http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=572&ncid=572&e=4&u=/nm/20031217/lf_nm/mideast_christians_dc_1<snip>
" Ihab Mousselem's ties to the Holy Land are as old as Christmas itself.
But this year, when church bells summon worshipers to Yuletide mass at Bethlehem's Manger Square, he will be far from the ancient stone streets where his family has lived for generations.
Mousselem, 39, is emigrating to Europe this week, joining a growing exodus of Palestinian Christians squeezed by Israel's crippling military blockade of the West Bank and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism.
Christians, already a tiny minority in the Palestinian territories, say their situation has become so bleak that their once-thriving communities are in danger of one day disappearing from the land where Christianity began."