At a ceremony by the River Jordan, Rowan Williams leader of the world-wide Anglican Church expressed profound concern about dwindling number of Christians in the Holy Land.

Mr. Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, does not appear to have identified the primary reason why Christians are leaving the Holy Land. The official position of his Church is that a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the answer to stopping the Christian flight from their ancient homeland. The natural extension of this view is that Israel holds the cards to making a deal.

What Williams and other mainstream Christian leaders fail to articulate is the dominate role played by Muslim Arabs in making life unlivable for Christian Arabs. In the Town of Bethlehem the Christian population remained dominate under Israeli rule but is quickly disappearing under the rule of the Palestinian Authority.

Years ago, while visiting Bethlehem I spoke with a Christian resident who owned a small jewelry store on Manger Square.  He described the brutal nature of Muslim rule and why he and his family were forced to leave.

Muslim treatment of Christians is the primary reason why Christians are leaving the Holy Land. When Jordan ruled the Old City of Jerusalem, Christian Arabs who lived in Israel could not enter the Old City.

Moreover, the Palestinian Authority continues to deny Christians and Jews ever had a presence in Jerusalem and they destroyed priceless antiquities that would prove that Christians and Jews existed in Jerusalem long before the Muslims ever did.

Since Israel took control of all of Jerusalem, Christians have had unlimited access to the Old City and all Christian Holy sites.

If Christian leaders want to stop Christian flight they should start by acknowledging the problem of living under Muslim rule. The surest way to continuing the Christian exodus is to support turning more of the Holy Land over to the Muslims.