Christianity in Palestine facts for kids

Some people who speak Arabic and live on the territory called Palestine today are Christians. These include Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic (Eastern and Western rites), Protestant, and others. About half of them belong a branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.

Today, less that four percent of the Palestinian Arabs living inside the borders of Palestine are Christians. Many Arabs emigrated, mainly because of wars fought between Egypt, Israel and Jordan. There is also a pressure to join Islam. Surveys done by the British in 1922 and 1946 showed that in 1922, about 9.5% and in 1946 approximately 7.6% of the Palestinian Arabs were Christians.

Images for kids

• 

  Christian sects in Palestine from the 1922 census of Palestine.

• 

  View of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

• 

  The oldest surviving Christ Pantocrator icon, 6th century, Saint Catherine's Monastery.

• 

  A late 11th century depiction of Christ.

• 

  Interior of the house of a Christian family in Jerusalem. By W. H. Bartlett, ca 1850

• 

  Palestinian Christian Scouts on Christmas Eve in front of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem (2006).

• 

  Four Bethlehem Christian women, 1911

• 

  Married Eastern Orthodox priest from Jerusalem with his family (three generations), circa 1893

See also

In Spanish: Cristiano palestino para niños