Imagine an New Palestine based not on Muslim rule but as a noble effort to find a place in the Middle east for Christians.
The word for a Christian Arab is “Masīḥiyyūn‘ or مسيحيون عرب .
Like Jews, the Masīḥiyyūn are descended from ancient Arab clans that did not convert to Islam,. The Masīḥiyyūn also include the pharonic Egypt peoples we now see as the Copts, as well as as later converts such as the Melkites and Antiochian Greek Christians. Other ancient Christians of non Arab ethnic descent include the Assyro-Chaldeans, Arameans, and Armenians and others. The Maronites claim claim descent from the ancient Phoenicians.
Christian minorities living in Arab countries remind me a great deal of Jews living in Christian countries before Zionism. Persecutions and dhimmi status continue. Stalin wanted to create a soviet state for the Jews, an effort that failed in part because his regime was antisemitic.
Even democratic Arab governments discriminate against Christians, if only to protect the minority form the hatred of the muslim majority. Ironically, one such place Christians were protected was pre Bush wars Iraq. Tariq Aziz, the foreign minister who was later hung by the Americans, was a christian.
Today’s Zionists, their evangelical supporters and the Palestinians themselves should recall that that the first state called “Palestine” the was created as a place for Christians to live. After the state was established by Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 The population of Palestine was Christian and Jews were not allowed. The Sultan Saladin conquered the Palestinians and asked Jews to return. Jews should also remember that Maimonides was physician to Saladin and the great rabbi was able to see Jerusalem because of Saladin’s liberation form Christian rule.
So, if Israel was and is the answer to Europe’s “Jewish Problem,” maybe “New Palestine” could be an answer to the Arab world’s
One need not suppose prior to the rise of Islam Israel was a Christian nation. Most of the region was Christian. A Christian quarter in Jerusalem has existed since Byzantine rule.
Judea was Judenfrei under the Christian rule.