The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation will hold an informational presentation about the Palestinian Arab Christians living in the Holy Land at the St. Andrew Parish, 552 Main Street, Milford, Ohio 45150, on Sunday, October 27, 2002 at 2:00 PM. Rateb Rabie, KHS, President of HCEF, will speak about the descendents of the original Christians who first heard the preaching of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago

The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation*
News Release

The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation will hold an informational presentation about the Palestinian Arab Christians living in the Holy Land at the St. Andrew Parish, 552 Main Street, Milford, Ohio 45150, on Sunday, October 27, 2002 at 2:00 PM.  Rateb Rabie, KHS, President of HCEF, will speak about the descendents of the original Christians who first heard the preaching of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago.  Father Rob Waller, the Pastor of St. Andrew Parish, will speak about his recently completed fact-finding mission to the Holy Land.  Presently, Christians, like others living in the Holy Land, suffer under the brutal occupation by Israeli military forces. Rsvp,  (513) 831-3353 or HCEF (866) 871-4233

The presentation will assist concerned Christians in Cincinnati to expand the Holy Land Christian Support Network (HCSN) Committee which was formed by last year. Their mission, like the many HCSN committees in the United States, is to inform Americans about the plight of Holy Land Christians and to provide material and spiritual support for their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land.

Today Christians make up 2% of the population in the Holy Land whereas in 1948, Christians represented approximately 18% of the population.  The creation of Israel and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of all peoples living in the Holy Land resulted in a massive emigration of Christians to other parts of the world.  “Our Foundation’s mission is to assist Christians remain in the Holy Land so that the 2000 year long legacy of Christianity in the land of its birth will remain unbroken,” said Mr. Rabie when he announced the Cincinnati program. Mr. Rabie noted that Christians are suffering under unprecedented internal imprisonment in 300 isolated cantons in the West Bank and Gaza.  Curfews, checkpoints, home demolitions, a failed economy, massive unemployment and military invasion represent every day life events in the Holy Land.  Unemployment has reached 60%-70% in some areas resulting in the majority of the population living in poverty ($2/person/day).  HCEF has sponsored a number of programs to help reduce the suffering.  Child Sponsorship programs subsidize Christian education for children. HCEF finds markets in the United States for olive wood handicrafts so that craftsmen in the Bethlehem area can maintain their livelihood and feed their families.  HCEF also encourages partnerships between churches in the United States and the Holy Land so that Christians in the Holy Land can receive spiritual and material support to sustain them during their suffering and persecution.     


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*The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, committed to improving the lives of Christians in the Holy Land through building bonds of solidarity with between Christians in the United States and Christians in the Holy Land. We have two goals: inform Americans about the Christians in the Holy Land and provide humanitarian assistance for the needy in the land where Jesus Christ was born, preached, died and rose again.  HCEF, 6975 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20815 (301) 951-9400, Toll Free (866) 871-4234, www.hcef.org  Email: news@hcef.org