Press Release, November 17, 2005
The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is proud to offer the following link
is to Professor Justus Reid Weiner's new Monograph Human Rights of
Christians in Palestinian Society. It is a 1.4 megabyte PDF file. You will
need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file, but it is available online
without charge.

www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm

Following is a short thumbnail sketch of the Monograph:

On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to empower the
Palestinian Authority to improve the lives of its people, few journalists
have reported on the acutely trying times facing the Christians residing in
areas "governed" by the Palestinian Authority. In his book, Professor
Weiner, Scholar in Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs,
provides an in-depth look into the nearly uninterrupted persecution of
Christians throughout the decade since the Oslo peace process began.

Living amidst a xenophobic Muslim population plagued by endemic violence
bordering on anarchy, the Christians have shrunk to less than 1.7 percent of
the population in the Palestinian areas. "Tens of thousands have abandoned
their holy sites and ancestral properties to live abroad, while those who
remain do so as a beleaguered and dwindling minority," Weiner said.

"Their plight is, in part, attributable to the adoption of Muslim religious
law (sharia) in the constitution of the Palestinian Authority. Moreover, the
Christians have been abandoned by their religious leaders who, instead of
protecting them, have chosen to curry favor with the Palestinian
leadership." Professor Weiner's book reveals and analyzes why this
persecution - largely ignored by the international community, the media, and
even the human rights organizations - has metastasized to the extent that it
threatens the very existence of this 2000-year-old community.

This Monograph is also available in hardcopy.