Editing Palestinian Christians (section)

== Ethnic identity ==
Palestinian Christians of different denominations are united by a common ethnic and Christian identity, as well as the experience of a connection to the birthplace of Christianity and a role in caring for its holy sites.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rafael |first=Anna-Liisa |last2=Heikkinen |first2=Anne K. |date=2024-10-25 |title=Kolonialismi palestiinalaiskristittyjen arjessa, ajattelussa ja kohtaamisissa |url=https://lahihistoria.journal.fi/article/view/148487 |journal=Lähihistoria |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=88–131 |doi=10.61559/lh.148487 |issn=2954-114X|doi-access=free }}</ref> Many Palestinian Christians are descended from early Christians, and they have sometimes called themselves "living stones". Although religion is perceived as a partly divisive factor, the common Palestinian and Arab identity of Palestinian Christians is also shared with [[Palestinian Muslims]].<ref>Parkkinen, Mari: [https://erepo.uef.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/83ac7f04-9eb1-45a8-8dbb-f1010fd66872/content Fragmented Religion in a Turbulent Context : The Personal and Communal Dimensions of Christianity in Palestinian Christians Lifeworlds]. Doctoral thesis. University of Eastern Finland, 2021.</ref>

That Christian Arabs in Palestine see themselves as Arab reflects also the fact that, as of the beginning of the twentieth century, they shared many of the same customs as their Muslim neighbors. In some respects, this was a consequence of Christians adopting what were essentially Islamic practices, many of which were derived of ''sharî'ah''. In others, it was more the case that the customs shared by both Muslims and Christians derived from neither faith, but rather were a result of a process of syncretization, whereby what had once been pagan practices were later redefined as Christian and subsequently adopted by Muslims. This was especially evident in the fact that Palestine's Muslims and Christians shared many of the same feast days, in honor of the same saints, even if they referred to them by different names. "Shrines dedicated to St. George, for instance, were transformed into shrines honoring Khidr-Ilyas, a conflation of the Prophet Elijah and the mythical sprite Khidr". Added to this, many Muslims viewed local Christian churches as saints' shrines. Thus, for instance, a "Muslim women having difficulties conceiving, for instance, might travel to Bethlehem to pray for a child before the Virgin Mary".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Freas |first=Erik |title=Muslim-Christian Relations in Late Ottoman Palestine, Where Nationalism and Religion Intersect |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-137-57041-3 |location=New York |pages=70–71}}</ref> It was even not uncommon for a Muslim to have his child baptized in a Christian church, in the name of [[Khidr|Khaḍr]].<ref>Lance D.Laird,'Boundaries and ''Baraka'': Christians, Muslims, and a Palestinian Saint,' in Margaret Cormack (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=B0Y8o_lAnUAC&pg=PA61 ''Muslims and Others in Sacred Space,''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101174806/https://books.google.it/books?id=B0Y8o_lAnUAC&pg=PA61|date=1 November 2022}} Oxford University Press, 2013 pp. 40–73, p. 61.</ref>