Home > Newsletter > September 2002

CHRISTIANS FORCED INTO ISLAMIC SCHOOLS

In the West Bank the unemployment rate is reaching more than 80%. Funds meant for the reconstruction of towns and infrastructure are used to build mansions for Palestinian Authority bureaucrats. Virtually none of these funds get to Christian families, yet every single Christian school in the West Bank is private. Christians in the West Bank must pay to send their children to Christian schools or else hand them over to the Palestinian schools and the hatred taught there. I have personally seen videos of children in kindergarten being taught to kill Jews. That is what the children of Christians will learn if forced to attend the schools run by Yasser Arafat.

There are fourteen Christian schools in the Bethlehem, Biet Jala area of the West Bank. The largest has 1200 students and the smallest 100. Regardless of size, all the schools have one thing in common and that is a lack of funds for tuition. Although many receive funds from major denominations, that does not cover the cost to the individual families.

In conjunction with a Scholarship Board being set up by West Bank Christian educators, the Religious Freedom Coalition will attempt to raise funds over the next few years for tuition for Christian students.