journalist and author who is also a member of the Palestinian National Council, recently published an an article titled "They Stole Christianity from Us" in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour and the Palestinian daily Al-Quds. In the article he claimed that Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem and lived in Palestine, was a Palestinian and that the West stole Christianity from the Palestinians, just as it later stole Palestine itself and settled it with Jews. This, he said, is why the West and its churches support Israel and do not come out against the crimes it commits against the Palestinian people. He added that, just as Jesus – who was the first Palestinian fida'i (self-sacrificing fighter) and an emblem of sacrifice for the sake of others – was crucified as a result of a pact between Judas Iscariot and the Roman colonialists, the Palestinians people are now victims of a pact between Israel and the colonialist West, headed by the U.S.
It should be noted that this is not the first time Palestinians draw a link between Jesus and the Palestinian national struggle.[1]
Hamada Fara'neh (Image: Alqalahnews.net)
The following are translated excerpts from Fara'neh's article: [2]
"Jesus was not a Roman but a Palestinian. He was born in Bethlehem, his divine revelation and his resurrection occurred in Palestine, and he was baptized in the Jordan River, for Jordan-Palestine was his homeland and the homeland of his disciples and his message.
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"He was not a European from Moscow or London, or from anywhere else outside out region, although his message transcends borders and his followers come from every nation and continent – just as Islam transcends borders and nations, and its followers are not confined to the Arabian Peninsula but come from all over the Arab world and every continent: from Asia through Africa to Europe and America. Religion has no homeland; it spreads in an effort to embrace all of human existence, for it is a divine message to human beings everywhere.
"The West stole Christianity from us, from our people, just as it did with Palestine, which was openly stolen by British imperialism. [This was done] by means of the Balfur Declaration, so as to bring all the foreign Jews together, help them emigrate [to Palestine] and settle them by force in the Palestinians' land at the Palestinians' expense. But no matter how large and strong the Israeli colony becomes, it will never be entitled to steal [the Palestinians' land] – as long as the Palestinian people remain alive and productive, its women remain fertile and its men remain willing to act, sacrifice and cleave to their homeland, their honor and their rights, which cannot be made to evaporate or be forgotten and do not expire with time.
"They [the Westerners] stole the Christian religion from our land, just as they stole Palestine [itself], and that is why they have not come out against the horrific violent takeover, the killing and the destruction [wreaked by Israel against the Palestinian] people and the residents of the cities, villages and neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip. [The Israelis] did this before, in 1948, but without being scrutinized, filmed and monitored. They inherited this behavior from their predecessors, for they did to the Palestinians what Tsarist Russia, German Nazism and Italian Fascism did to them.
"They [the Westerners] stole the Christian religion from us, and that is why the patriarchs and archbishops [of the Western churches] have not stood up against what the [military] forces of the [Israeli] colony are doing to the Christians and Muslims in Palestine, the land of Jesus. And this is despite the fact that the three Palestinian churches – the Church of the Nativity [in Bethlehem], the Church of the Annunciation [in Nazareth] and the Church of the Sepulcher [in Jerusalem] – are lamenting along with their people and their worshippers in Palestine, for their people, churches, schools, hospitals and family homes are in Gaza. His Holiness the Pope confirmed this in his Christmas message, which addressed the horrors of the heavy disaster that the Palestinian people are experiencing at the hands of the Israeli imperialists.
"The Palestinian people is facing death, murder, execution and destruction, along with starvation, shortage and the loss of the right to life. The churches of London and Moscow and their branches do not feel the pain and suffering of the Palestinian Christians and Muslims.
"Christmas, the festival [marking] the birth of Jesus – who was the first Palestinian and first fida'i, characterized by sacrifice, altruism and an untimely death – [will be marked this year] without joy, because the Palestinian people are being crucified in their own homeland, just like Jesus [was crucified] because of a pact between the Roman imperialism of his era and the treason of Judas Iscariot. Today, too, the cruelty, racism, fascism, and disgraceful actions of the [Israeli] colony [are met with] treason against the values of humanity by those who support [Israel], stand with it, help it, lend it political backing and protect it from accountability. This is what the U.S. administration did when it provided Israel with 230 cargo planes and 30 cargo vessels [loaded with] weapons, bombs and means of destruction. [These weapons are now] killing the Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, who honor [Christ], the Messenger of Love and Peace, just as they love all the messengers and prophets, chief of them [Muhammad], the Messenger and Prophet of the Muslims."
[1] See e.g., MEMRI Special Dispatch 9135, Palestinian Authority Commemorates, Glorifies Terrorists In 'Martyr Day' Events; Article In PA Daily: Jesus Was The First Palestinian Martyr, January 12, 2021.
[2] Al-Quds (East Jerusalem), Al-Dustour (Jordan), December 26, 2023.
