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For years, the term "Arab Christians" was used to categorize the
Christians in the Middle East. However, the concept instead of being
precisely defined was intellectually misused and politically abused. Both
Arab regimes and "Arabists" in the West attempted to libel all
Christians living under the sovereignty of Arab states, as "Arab
Christians."
This denial of identity of millions of indigenous non-Arab nations can be
equated to an organized ethnic cleansing on a politico-cultural level.
Similarly to the Turkish attempts to eradicate the ethnic identity of the
Kurds, whom they call "Mountain Turks," and the Assyrians, whom
they define as "Semitic Turks."
Arab-Islamic regimes in the region assert that all those Christians who
live within the confines of "Arab borders" are "Arab."
With Arab nationalism at its peak, and "Arabist" circles at the
apex of their political influence in the West, the pre-Arab ethnicities of
the Middle East became the real underdogs of the region. The Arab Israeli
conflict increased their crisis. Not only the non-Arab ethnicities,
particularly the non-Moslem ones, were denied their basic rights, stripped
from their ancestral lands, but they were pressured to participate in the
general "war effort" conducted by the Arab regimes against a
non-Arab nation, i.e. the Jews of Israel.
The gestalt of global Arab strategy in the region was to pit non-Arabs
against other non-Arabs, after demonizing those who have formed their
national state Israel, and fragmented those who weren't able to implement
self determination. The Christians in the Middle East are not just a
religious group, nor do they form one single community. The overwhelming
majority of the Christians in the region are ethnically non-Arab, and
their major common characteristic is their subjection to Arab colonialism
and Islamic oppression for thirteen centuries. The Christians in the
Middle East are not, as it was portrayed by the Arab regimes and many in
the West, the followers of Christian faith among the Arab ethnic group.
"Arab Christians" exist in few spots in the region, but they are
a minuscule minority within the world of Middle Eastern Christianity.
Prior to the Arab Islamic invasion of the upper Middle East--the term
invasion is crucial--most of the peoples of the region, with the exception
of the ancient Israelites, were Christianized: Copts in Egypt,
Assyro-Chaldeans in Mesopotamia, Nubian Africans in Sudan, Armenians in
Asia Minor, Phoenicians (Arameans, Canaanites, Amorites) in Syria, and
Lebanon. With the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans, limited number of
Christians moved to Palestine from the north and the East. In Arabia, the
majority was pagan, a large segment of Arab tribes converted to
Christianity, and after the dismantlement of ancient Israel, the number of
Jewish centers increased in the Peninsula. Therefore, prior to the Arab
Islamic Conquest, the upper Middle East was not Arab, its overwhelming
majority was Christian, and many Arabs in the Peninsula were Christians.
These are the "Arab Christians."
Since the 7th century the geo-political landscape of the region changed
dramatically. The Arab Islamic armies occupied the upper Middle East, the
new order implemented an Arabization and an Islamization of the conquered
people. The majority of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and
Nubia, shifted to Arab Moslem. Numerically the native pre-Arab nations
were reduced, and politically suppressed. The defeat, Arabization, and
Islamization of the pre-Arab cultures, occurred during the dispersion of
the Jews. The pre-Arab ethnicities, most of which were Christians, shrunk
to enclaves, or to social categories. By the beginning of the twentieth
century, the non-Arab Middle Eastern nations reasserted their historic
national claims in many areas of their ancestral lands, which they never
left. The Assyrians reclaimed their rights in northern Iraq, and north
East Syria. The Lebanese Christians reaffirmed their identity in Mount
Lebanon; the Copts attempted to reform in upper Egypt, and the
Afro-Nubians called for self determination in southern Sudan. The historic
national rights of these native nations were met with radical rejection by
the established Arab regimes. Ethnic conflicts exploded in Sudan and
Lebanon, while ethnic oppression was implemented in northern Iraq and
Egypt. The political suppression of minor Christian communities was also
applied in Syria and north Africa.
What happened to the "Arab Christians?" At the onset of Islam,
all of the Arab Christian tribes were military defeated or subdued.
Numbers of them converted to Islam for socio-political reasons. When the
Arab Islamic armies conquered the upper Middle East, the "Christian
Arabs" were erased from Arabia, their Churches destroyed or converted
to Mosques. Only few clans survived in southern Iraq, southern Syria, and
mainly in north west Arabia -which became Trans-Jordan a few centuries
later. After the conquest, some of these Arab Christian clans emigrated to
Palestine moving in from the East. They joined the non-Arab Christians who
were present in Palestine after the Jewish dispersion, and seven centuries
before the Arab invasion. There are two types of Christians in Palestine,
and later on within the state of Israel. The non-Arab Middle Eastern
Christians, and Arabs who are Christians. The largest Christian nation are
the Copts, who number about 12 million. The Egyptian government recognize
only 2.5 million. The most concentrated and socially organized nation are
the Lebanese Christians (mostly Maronites) who number 1.5 million in
Lebanon and about seven million in the diaspora. The Assyro-Chaldeans of
Iraq are about 1 million in Mesopotamia, and one million in the diaspora.
The Christians of Syria are about a million. Non-Arab Syriacs (Arameans),
Arabized Syriacs, and Arab Christians (mostly Orthodox), in addition to
Armenians. In southern Sudan the African ethnic nationality is about seven
million, Christians and Animists. There are small Christian communities in
Iran and Turkey. There are no Saudi or Kuwaiti Christian. The Christian
nations living within the confines of Arab states are about twenty
million! So who are the "Arab Christians" to whom Arab regimes
and Arabists in the West refer? First, they are not recognized as distinct
ethnic identities, but rather as segments from the wide "Arab
nation" who are "of Christian faith." This indicates the
non- readiness of these regimes and their dominant ideologies to recognize
the later's fundamental, political rights, and subsequently their rights
to "national lands." Second, the Arab-Arabist duo do not admit
the real numeric size of these so-called "Arab Christians." In
Egypt they are recognized as 2.5 million, in Iraq, 250,000, in Sudan, 2
million, in Syria, 500,000, and in Lebanon, 25% of the population! Not
only have the Arab dominant powers subverted the numbers, but they have
attempted to subvert the identities of all pre-Arab nationalities in the
region, including those who converted to Islam, such as the Berbers of
north Africa, and the Kurds.
Where are the real "Arab Christians?" They are dispersed between
Jordan, Syria, Israel, and the Palestinian autonomous territories. They
are the remnants of the Arab Christian clans who escaped Islamization and
more recently the end product of Evangelization. They are estimated to be
200,000 in Syria, a hundred thousand in Jordan and an equal number or more
among the Palestinian-Arab populations, including within the Arab--Israeli
population. The Christians in Israel are composed of Arabs, Arabized,
non-Arabs, and few non-Middle Eastern. Although Arabs and Arabized are the
majority (around 70%) the non-Arabs who are the descendants of pre-Arabs
are in high numbers. Among them are the Maronites, Assyrians, Chaldeans,
Syriacs, and Armenians. Ironically many in Israel are not familiar with
the existence of non-Arab Christians in their country. This misperception
led many to believe that all Christians in the Middle East are
"Arabs," and as anti-Israel, as the Arab mainstream in the
region. Most of the Israelis, as do most of the Western public opinion
simply do not know that there are other "non-Arab" nations in
the region, also seeking the establishment of their independent homelands.
Many in Israel and the West perceive the Christians of the region as
represented by Hanan Ashrawi, George Habash, or Michel Aflaq. Whereas the
majority of the Christian nations do not recognize themselves as Arabs.
Their causes are not reported, their present or past leaders such as John
Garang, Ibrahim Hilal, Bashir Gemayel, Mar Shimun, and others are
marginalized. Even the mini-community of Christian Arabs is not at ease
with its ethnic brethren. As a result of the surge of Islamic
fundamentalism, all the Christians in the Middle East realize that they
travel in the same boat. >From the pogroms of Copts in Egypt, the
ethnic cleansing of South Sudanese, the oppression of Lebanese Christians,
to forced Arabization of the Syro-Mesopotamian Christians, the 20 million
non-Arab Christians are systematically targeted. The 0.6 million Arab
Christians, including those living within the Jewish state are
experiencing one of their most severe choices: Surrender to Islamization,
or join the pan-Middle East Christian boat, as a way to survive and
maintain their spiritual identity.
Professor Walid Phares
Curriculum Vitae
Dr Walid Phares hold degrees in Law and Political Science from St Joseph
University in Beirut, a masters in International Law from the University
of Lyons (France), and a Ph.D. in International Relations and Strategic
Studies from the University of Miami.
Dr Phares is currently a political science professor at Florida Atlantic
University and a visiting scholar at Florida International University.
Dr. Phares authored eight books on the Middle East including: "The
Christian People of Lebanon: Thirteen Centuries of Struggle," [1985];
"The Background of the Islamic Revolution of Iran," [Arabic,
1986]; and his most recent book "Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The
Rise and fall of an Ethnic Resistance," [Lynne Rienner Publishers,
1995].
Dr. Phares has published more than 300 articles in English, French, and
Arabic. He is frequently quoted and interviewed in the local and
international press, and has a number of research published in the
scholarly journals. He was the editor of Mashrek International monthly
magazine dedicated to the Christian minorities in the Middle East
(1982-1986), and the publisher of Mideast Newswire analytical newsletter
(1993-1997).
Dr Walid Phares,
P.O.Box 331195,
Miami, Florida 33233
Email: Phares@cmep.com
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Info For Christians
The Arab Christians
