From MEMRI, this fascinating item, which at first glance sounds like a genuine attempt at tolerance and understanding:
In an article in the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, PA Broadcasting Authority Director Basem Abu Sumaya sharply criticized Qalqiliya Muslim clerics and dignitaries for a fatwa they issued calling for the closing of the YMCA in the city - because, they claimed, no Christians live in Qalqiliya.
The following are excerpts from the article:
"The people of Qalqiliya, who are threatened by the danger of isolation and suffocation, desire the unity and harmony of the nation - rather than calls for racist or religious discrimination. They desire the unity and harmony of the nation - and above all, Islamic-Christian unity, which has never once in Palestinian history suffered any shock or downfall. The Christians, like the Muslims, are part of the soil of this holy land."[I call upon] the senior officials, wherever they may serve - in the government, in the ministries that touch on this issue such as the [Ministry of] Religious Endowments, the [Ministry of] Local Government, and, likewise, on [the senior officials] in the municipal government, the dignitaries, and the clerics. All those who joined forces to write this petition to expel the [YMCA] are called upon to act to prevent this move, which is likely to provoke sectarian strife.
Ah, but here's the rub:
"This Christian association, which is headed by a Muslim, is not a missionary association opposed to the Islamic faith, and has never carried out any illegal activities. Therefore, it cannot be said that its existence leads to internal strife."
So what the PA means by "Christian-Muslim unity" is a YMCA headed by a Muslim that carefully refrains from promoting Christianity while generously providing aid, in money and goods, to the local entirely Muslim population.
You can spell that D-H-I-M-M-I.
Note, by the way, that "[t]he Christians, like the Muslims, are part of the soil of this holy land." Unlike the Jews who, you know, are the only people ever to have actually had a homeland there.
And the appeal to "Islamic-Christian unity, which has never once in Palestinian history suffered any shock or downfall" (I guess that the Crusades and Salah al-Din's little conquests don't count). For a contemporary contrary assessment, see Justus Reid Weiner's monograph, Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society.
