Ramallah: The Council of Heads of Catholic Churches in the Holy Land has condemned Israeli plans to re-classify Chrsitian Palestinian citizens as “Arameans”.

They had previously, like Muslim Palestinians, been registered as Arabs.

Christian leaders have stressed that Christians in Historic Palestine are Arabs who identify as Palestinians.

The Israeli Interior Ministry has announced that its efforts to differentiate between Christian and Muslim Arabs have become successful with the Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Saar ordering the population registry to register a separate “Aramean” identity group.

The ministry said that Christians will be registered as Arameans instead of Arabs.

Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are those who did not flee or were not expelled by the invading Zionist armies who later went on to establish the Israeli regime in 1948.

They were forced to accept Israeli citizenship. The regime subsequently split the native Arabs of the land into two categories: ‘Druze’ and ‘Arabs’, where ‘Arabs’ encompassed Christian and Muslim natives.

Yariv Levin, a Likud member of the Israeli Knesset, said that the bill was proposed to the Knesset for approval last February and sought to identify Christians as a minority group separate from Muslim Arabs.

Most Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are Muslims and the pretext for the move was to give Christians unique representation on the Advisory Committee for Equal Opportunity in Employment Commission.

“I do not try to change the reality; the reality is there. There is s a big difference between Christians and Muslims, and they deserve recognition and separate representation,” said Levin.

The Council of Heads of Catholic Churches in the Holy Land said in a statement that putting Aramean Christian on the identity cards of Christians is merely an Israeli attempt to split Palestinian Christians from their undisputed Arab roots.

Christian properties seized

“The Israeli claims that it has acted in the defense of Christians are fake, fabricated and baseless claims; otherwise Israel should give back the Christian properties which it seized,” said the statement.

“Give us back our homes, lands and villages which you seized over time. The perfect protection for the Christians is to keep them as a central ingredient of their nation and for Israel to adopt a serious path of peace with the Palestinian Arabs.”

The Palestinian citizens of Israel largely identify with the wider Palestinian and Arab nations, including the Palesinians of the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, which are under Israeli occupation.

“Gaining an ally cannot be achieved by changing that ally’s identity card. The Christians and other Palestinians are natural allies of peace and we (the Christians) are ready to act as such without having to change our identity cards,” the statement said.

'Path of permanent conficts'

“Had you (Israelis) decided to remain in the path of war and conflict, you spare us this path as it is not our path at all. Human beings can not remain in the path of permanent conflicts.”

The council accused Israel of using the change in Christian identity to Aramean as a way to enlist Christians in the Israeli military forces.

“Stop such policies and go back to your mind,” warned the statement.

“The Israeli plan to identify the Christian as an Aramean is just an invitation for him to enter war. Such invitation can not be handed to Christians who have been ordered by God to be peacemakers.”

Arab member of the Israeli Knesset Dr. Basel Al Ghattas said that the Israeli plan to identity Christians as Arameans on their identity cards is a Zionist political plan which aims to force the Arab residents in Israel to divide into small minorities which are not related nor connected by any means.

“Israel wants to strike the social structure of Arab residents of the 1948 areas and create small minorities which can be put under full control,” he said.

“This is an awful policy which failed in the past and is destined to fail in the future, but Israel wants to play such dirty games once again.”

Dr. Ghattas said that Israel had put in place the world’s most discriminatory policies to force Palestinian transfer and deportation in that the Palestinians of all ideologies, cultures and sectarian backgrounds had suffered the Nakba and had been forced to leave their lands and properties which Israel took over illegitimately.