Bit by bit Israel aims to squeeze out Palestinian Christians

There has been little reconstruction since last attack as Israel bars import of building materials

Jonathan Cook writes from Nazareth:

Bit by bit Israel aims to squeeze out Palestinian Christians. It's decision to trap the minority group in Gaza this Christmas is a prelude to a seemingly contradictory plan to sap the people of the will to stay and struggle for what is theirs.

Gaza's minuscule community of Christians will spend this Christmas feeling even more under siege than normal. The Israeli military authorities have denied the vast majority of the enclave's 1,100 Christians a permit to exit the Palestinian territory for the holiday season.

Unlike previous years, none will be allowed to join relatives in Bethlehem, Jerusalem or Nazareth, or visit their holy places in the West Bank and Israeli cities. Alongside the enclave's nearly two million Muslims, they will be forced to celebrate Christmas in what is dubbed by locals as "the world's largest open-air prison".

To read on see: www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/bit-by-bit-israel-aims-to-squeeze-out-the-palestinian-christians-1.954910