I do not condone Helen Thomas’s remarks. The point is that they draw attention both to the existence and to the views, however imperfectly expressed in this case, of the indigenous Christians of the Middle East.
They were doing fine in Iraq until we decided to improve matters. We also shore up the regime in Egypt. By contrast, the Presidency and half the parliamentary seats in Lebanon are reserved to Christians, a state under constant existential threat from the Israeli bombardment in furtherance of Ben-Gurion’s claim to all territory south of the Litani. There are Christian-majority provinces, and Christian festivals as public holidays, in Syria, and both Armenians and Assyrians have reserved parliamentary representation in Iran.
No wonder that Christians founded, and continue to provide considerable support for, the PFLP and DFLP, whatever else may be said about those organisations. Are they fighting an Islamic holy war? Is Hanan Ashrawi? Was Yasser Arafat’s mother-in-law (his wife converted to Islam for inheritance purposes)? Is Helen Thomas?
Or is that simply not the nature of the Palestinian, and the Southern Lebanese, struggle at all?
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