Pope visiting Holy Land as Christians leave

updated 3:16 p.m. ET May 6, 2009

JERUSALEM - When Pope Benedict XVI comes to the Holy Land next week, he will greet a community of believers whose numbers are gradually eroding.

Dwarfed by Jewish and Muslim populations, young Christians are increasingly leaving to seek their futures elsewhere, especially those in the Palestinian territories and east Jerusalem. Christians say they are treated with suspicion by both Jews and Muslims and feel caught in an increasingly polarized conflict between them.

"It became a Muslim cause and a Jewish cause, so Christians, we have nothing to do," said Zakaria Mishriki, a 32-year-old Christian storekeeper in Jerusalem's Old City who has cousins in several U.S. states and Canada.

The last decade has also seen rising Islamic sentiment in Palestinian society, which has increased pressure on Christians, said Mishriki, whose shop offers wooden nativity scenes and crucifixes.

Meanwhile, Jewish Israelis do not differentiate between Muslims and Christians and consider all Palestinians a threat, added Mishriki, who was born to a Catholic family and now considers himself Protestant.

The Holy Land's Christians mainly consist of Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox, with smaller contingents of Armenians, Assyrians and a smattering of other sects.

While their numbers have risen slightly since the period when Israel was founded, the growth rate has fallen far behind those for Jews and Muslims in the country.

There were around 140,000 Arab Christians in the Holy Land in 1945, according to Palestinian sociologist Bernard Sabella. Today, there are around 160,000, compared to 7.4 million people who live in Israel and 3.8 million in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Tight security
Israel will deploy 80,000 security officers as part of "Operation White Cloak" protecting Pope Benedict during his visit, police said Wednesday.

Israeli police commissioner Dudi Cohen called the visit a "historic event that is very complex from a security aspect."

He said 80,000 security personnel will be deployed to secure the pope's tour, including 60,000 police officers. The rest will be secret service agents and soldiers.

Pope Benedict XVI will be the second pontiff to make an official visit to Israel. His predecessor, John-Paul II, arrived in 2000 for a millennium year tour. Also, in 1964, Pope Paul VI crossed into Israel unofficially for a few hours.

In Jerusalem, the pope will visit the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray, the Western Wall in the Old City; the Dome of the Rock, a main Muslim shrine, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial.

The pope will celebrate open air Mass in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth.

Cohen said more than 30,000 officers will be deployed in Jerusalem alone.

The commissioner said there were no specific intelligence warnings of attacks on the pope during his visit but noted, "terrorism is a reality Israel copes with all year round."

Police said they will close streets to traffic and tow cars parked along routes where the pope will be passing. For security reasons, the pope will use his famous "Popemobile" only for a short trip inside Nazareth on his way to Mass there, police said.

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