CT: You met a number of leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA). What was your message to them?
GT: Yes, I met the Minister of Interior in Ramallah and I raised the concerns of the WEA over the difficulties in Gaza and the ongoing civil strife and violence there. My particular concern, in meeting both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, was representing the Evangelical community.Evangelicals are treated very much as a marginalised minority because they haven’t been fully accepted there as long as the rest of the church community. So they lack representation very often. For example, the PA has now appointed a Christian Advisory Council but there is no Evangelical Christian on it. Following our meeting, the Minister of the Interior indicated that an Evangelical Christian would be invited to serve on that advisory body. That is certainly what Evangelical Christians are looking for there.
CT: You also spent time in Bethlehem. What is the situation like for Christians there?
GT: The reality is that they face daily challenges. In travel, for example, just being able to leave Bethlehem is hard. There is the security fence and the security checks they have to go through, and they have to get permits to travel between the two states. So it is very difficult for them. Daily life is a great challenge.
Listening to some of the Evangelical leaders in Bethlehem, particularly the young leaders, that have decided to stay I was deeply impressed by the sense of dedication that these people have in terms of wanting to stay in the land and make a difference. They could choose to leave and go to some other country, but they have remained.
CT: What can Evangelicals elsewhere do to support Christians in the Holy Land?
GT: Tourism is one of the ways we can support Christians in the West Bank. Whilst there has been a steady rising tide of tourism into Israel, the network of security checks makes it challenging for tour buses to get into the West Bank. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, the site that we should be spending time at, is difficult to get to, and because of that, tourist visits and pilgrimages have been impacted.
I stayed in Bethlehem for a couple days and met with local Christians, the town’s mayor and governor. And I produced a video in Manger Square appealing to Christians to come to Bethlehem, to visit the holy sites and spend time there.
Many Christians had to leave Bethlehem because of the economic situation brought on by the downturn of tourism, which is the primary funding mechanism in Bethlehem. There was some increase over the Christmas season and some progress over past year, but their hotels are still only at 40 per cent occupancy.
At the same time, a third of all tourists who go to Israel are Evangelical Christians and so one of the ways we can support our brothers and sisters in Palestine is to actually go and visit and spend time in the hotels, the restaurants and visit the sites in Bethlehem and spend time visiting the Evangelical Christians, because sometimes their story is not known.
Some people also have predetermined notions of security and attacks, which in Bethlehem has not been the case. And that is one of my concerns now, that the escalation of violence will potentially impact tourism in the whole of the Holy Land.
