Jericho Governor Sami Musallam on Christianity in Palestine

Joel Carillet - The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs - September 8, 2007
Reaching the outskirts of Jericho, my vehicle stops for inspection at an Israeli military checkpoint. Once permission to pass is granted, we continue on to the town center of one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the world. I have come to Jericho to learn more about the town’s small Christian community, comprising mostly Catholics and Orthodox, and to interview its governor, Dr. Sami Musallam, a nominal Lutheran.

At 7:30 p.m. an aide escorted me into a long rectangular office. Across the room a worn-looking man sat behind a desk, with a Palestinian flag to his right and a large framed poster of Jerusalem’s Old City on the wall behind him. I wondered why he appeared so tired. Perhaps it was due to the late hour. Perhaps because 40 years of military occupation will hang heavily on any leader trying to operate within its grip. Or perhaps it is because, even though Jericho holds great potential in terms of agriculture and tourism, the future seems grim.

A native Jerusalemite, Governor Musallam attended what in the 1960s was called Bir Zeit College. After two years he transferred to the American University in Beirut, where he earned a degree in political science. From there he moved to Germany to complete a Ph.D. at the University of Bonn, where he wrote a dissertation exploring the stereotypes of Arabs in the German press. Recalling this period, he said, "There was no separation between being an activist and a student. It was a seamless way of being."