Global Issues
MIDEAST: Palestinian Christians Barred From Jerusalem for Easter
Israeli authorities prevented thousands of Palestinian Christians from entering Jerusalem and accessing Christianity’s most holy sites over Easter in an unprecedented clampdown on religious freedom.
'Easter is one of the most significant holy periods for Christians and we as Palestinian Christians were not allowed to worship freely,' Ramzi Zaniniri from The Near East Council of Churches in Jerusalem told IPS.
During the Easter period thousands of Christian pilgrims from all around the world descended on Jerusalem’s old city where many of the religious sites are situated.
They retraced the Via Delarosa, the route Christ is alleged to have taken on his way to his crucifixion, and paid homage at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the spot where they believe Christ was buried.
However, few seemed aware that their fellow Christians from East Jerusalem and the West Bank were denied the same freedom.
Easter this year coincided with the Jewish Passover. For over a week a closure was imposed on the West Bank by Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak on alleged security grounds. With the exception of humanitarian emergencies all Palestinians were barred from Jerusalem.
Hundreds of Israeli riot and civilian police and soldiers enforced the closure on the Palestinian territory and sealed off the entrances to the old city.
Traditionally during Easter Palestinian Christians from the occupied Palestinian Territories are given special permits by the Israeli authorities to access Jerusalem. This year most were denied.
'The soldiers and police demanded two permits: one to enter the old city and another to enter the area of the Patriarchate where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is. However, even those with permits were denied access,' said Zananiri.
'Clashes broke out between some youths, who were beaten after they managed to get past the cordons, and the security forces.
'This is meant to be a time of hope, peace and joy but it resembled a mini war zone,' Zananiri told IPS.
The previous week on Palm Sunday Palestinians, their international and Israeli supporters, and top ranking officials from the Palestinian Authority (PA) decided to protest Israel’s closure of the West Bank
During a non-violent march from Bethlehem’s Nativity Church, built on the spot where Christians believe Christ was born, towards Jerusalem the protestors managed to force their way through a checkpoint before they were attacked by Israeli security forces.
A number of arrests were made, including that of senior PA official Abbas Zaki who was imprisoned for a number of days before being released on bail.
These incidents are just the latest in a history of discrimination and economic hardship that Palestinian Christians in Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories have faced.
Extremist elements linked to al-Qaeda have targeted Gaza’s small Christian population of 5,000 in isolated attacks.
A Christian bookstore owner was murdered several years ago and the YMCA was the target of a bombing attack.
However, the Hamas authorities took swift action against the perpetrators. A Gaza court recently sentenced one of the militants to death for murdering the bookstore owner.
Although religious minority groups faced limited discrimination under the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which controlled the area before the British Mandate and the State of Israel was established, they were also given a protected status.
Most Palestinian Christians state they have no problems with their Muslim brethren but rather with the treatment they face at the hands of the Israeli authorities.
'Relations between us and our Muslim brothers and sisters are fine and harmonious. We are all in the same boat of being discriminated against by the Israeli authorities in East Jerusalem due to the Judaisation taking place there,' Yosef Zabaneh, a merchant in Ramallah, told IPS.
'Furthermore, the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank doesn’t distinguish between us but treats all Palestinians with contempt,' he added.
Palestinian Christians in Gaza face the same hardships brought about by Israel’s blockade of the coastal territory where rampant poverty, unemployment and limited opportunity prevail.
The Israeli Knesset, or parliament, passed a law in 1978 aimed specifically against Christian proselytisation of Jews. This prohibited the offering of 'material inducement', including giving a bible to a person to change his religion.
Christians also complained of their holy places being desecrated and damaged by Israeli military forces during the various Arab-Israeli wars.
Since the State of Israel was established in 1948 and taking natural population growth into consideration their numbers have dwindled significantly.
Two hundred thousand Christians lived in what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories prior to 1948. The current population is now approximately 50,000 amongst four million Muslims in West Bank and Gaza. Another 123,000 reside within Israel.
Many have opted to emigrate for a better life abroad with their high standards of education.
Currently, the largest concentration of Palestinian Christians is in South America. There are more of them living in Sydney, Australia, than in Jerusalem.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service