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Israel blocks Christian worshipers from attending Easter celebration in Jerusalem
Occupied Jerusalem has seen a marked uptick in hate crimes by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinian Muslims and Christians over recent months
By News Desk - April 13 2023
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem. (Photo Credit: Jon Arnold/AWL/Getty Images)
Israel’s far-right government has announced that security forces will enforce harsh restrictions on the number of Christian worshipers allowed to attend the ‘Holy Fire’ ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem on 15 April.
“After many attempts made in goodwill, we are not able to coordinate with the Israeli authorities as they are enforcing unreasonable restrictions … These heavy-handed restrictions will limit access to … the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and to the Holy Light ceremony,” Father Mattheos Siopis from Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Church told reporters on 12 April.
“We shall continue to uphold the Status Quo customs, and the ceremony will be held as customary for two millennia, and all who wish to worship with us are invited to attend,” the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Custody of the Holy Land, and the Armenian Patriarchate said in a joint statement.
In previous years, as many as 10,000 Christian worshipers attended the ceremony of the Holy Fire – the most important Easter celebration for the Greek Orthodox Church. However, this year Tel Aviv says only 1,800 worshipers will be allowed inside, with another 1,200 allowed to stand outside.
“They’ve locked down the Christian and Armenian quarters on the actual day [of the ceremony – Saturday] and pretty much let no one else into the city except for those issued tickets by the police for the Holy Fire,” Donald Binder, chaplain to the Anglican archbishop of Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera.
“[Christianity] is the biggest religion in the world, and yet Christians are being kept out of their quarter of the holy city on the holiest day of the year for them,” he added.
Israeli police say the restrictions are related to recent violence in the Old City of Jerusalem, as Palestinian worshipers have been the target of brutal police violence inside Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.
“We understand the feeling, the religious feelings of people that want to participate in this Holy Light ceremony. But unfortunately, not everyone can enter the church because of the safety regulation,” said Yoram Segal from the Jerusalem district police.
The decision comes as Palestinian Christians and churches in occupied Jerusalem have seen a marked uptick in hate crimes by extremist Jewish settlers.
“The frequency of these attacks, the aggressions, has become something new,” Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, recently told AP. “These people feel they are protected… that the cultural and political atmosphere now can justify, or tolerate, actions against Christians.”
Church leaders say the spike in violence can be attributed to the Jewish supremacist rhetoric of the current far-right government, whose ministers have called for Palestinian villages to be “wiped out” and even denied the existence of a Palestinian people.
Israeli hate crimes in occupied East Jerusalem made international headlines in January when men wearing Jewish religious clothing were caught on camera smashing crosses and knocking down headstones on more than 30 graves.
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