Middle East Christians are persecuted and marginalized by everyone, including by their enemies, their allies, and even among themselves.

It's no wonder they are fast disappearing where they helped launch one of the world's greatest religions.

This week in Washington, D.C., Christian Arabs, will gather in spite of the persecution, harassment and marginalization to declare that they have a voice.

The conference is hosted by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, the only Christian Arab organization dedicated to defending the rights and existence of Christian Arabs in the Middle East. It takes place at the Marriott in Washington, D.C., Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17-18, 2014.

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee and one of the most important voices for Christian Arabs, is the keynote speaker.

HCEF recognizes that America is a key force in determining the future of Christian Arabs and Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity. All that stuff about how there is a "separation between church and state" is hogwash.

America today is a meld of government politics and a religious fervor seated in the Christian religion. American Christians can identify better with Middle East Christians than they do now with Israel. That means Christian Arabs can be the key to opening the hearts and minds of Americans.

But Christian Arabs must grow up and assert themselves in their own community of Arab societies by demanding an equal voice. And when I say an "equal voice," I don't mean a voice based on quota systems, as is the case today in some Arab countries where Christians are patronized with guaranteed but powerless positions in governments.

Christians must organize and flex their muscle, asserting their rights not just as Arabs but also as Christians in the Arab world. Christian Arabs need to make their existence more than the subject of consternation, and a requirement for the continued existence of the Arab world itself.

If there is another Arab Spring, it needs to include an "Arab Easter."

Christian Americans have never been lobbied to understand the significance of Christian Arabs. In fact, many Americans do not believe that Christian Arabs even exist. Ironically, American Christians believe that the deliverance from evil through the "Return" of Jesus Christ, the Salvation, will come not as a result of a resurgence of Christians in the Holy Land but through a defense of Israel.

Yes, many Christians believe that the defense of Israel is a cornerstone to their salvation, as was so clearly articulated a few months back by right-wing Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz at a conference of Christians organized by groups whose interests were closer to Israel than the creation of a Palestinian State.

Claiming that Christianity is closer to Israel, Cruz lectured the Middle East Christians saying they were not really Americans if they did not support Israel.

That resonates with many Americans who have forgotten their ties to Christian Arabs, who are the first Christians. Americans long ago abandoned Bethlehem and even Jerusalem that were the goals of the Crusades almost 1,000 years ago.

American Christians lost touch with their roots because the Christian Arab voice is AWOL from the Arab-Israeli debate. It shouldn't be. The Christian Arab voice must be loud and must be clear.

Christian Arabs may be the last hope to save Palestine by serving as the voice of justice and reason to the Christian American public.

Arab culture has failed to understand the essence of Americanism is founded in communications. America is communications. And that's the problem because Arab culture rejects fundamental cornerstones of communications like free speech, open debate and civil rights for all.

If you want to win Americans to your cause, and free them from the Israeli lobby's headlock, Arabs need to change and understand how to communicate effectively and strategically.

Christian Americans live by several communication principles that the Arab world must comprehend:

1. It is not what we say, but rather how we say it. We need to be more American in how we speak and communicate. Do we speak to ourselves, or do we learn to speak to the Americans in the way they want to be spoken to. Not just in English, but in American. They need to hit Americans with good old fashioned "Baseball, Mom and Apple Pie" vernacular.

2. Perception is reality. What Americans think and what they believe trump the truth, the facts, the history and the reality.

3. Who we speak to is most important. In order to win a public debate, you have to first win the audience. If the audience believes you and if the audience supports you, right or wrong, Americans will support you. You have to know the audience first, speak to the audience, look and sound like the audience, understand the mind of the audience, and tell the audience what they want to hear is what we want them to hear.

More than any other group, Christian Arabs have a special untapped bond with Americans.

In order to Save Palestine, Palestinians need to play the "Christian Card." Being Christian means more to Americans than anything else.

That's why the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation is so important. One of the few truly Christian Arab organizations in America, HCEF maybe the only hope to break the bondage that stymies American free thought.

We can free their minds by tapping the power and resources of Christian Arabs.

Ray Hanania is an award-winning Palestinian American columnist and managing editor of The Arab Daily News at www.TheArabDailyNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @RayHanania. To find out more about Ray Hanania and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.