Israel has systematically vandalised and destroyed churches - it did so in 1948 and has continued ever since.
In 1948, Issa Nakleh, Palestinian Christian, was robbed of his house, his law office, his apartment house in Jerusalem and a banana plantation which were, as he describes "usurped by the Zionists and Israeli war criminals".
He was a Graduate of the London University (LL.B.) and a Barrister at Law of the Society of Lincoln's Inn, London. He attended more than forty sessions of the United Nations General Assembly and made more than fifty speeches in the Special Political Committee of the United Nations on the Problem of Palestine.
He wrote a two-volume "Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem" in 41 Chapters and 1091 pages, with voluminous footnotes and 60 pages of photos. Some second hand copies are available for around £60 each and there is an e-book version.
... As far back as 1920 Zionists had declared their objective regarding Christian holy places in Palestine. In 1920 the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem denounced Zionist objectives in an address later published in the Church Times, London, in which he stated:
The Zionist Commission had been a very strong body; but it was not strong enough to control all its members, many of whom were extremists ... They had behaved and spoken as if the country had already been given to them and was theirs to dispose of as they would. In ordinary conversation among Zionists at Jerusalem it had been asked "What shall be done with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? Shall it be burned or razed to the ground?"[4. Debate in the House of Lords, June 21, 1922.]
During the 1948 war, Zionists destroyed, desecrated and profaned Christian churches, convents and institutions throughout the occupied area of Palestine. These acts, together with the campaign against Christian missionaries, continue until today. Now that the Zionists occupied Jerusalem in the 1967 war, the last stage of their plan will be carried out when they are assured of their complete domination of the Holy City. Hundreds of Christian families were expelled from Jerusalem. In spite of the fact that the Zionist propagandists constantly proclaim their good intention towards Christian and Muslim holy places in Jerusalem, nothing will deter the Zionists from carrying out their fanatical program of ultimately eradicating Christianity from the Holy Land.
In July 1968, His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, made a declaration in New York in which he expressed his apprehension that Christianity could not survive in the Holy Land under existing conditions. He recalled certain events which he had witnessed since the creation of Israel in 1948. The Patriarch stated:
The Melchite church has suffered many losses at the hands of the Israelis. We lost churches in Damound, Somata, Kafr- Bur'om and Ikret, a village which the Israeli army destroyed on Christmas Day 1952 ... Many churches were damaged in the 1967 war, and many churches were desecrated by soldiers and men and women entering these Holy Places indecently dressed and with their dogs. My encounters with the Israeli government officials, particularly since the last war, have been completely disheartening ... On June 21,1967, I met with Pope Paul at the Vatican to discuss the Vatican stand on the situation and the problems facing the Christian community within Israel and the occupied territories. From the discussion I learned the Vatican offers 100% support for the U.N. resolutions on Jerusalem, particularly that the city's status should be international rather than the object of any further discussions. Upon my return to Israel, I presented this stand to the government, and a high Israeli spokesman whom I prefer not to name for my own sake, made this remark: "Your Pope is a foolish man. He is the only one who believes in the United Nations. If the Pope has an army, let him send it. - We will give up Jerusalem only in defeat." Such an Israeli attitude combined with their restrictions upon the indigenous Arab Christian population cannot help but doom Christianity in the Holy Land.
The remarks made to His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim by the Israeli spokesman are almost a carbon copy of Stalin's notorious question, "How many divisions has the Pope?"
The Christian population of Palestine, the descendants of the earliest followers of Christ, were the first Christians to recognize the anti-Christian bigotry built into the Zionist ideology. Having long dwelt in peace with Muslim and Jewish fellow citizens of Palestine, Palestinian Christians recognized that the Zionist colonists were a different breed, lacking the piety of Palestinian Jews. The peaceful cohabitation of Christians, Muslims and Jews in Palestine was disrupted by the militant ideologues propagating Zionism, and Palestinian Christians feared the growth of the Zionist presence in their native land and united with Muslims in opposing Zionism and the Zionist invasion of Palestine. Available as e-Book, see http://palestine-encyclopedia.com/EPP/TOC.htm
That was 1991 - needless to say, the persecution of Christians continues - even the right-wing Israeli media reports it here - http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Arab-MK-threatens-Greek-Orthodox-priest-in-Knesset-hearing-over-Christian-Arab-enlistment-352963"
Meanwhile, other Christians are being beaten and bribed into collaboration by the apartheid state - http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/PM-publicly-supports-priest-hounded-for-calling-on-Christians-to-join-IDF-322136