Changes

"Walid Phares was born in 1957 to a Maronite Christian family in Beirut. By ‎the time Phares was in his 20s, Lebanon, which has always been more of a ‎mosaic of various religions and communities than a unified nation, had ‎plunged into a bloody civil war. Naturally, Phares supported his own Lebanese ‎Maronite Christian community’s efforts to defend itself in this brutal, ‎existential struggle against Syrian occupation on the one hand and Palestinian and Lebanese Sunni and Shiite terror on the other.‎"<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/opinion/in-praise-of-professor-walid-phares-473912 In praise of Professor Walid Phares]. By Yair Ravid, The Jerusalem Post, November 8, 2016.

"Walid Phares was born in 1957 to a Maronite Christian family in Beirut. By ‎the time Phares was in his 20s, Lebanon, which has always been more of a ‎mosaic of various religions and communities than a unified nation, had ‎plunged into a bloody civil war. Naturally, Phares supported his own Lebanese ‎Maronite Christian community’s efforts to defend itself in this brutal, ‎existential struggle against Syrian occupation on the one hand and Palestinian and Lebanese Sunni and Shiite terror on the other.‎"<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/opinion/in-praise-of-professor-walid-phares-473912 In praise of Professor Walid Phares]. By Yair Ravid, The Jerusalem Post, November 8, 2016.

"It is unfortunate that a segment of our own academic and media elite has fallen for the games of Iranian and Islamist propagandists."</ref>) :<ref>[https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2003/10/09/symposium-the-muslim-persecution-of-christians/ Symposium: The Muslim Persecution of Christians]. By Dr. Walid Phares, October 9, 2003.</ref> "The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has, on the Palestinian side, moved from largely nationalist to largely Islamist rhetoric giving the conflict a religious caste that makes it even more intractable. if persecution continues to drive out Christians from the Middle East (where they were a quarter of the population a century ago) then conflict will be largely Israeli/Jew vs Arab/Muslim with no intermediates."

"It is unfortunate that a segment of our own academic and media elite has fallen for the games of Iranian and Islamist propagandists."</ref>) :<ref>[https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2003/10/09/symposium-the-muslim-persecution-of-christians/ Symposium: The Muslim Persecution of Christians]. By Dr. Walid Phares, October 9, 2003.</ref> "The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has, on the Palestinian side, moved from largely nationalist to largely Islamist rhetoric giving the conflict a religious caste that makes it even more intractable. if persecution continues to drive out Christians from the Middle East (where they were a quarter of the population a century ago) then conflict will be largely Israeli/Jew vs Arab/Muslim with no intermediates."

A number of Christians are indigenous to "Palestine", and many of these are descended from the first Christians- the first Jews who chose to follow Christ and recognize him as the messiah. Also many Arameans, another Semitic group native to the area, accepted Christ very early on in the history of Christianity, and thus contribute a lot to the genetics of today's Christians in the Palestinian Authority, later joined over thousand years later by surviving European crusaders and their families after their defeat at the hands of the Islamic armies,<ref>http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2045/palestinian-christianity-myth</ref> when they blended into the native, Semitic Christian population.

A number of Christians are indigenous to "Palestine", and many of these are descended from the first Christians- the first Jews who chose to follow Christ and recognize him as the messiah. Also many Arameans, another Semitic group native to the area, accepted Christ very early on in the history of Christianity, and thus contribute a lot to the genetics of today's Christians in the Palestinian Authority, later joined over thousand years later by surviving European crusaders and their families after their defeat at the hands of the Islamic armies,<ref>http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2045/palestinian-christianity-myth</ref> when they blended into the native, Semitic Christian population.