The place of Jesus’ birth is almost completely Muslim now, after a concerted campaign to drive Christians out. From P. David Hornik in FrontPage: “Bethlehem’s Christians have been subject to discrimination and harassment and are abandoning the town to those aiming for an Islamic monolith in the Middle East.”
The Islamists, among whom Yasser Arafat was a pioneer and is still at the forefront, want to drown the Judeo-Christian world in blood, and they’re succeeding. They’ve got Bethlehem and the Temple Mount, the parts of the Holy Land they control are almost empty of Christians and the Jews are supposed to be yanked out by their government, and they’re gunning for the rest. It may be that the Bush administration, out of a mix of geopolitical calculation and coziness with the Saudis and others, has a hand in making the Israeli government behave in ways that appear bizarre, suicidal, and criminally irresponsible. If Islamists can take over the town of Jesus’ birth, drive the Christians out, use it as a base to slaughter Jews in Jerusalem, and get away with it–we’re not doing well.