Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF)
http://pief.oikoumene.org/
World Council of Churches
An Action Alert
Holy Land Christians protest Israeli police restrictions during Easter celebrations
[Press Release follows Michel Nseir's letter]
Dear Friends,
Holy Land Christians are protesting the denial of the freedom of worship by the Israeli occupation police during Easter celebrations. In a press release, they have complained that Israeli Police will impose restrictions and limit the movement of all Christian worshipers during the celebrations. These restrictions will particularly affect the Holy Fire Saturday in Jerusalem, which has been celebrated from as far back as 1106 AD. The celebrations have been governed for the past decades by the status quo of 1852 covering the processions within the boundaries of the Holy Sepulcher Church in addition to traditions by the local community and pilgrims in its vicinity.
Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Fire Saturday, and Easter Sunday are the Holiest days celebrated in Jerusalem for Christians. Christians are denied their fundamental right of freely exercise their religion because of road blocks in the old city, police presence with machine guns, as well as rude and hostile attitudes from police and Army officers. The curfews and forced closures make these movements almost impossible. In sharp contrast, Israel allows Jews to freely access their temples.
Today when a debate has been initiated regarding the freedom of worship in Jerusalem due to the constant settler aggressions against Al Aqsa Mosque (Al Haram Al Sharif) and despite the fact that Israeli officials have made public assurances that “only Israel” can keep freedom of religion in Jerusalem, the Holy Land Christians denounce Israel's discriminatory and restrictive policies. Palestinian Christian organizations in occupied East Jerusalem have initiated a legal process “to preserve the right to freely access our churches and shrines”.
Palestinian Christians now "call upon the international community, and particularly to the Christian World, including its churches and civil society to put pressure on Israel to end the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem as well as in this particular case to stop limiting Holy Land Christians from exercising their basic religious rights."
(...) We urge you to respond strongly in support of the legitimate claim of Holy Land Christians for their right to religion to be respected.
In solidarity,
Michel Nseir
Programme Executive
Public witness programme,
Special focus on the Middle East
World Council of Churches
E-mail: mns@wcc-coe.org
Web: http://pief.oikoumene.org/
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PRESS RELEASE
20 March 2010 -
Find it at this link - http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/programmes/public-witness-addressing-power-affirming-peace/churches-in-the-middle-east/pief/news-events/a/article/7313/christians-in-the-holy-la.html
Holy Land Christians respond to Israeli police restrictions during Easter celebrations
Holy Land Christians, after hundreds of years of celebrating Easter in Jerusalem as the most important and significant holy week for Christianity, are being denied freedom of worship during this period by the Israeli occupation police.
Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Holy Fire Saturday, and Easter Sunday are the Holiest days celebrated in Jerusalem for Christians. The uniqueness of Holy Fire Saturday in Jerusalem has been celebrated as far back as 1106 AD. The celebrations have been governed for the past decades by the status quo of 1852 covering the processions within the boundaries of the Holy Sepulcher Church in addition to traditions by the local community and pilgrims in its vicinity. Tradition during this holy day claims the right for the local community to wait for the Holy fire on top of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate roof since for generations Palestinian Christians have been welcoming and making space for visiting pilgrims down in the plaza of the Holy Sepulcher.
The tradition also includes the right of local worshipers to reach St. Jacob’s Arab Orthodox Cathedral through the roof of the Orthodox Patriarchate to share the morning prayers of the Holy Saturday, including the sharing of the local community in the“Zaffeh” starting by the Christian Quarter, marching with the Arab Orthodox Priest of St. Jacob’s Cathedral and the head of the local community ending at the Holy Sepulcher. It is also known that the local Choir of St. Jacob’s and representatives of the traditional Jerusalemite Orthodox families are entitled to encircle the Holy Tomb. During the past 5 years all these arrangements have been jeopardized, minimized and made impossible due to the Israeli police restrictions implemented on the ground.
Today when a debate has been initiated regarding the freedom of worship in Jerusalem due to the constant settler aggressions against Al Aqsa Mosque (Al Haram Al Sharif) and despite the fact that Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres have assured to international media that “only Israel” can keep freedom of religion in Jerusalem, we the Holy Land Christians denounced the Israeli discriminatory policies against our community. At the same time that Christians are denied from their right of freely exercise their religion through road blocks in the old city, police presence with machine guns, as well as rude and hostile attitudes from police and Army officers, the Israeli occupying power allows Jews to freely access their temples even by imposing severe restrictions on the daily lives of Palestinians, including curfews and forced closures.
In response to these unilateral and discriminating Israeli actions, Palestinian Christian organizations in occupied East Jerusalem have initiated a legal process “to preserve the right to freely access our churches and shrines”. The legal actions on the Supreme Court level will be against everyone who is involved in this discriminatory policy, including the Israeli police and the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality.
We call upon the International community, and particularly to the Christian World, including its churches and civil society to put pressure on Israel to end the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem as well as in this particular case to stop limiting Holy Land Christians from exercising their basic religious rights.
We, Palestinian Christians, greet the world with Easter blessings from Jerusalem, from the City of the resurrection. May God end the suffering of the Palestinian people; bring about justice to this troubled land and peace to the whole world.
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For more information please refer to the letter addressed to the Jerusalem Heads of Churches and diplomatic corps in the same respect: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=311176290191&topic=14919
Footage from the blockade on Saturday Holy Fire celebrations 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmSvGdzGLI&feature=related
For further information you can contact:
Hana Karkar: +972-54.4546.349
Xavier Abu Eid: +972-59.8950.300
Yusef Daher: +972-50.5545.179
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