Jesus film stirs passions of Arab Christians and Muslims

MEL Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ has become a surprise hit in the Arab world - among both Muslims and Christians.

While Christian Arabs, including Palestinians, are examining questions of faith, many Muslims appear to be taking an interest because of an upsurge in anti-Israeli feelings now sweeping across the Middle East.

Muslims took notice after Israelis began protesting against the film, fearing it would reawaken questions about the role of the Jews in the run-up to the death of Christ. These fears appeared to play a part in the refusal of cinema chains to screen the film in the Jewish state.

Palestinians then took the initiative and held their own screenings. Among them was James Shammas, a Syrian Orthodox Christian, the manager of the Azzahra Hotel in east Jerusalem. He showed the film for several weeks at the hotel and the proceeds were given to local charities.

"It went very well," Shammas said. "Many showed up, including foreign residents, as well as Palestinians."

He said he was moved and at the same time aghast at the graphic depiction of Jesus’s final hours, including his flogging by Roman soldiers before his crucifixion.

Shammas said the film was true to biblical accounts but he did not believe it would spark hatred among Palestinian or Arab Christians against Jews.

"The Jewish religious leaders took Christ to Pontius Pilate and they threatened him politically into carrying out the crucifixion," he said.

"This had to be shown. To do otherwise would dilute the biblical account. I don’t think there is anything that shows anti-Semitic tendencies."

The film has also caught the attention of the Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, who held a private screening with his advisers at his battered headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Arafat said the movie was "historic and impressive".

But the comments of Arafat’s chief spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeinah, who is a Palestinian Greek Orthodox Christian from Bethlehem, stirred more controversy.

"The Palestinians are still daily being exposed to the kind of pain Jesus was exposed to during his crucifixion," he said after viewing the movie.

Such comments did not sit well with other Palestinian Christians. Shammas said politics and religion should not be mixed. "Palestinians are suffering but it is not that kind of suffering," he said.