For any Palestinian living in the West Bank or Gaza, the deadliest charge is to be labeled as a collaborator with Israel.

CBN.com – WEST BANK — Thousands of Palestinians are suffering from the turmoil and conflict on the West Bank, and life can be dangerous for nearly everyone who lives there. But perhaps no one faces more danger and persecution on a daily basis than Muslims who have accepted Jesus as their savior.

In a recent speech to the Palestinian parliament, Yasser Arafat pledged to reform Palestinian society. As part of that reform, he called for a greater emphasis on human rights.

A majority of Palestinians here on the West Bank hope to see real improvements in that area. But for two men CBN News spoke with, and others like them, it could be a matter of life and death. Authorities have threatened to kill them because they have professed faith in Jesus Christ.

Their real names, and even the names of the towns where they are from, are not used in order to protect their safety. Abed and Khalid live in villages in the West Bank — the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, areas which have been ruled by Islam for most of the last millennium.

Abed converted from Islam to Christianity in 1995. He was drawn by the love of Christians he had met, and challenged by a teaching very different from what he had learned in his Palestinian village.

"The general society just incites against the Jewish people, against the Christian people," Abed said. "And they ask God to destroy the Jewish people or, you know, ‘the enemy.’ But the Bible says, or God says, ‘Love your enemies.’ This is the difference which encouraged me to look for God, to belong to Jesus and to receive Him and to consider him as savior."

Abed began to love everyone, and he shared his new faith with family and friends. But shortly after his conversion, Palestinian security officials began to question Abed. He was arrested nearly a dozen times, and eventually jailed, beaten and tortured. They hung him up in the air, and forced him to go without sleep for days.

"They tried to sit me down on the leg of a chair. They tried to let me, to sit me down on a bottle. It was hard… I cannot describe it. And it makes me like, cry, when I remember that situation. But I feel, I feel that this suffering is a privilege from the Lord, because I suffered for Him," Abed said.

Both Abed and a fellow believer, Khalid, were told that local Muslim clerics have issued a "fatwa" or judgment against them. If they do not renounce their Christian faith, the sentence is death. It distresses Khalid that so many Christians support the Palestinian Authority when it routinely tortures and tries to kill other Christians.

"They are such a mafia gang. And this government is financed by our brothers around the world. Why are they treating us this way?" Khalid said.

Justus Weiner is an Israeli scholar at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs who has interviewed dozens of persecuted Muslim converts and their family members.

"Their life becomes a living hell," Weiner said. "They have no place to go, their family lives in jeopardy, they're fired from their job, they're accused of false charges. When they're thrown in jail, they're not even fed adequately, unless their family brings food and, in effect, bribes the prison guards."

For any Palestinian living in the West Bank or Gaza, the deadliest charge is to be labeled as a collaborator with Israel. Already this year, the world has witnessed some gruesome examples of vigilante justice against accused collaborators.

Palestinian security officials tried to brand Abed as a collaborator. "They signed me on papers and they said, ‘You are a collaborator; and your pastor, who preaches in your church, is Mossad [Israeli intelligence] and CIA,’" Abed explained.

Neither Abed nor Khalid can return to their homes and families. They are still living in the Middle East, but they have no permanent home.

For two years, a relative of Abed's — another believer — has hidden out in a West Bank bomb shelter. He sleeps on the concrete floor, knowing that if he is caught by the wrong people, he could be killed.

Weiner has published papers in the West, trying to spread awareness of the believers' plight within the U.S. government, the media and academic circles. He believes lives will be at risk until Arafat's regime is forced to change.

"Unless there is a clear message coming down from the Palestinian Authority, from the entourage of Yasser Arafat, that this is not acceptable in this day and age, you will have people, who, thinking themselves good Muslims, will see a man handing out Bibles in his village, and view this man as deserving death," Weiner said.

Both Abed and Khalid pray for their persecutors. Khalid showed CBN News how he sent a gospel message to fellow prisoners made of torn paper. Although he still suffers from his physical abuse in prison, Khalid said his spirit is strong.

"The Lord knows that our hearts are clean," he said, "and we have love for the Lord, and for people, despite the aggressions against us."

Since CBN News first reported this story last month, our Jerusalem Bureau says the number of Palestinian Christians has continued to shrink, from 7 percent to 2 percent of the population.