Osama Al-Sharif
Two controversial and almost certainly illegal measures targeting
churches in occupied East Jerusalem have been suspended by the Israeli
government following a historic three-day closure last month of
Christianity’s holiest site; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In a rare
show of unity the heads of the three churches running the site;
Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian, agreed to shutter the
centuries-old gates of the church in the heart of the Old City in
protest of the two Israeli moves.
Under
pressure from local Christians and fearful of an international
backlash, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to suspend
implementation of the measures — for now. The timing of the closure was
sensitive as thousands of Christian pilgrims from all around the world
head to occupied Jerusalem and the Holy Land to mark the beginning of
the great fast, or Lent.
Israeli measures would break a
centuries-old tradition, since Ottoman times, which exempted churches in
Palestine from paying taxes. Successive British, Jordanian and Israeli
authorities had respected that tradition. The churches see these
measures as another move to contain Christian existence in occupied
Jerusalem and expropriate church lands.
The only country that
reacted immediately to the Israeli measures was Jordan. It condemned the
Israeli moves and supported the closure of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. Government spokesman Mohammad Al Momani described the
measures as illegal and rejected systematic moves to change the
historical and legal status quo in occupied East Jerusalem’s holy sites,
including Islamic and Christian property and endowments.
Jordan
and Israel had concluded an agreement in January to end a diplomatic
crisis over the killing of two Jordanians in Amman by an Israeli
diplomat last July. Also in July, Jordan and Israel had a diplomatic
face-off over Israel’s decision to install metal detectors at the
entrance of the Aqsa Mosque. Israel later backed down and lifted entry
restrictions to the compound.
Under the Jordan-Israel peace treaty
of 2004 and an agreement with the Palestinian Authority in 2013, King
Abdullah has custodianship over Muslim and Christian holy sites in
occupied East Jerusalem. Successive incursions by Israeli extremists,
including lawmakers, of Al Aqsa compound, continue until today, adding
to growing tensions between Jordan and the Israeli government.
The
latest confrontation with Jerusalem churches is seen as another episode
in a Far Right Israeli scheme to limit non Jewish presence in the Old
City, expropriate church lands and empty occupied East Jerusalem of its
indigenous Palestinian population. The city’s Christian population,
around 13,000, has suffered over the years. Recent studies suggest they
now make up 2 per cent only, down from 20 per cent in 1946, of the
population of occupied East Jerusalem.
The city’s overall Arab
population is now hovering around 340,000 but that includes Arab suburbs
of the city. Since US President Donald Trump’s recognition of occupied
Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December, Israel has accelerated
plans to build additional housing units for Jews in occupied East
Jerusalem and to change the boundaries of the city as a whole. The goal
is to decrease the number of Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem,
through economic, political and demographic punitive measures. The
city’s Christians are an easy target.
The Israeli measures
contradict Netanyahu’s recent statements that under Israeli rule,
Jerusalem is open for worship to followers of the three faiths. Despite
the small number of their congregation, the three dominant churches in
occupied Jerusalem own large plots of land in East Jerusalem. The Greek
Orthodox Church is reportedly the second-largest landowner, after the
Israeli government, with deeds to about 30 per cent of occupied
Jerusalem’s Old City in addition to lands outside occupied Jerusalem,
Israel and the West Bank.
In fact the Israeli government does not
own lands on which the Knesset and the Prime Ministry stand. In recent
years Jordanian and Palestinian authorities expressed concern over the
questionable sale of church-owned lands to anonymous buyers.
The
battle for occupied East Jerusalem is undoubtedly the most crucial since
Trump’s declaration and the peace plan that he is expected to announce.
Israel’s suspension of its measures against the churches represents a
short-lived lull in that battle. Without access to commercial property
owned by these churches the Israeli scheme to Judaise the Old City and
most of occupied East Jerusalem will be in peril. There is no doubt that
Israeli Far Right politicians will make a fresh push to re-impose these
measures once more soon.
It is unfortunate that only Jordan, with
its limited area of maneuver, is standing against such Israeli actions
and with occupied Jerusalem’s Christians. The responsibility for
defending Christian rights also falls on other church sponsor countries
including Greece, Armenia and the Vatican. With the Christian population
under pressure, Jerusalem, a unifying symbol for all Christians, will
lose a major component of its shared religious value. It is
incomprehensible that some American evangelical churches are turning a
blind eye to this catastrophe.
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