Tens of thousands of Christians are taking part in a huge, outdoor Mass in Nazareth being celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on his Holy Land tour.
The event in the town in northern Israel, where Jesus is believed to have lived, is expected to draw the largest crowds during the Pope’s five-day trip.
The Catholic Church head will then meet Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after backing a Palestinian homeland.
Mr Netanyahu does not support the idea of an independent Palestinian state.
The BBC reporter reveals a certain bias when he writes that ‘tens of thousands of Christians, among them many Arabs’ attended the Mass in Nazareth. In fact, most of those attending would have been Christian. The Arab population of Galilee is heavily Christian, mostly Melkite (Greek Catholic) rite and Orthodox. There is also an Anglican parish in Nazareth, Christ Church, near the wonderfully named Frank Sinatra Youth Centre. Many people just cannot get their heads around the idea of Arab Christians. They are people who have kept the faith sometimes amidst tremendous persecution. The reporter, to be fair, does say that a third of the population of Nazareth is Arab Christian, but like all statistics in the Middle East this is controverted. It depends whether you include the new town of Nazaret Illit (Upper Nazareth) which is entirely Jewish. In that case yes, one-third of the population is Arab Christian. However, I think (though I am not certain) that Nazareth Illit is a separate municipality, and if so, then more like one half of the population of Nazareth is Arab and Christian. There has been much, much less emigration from Nazareth than from Bethlehem, where, alas, the Christian population is much reduced due to emigration. Israeli blockades, growing Islamicisation of the Palestinian territories and a general sense of hopelessness has led many Christian families to emigrate. They are generally better educated and hence have more opportunities should they choose to leave. Hence the present Pope’s plea to Christians in the Middle East to stay.
Hmm. I should have checked Wikipedia. It tells me, citing Israeli government statistics, that 31% of the population of Nazareth is Arab Christian and 68% Muslim. This is separate from Nazareth Illit where 91% is Jewish and the rest Christian and Muslim. The reporter was right and I was wrong.