Letter to the editor: Numbers not dwindling

Notes: "Your Dec. 2013 article, 'Christian numbers dwindling in the Holy Land' [p. 2] does not distinguish between Israel and the disputed territories (Gaza and the West Bank). In fact, Israel is the one place in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing. In 1949, there were 34,000 Christians in Israel. Today there are 158,000 according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. (Eighty per cent of Israel's Christians are Arab.) Israel's Christian population grew by 1.3 per cent in 2013. It is true that in Gaza and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), the population of Christians is rapidly diminishing, as it is in all Middle Eastern countries, except Israel. It is worth noting that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country not dominated by Islam. This calls into question the assertion by Naim Ateek that Christian emigration from the region is primarily due to economic factors". [Text of entire letter.]

Subjects: Christians - Israel - Statistics; Christians - Middle East; Christians - Middle East - Emigration and immigration; Ateek, Naim Stifan, 1937-