8 apr 2014
AMMONNEWS - The Christians institutions and denominations in occupied East Jerusalem are complaining about denial of access to the Church of the Holy Sepulture and its vicinity during Easter Holidays, and to Sabt El-Nour celebrations in particular- the day that precedes Easter Sunday.
The Christians are describing the harassment as discriminatory, racist, and targets the Holy season. The mobility of worshipers inside the Old City of Jerusalem gets restricted, and checkpoints are put at the Gates and in the alleys- thus preventing the worshipers from free access to the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulture, and the vicinity of the Christian Quarter. The restrictive measures constitute grave violation on the freedom of worship, and amount to discrimination against Christians because the occupation authorities want to negate Christian presence and create the impression of a Jewish-only city.
The measures taken by the occupying power have been escalating in recent years, and are meant to deny Christian and Moslem presence in East Jerusalem. Due to such measures the faithful are unable to worship freely and to be with their families and friends during such a special occasion. The restrictions began first in 2005, and are in fact unnecessary; politically and racially motivated. The Christians of East Jerusalem note the futility of attempts during previous years to coordinate with the police of the occupying power, more so because the restrictions violate basic human rights and freedom of faith.
The celebrations in the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Christian Quarter have been conducted according to local traditions and heritage that date back to hundreds of years. None of the successive powers that ruled Jerusalem considered tampering with the traditional celebrations and local heritage. The violence against the Christian worshipers is meant to deter them from attending the ceremonies in future years and thus to foster the image of Jerusalem as exclusively Jewish.
The Christians of occupied East Jerusalem are calling upon their own faithful not to be deterred by the harassment and to attend the celebrations in large numbers.
The Christians are describing the harassment as discriminatory, racist, and targets the Holy season. The mobility of worshipers inside the Old City of Jerusalem gets restricted, and checkpoints are put at the Gates and in the alleys- thus preventing the worshipers from free access to the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulture, and the vicinity of the Christian Quarter. The restrictive measures constitute grave violation on the freedom of worship, and amount to discrimination against Christians because the occupation authorities want to negate Christian presence and create the impression of a Jewish-only city.
The measures taken by the occupying power have been escalating in recent years, and are meant to deny Christian and Moslem presence in East Jerusalem. Due to such measures the faithful are unable to worship freely and to be with their families and friends during such a special occasion. The restrictions began first in 2005, and are in fact unnecessary; politically and racially motivated. The Christians of East Jerusalem note the futility of attempts during previous years to coordinate with the police of the occupying power, more so because the restrictions violate basic human rights and freedom of faith.
The celebrations in the vicinity of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Christian Quarter have been conducted according to local traditions and heritage that date back to hundreds of years. None of the successive powers that ruled Jerusalem considered tampering with the traditional celebrations and local heritage. The violence against the Christian worshipers is meant to deter them from attending the ceremonies in future years and thus to foster the image of Jerusalem as exclusively Jewish.
The Christians of occupied East Jerusalem are calling upon their own faithful not to be deterred by the harassment and to attend the celebrations in large numbers.
Dutch priest Frans van der Lugt, who gained renown for his insistence on staying in Syria's besieged city of Homs, has been shot dead by a masked gunman.
The motive for his murder was unclear, although Syria's main opposition bloc and President Bashar Assad's regime traded blame for the killing.
Van der Lugt, 75, had become a well-known figure in the Old City of Homs, respected by many for his solidarity with residents of the rebel-held area under a government siege for nearly two years.
He refused to leave despite constant shelling and dwindling supplies, insisting Syria was his home and he wanted to be with the country's citizens in their time of need.
"I can confirm that he's been killed," Jan Stuyt, secretary of the Dutch Jesuit Order, told AFP by phone.
"A man came into his house, took him outside and shot him twice in the head. In the street in front of his house," he said, adding that the priest would be buried in Syria "according to his wishes."
'Guard wounded'
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the shooting death Monday of a well-known Dutch priest in Syria as an "inhumane act of violence."
Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief "demands that warring parties and their supporters ensure that civilians are protected, regardless of their religion, community or ethnic affiliation."
The opposition National Council said a "masked gunman" wounded Van der Lugt's guard from the rebel Free Syrian Army when he stormed the priest's Jesuit monastery and killed him.
Van der Lugt spent nearly five decades in Syria, and told AFP in February that he considered the country to be his home.
"The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration, and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties," he said.
He stayed on even as some 1,400 people were evacuated during a UN-supervised operation that began on Feb. 7 and also saw limited supplies of food brought into the city.
Government forces have besieged Homs's Old City for nearly two years, leaving those unable to leave in increasingly dire circumstances.
"The faces of people you see in the street are weak and yellow. Their bodies are weakened and have lost their strength," Van der Lugt said before the UN operation.
"What should we do, die of hunger?"
The siege and shelling whittled away the Old City's population, including a Christian community that shrunk from tens of thousands to just 66, according to the Dutch priest.
Father Frans arrived in Syria in 1966 after spending two years in Lebanon studying Arabic.
He lived in a Jesuit monastery, where he ministered remaining Christians and tried to help poor families -- Muslims and Christians alike.
"I don't see people as Muslims or Christian, I see a human being first and foremost," he told AFP two months ago.
'Man of peace'
The Vatican praised Van der Lugt as a "man of peace," and expressed "great pain" over his death.
"This is the death of a man of peace, who showed great courage in remaining loyal to the Syrian people despite an extremely risky and difficult situation," spokesman Federico Lombardi said.
"In this moment of great pain, we also express our great pride and gratitude at having had a brother who was so close to the suffering."
Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans mourned the priest on his Facebook page.
"The man that's brought nothing but good in Homs, who became a Syrian among Syrians and refused to leave his people in the lurch, even when things became life-threatening, has been murdered in a cowardly manner," he said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was "saddened" by the news of Van der Lugt's death and commended him for having "worked to mitigate the immense suffering in the city."
The office of Ahmad Jarba, president of the opposition National Council, condemned the murder "in the strongest terms."
It said the Assad regime was "ultimately responsible for this crime, as the only beneficiary of Father Frans's death."
Assad himself was quoted on Monday as saying the "project of political Islam has failed" in Syria, where more than 150,000 people have been killed in a three-year conflict with rebels that have come to be dominated by Islamists, ranging from moderates to radicals.
State news agency SANA said the priest's assassination was the work of "armed terrorist groups," the regime's term for rebels.
The motive for his murder was unclear, although Syria's main opposition bloc and President Bashar Assad's regime traded blame for the killing.
Van der Lugt, 75, had become a well-known figure in the Old City of Homs, respected by many for his solidarity with residents of the rebel-held area under a government siege for nearly two years.
He refused to leave despite constant shelling and dwindling supplies, insisting Syria was his home and he wanted to be with the country's citizens in their time of need.
"I can confirm that he's been killed," Jan Stuyt, secretary of the Dutch Jesuit Order, told AFP by phone.
"A man came into his house, took him outside and shot him twice in the head. In the street in front of his house," he said, adding that the priest would be buried in Syria "according to his wishes."
'Guard wounded'
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the shooting death Monday of a well-known Dutch priest in Syria as an "inhumane act of violence."
Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief "demands that warring parties and their supporters ensure that civilians are protected, regardless of their religion, community or ethnic affiliation."
The opposition National Council said a "masked gunman" wounded Van der Lugt's guard from the rebel Free Syrian Army when he stormed the priest's Jesuit monastery and killed him.
Van der Lugt spent nearly five decades in Syria, and told AFP in February that he considered the country to be his home.
"The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration, and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties," he said.
He stayed on even as some 1,400 people were evacuated during a UN-supervised operation that began on Feb. 7 and also saw limited supplies of food brought into the city.
Government forces have besieged Homs's Old City for nearly two years, leaving those unable to leave in increasingly dire circumstances.
"The faces of people you see in the street are weak and yellow. Their bodies are weakened and have lost their strength," Van der Lugt said before the UN operation.
"What should we do, die of hunger?"
The siege and shelling whittled away the Old City's population, including a Christian community that shrunk from tens of thousands to just 66, according to the Dutch priest.
Father Frans arrived in Syria in 1966 after spending two years in Lebanon studying Arabic.
He lived in a Jesuit monastery, where he ministered remaining Christians and tried to help poor families -- Muslims and Christians alike.
"I don't see people as Muslims or Christian, I see a human being first and foremost," he told AFP two months ago.
'Man of peace'
The Vatican praised Van der Lugt as a "man of peace," and expressed "great pain" over his death.
"This is the death of a man of peace, who showed great courage in remaining loyal to the Syrian people despite an extremely risky and difficult situation," spokesman Federico Lombardi said.
"In this moment of great pain, we also express our great pride and gratitude at having had a brother who was so close to the suffering."
Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans mourned the priest on his Facebook page.
"The man that's brought nothing but good in Homs, who became a Syrian among Syrians and refused to leave his people in the lurch, even when things became life-threatening, has been murdered in a cowardly manner," he said.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States was "saddened" by the news of Van der Lugt's death and commended him for having "worked to mitigate the immense suffering in the city."
The office of Ahmad Jarba, president of the opposition National Council, condemned the murder "in the strongest terms."
It said the Assad regime was "ultimately responsible for this crime, as the only beneficiary of Father Frans's death."
Assad himself was quoted on Monday as saying the "project of political Islam has failed" in Syria, where more than 150,000 people have been killed in a three-year conflict with rebels that have come to be dominated by Islamists, ranging from moderates to radicals.
State news agency SANA said the priest's assassination was the work of "armed terrorist groups," the regime's term for rebels.
6 apr 2014
A group of Christians from East Jerusalem on Sunday said that Israel's restrictions on Palestinian mobility resulted in violations of religious freedoms.
The statement, signed "Palestinian Christian Organizations in Occupied East Jerusalem," complained that Christians are often denied access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the Easter holidays.
Each Easter, checkpoints are erected "at the Gates and in the alley, thus preventing the worshipers from free access to the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the vicinity of the Christian Quarter."
Israel's restrictions on Palestinian Christians are a part of larger strategy of Judaization in Jerusalem, the statement said.
"The restrictive measures constitute grave violation on the freedom of worship, and amount to discrimination against Christians because the occupation authorities want to negate Christian presence and create the impression of a Jewish-only city."
Both Christians and Muslims are often "unable to worship freely and to be with their families and friends" during religious holidays because of Israel's actions, the statement went on to note.
The organizations called on Christians to make attempts to attend Easter celebrations in Jerusalem despite the countless restrictions.
In a report published in 2012, the US State Department made similar observations.
"Strict closures and curfews imposed by the Israeli government negatively affected residents' ability to practice their religion at holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as well as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," the report said.
"The separation barrier significantly impeded Bethlehem-area Christians from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and made visits to Christian sites in Bethany (al-Eizariya) and Bethlehem difficult for Palestinian Christians who live on the Jerusalem side of the barrier."
East Jerusalem, including the historic Old City, was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
The statement, signed "Palestinian Christian Organizations in Occupied East Jerusalem," complained that Christians are often denied access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the Easter holidays.
Each Easter, checkpoints are erected "at the Gates and in the alley, thus preventing the worshipers from free access to the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the vicinity of the Christian Quarter."
Israel's restrictions on Palestinian Christians are a part of larger strategy of Judaization in Jerusalem, the statement said.
"The restrictive measures constitute grave violation on the freedom of worship, and amount to discrimination against Christians because the occupation authorities want to negate Christian presence and create the impression of a Jewish-only city."
Both Christians and Muslims are often "unable to worship freely and to be with their families and friends" during religious holidays because of Israel's actions, the statement went on to note.
The organizations called on Christians to make attempts to attend Easter celebrations in Jerusalem despite the countless restrictions.
In a report published in 2012, the US State Department made similar observations.
"Strict closures and curfews imposed by the Israeli government negatively affected residents' ability to practice their religion at holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, as well as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," the report said.
"The separation barrier significantly impeded Bethlehem-area Christians from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and made visits to Christian sites in Bethany (al-Eizariya) and Bethlehem difficult for Palestinian Christians who live on the Jerusalem side of the barrier."
East Jerusalem, including the historic Old City, was occupied by Israeli forces in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
3 apr 2014
People leave the Deir Rafat Catholic convent whose walls were sprayed with a graffiti near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem on April 1, 2014
Suspected Jewish extremists on Thursday slashed the tires of over 40 cars and sprayed racist graffiti in a predominantly Christian town in northern Israel, Israeli media reported.
The perpetrators sprayed "Only goyim should be evacuated from our land" on a wall in the village of Jish, a majority Maronite village of some 3,000 residents.
The attackers also slashed the tires of 40 cars.
Israeli police have opened an investigation into the incident, and labeled the incident a suspected "price tag" attack.
On Tuesday, Jewish extremists sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on the walls of a convent west of Jerusalem and damaged vehicles parked nearby.
Slogans including "Mary is a cow," "price tag" and "America (is) Nazi Germany" were sprayed in Hebrew on the walls of the Roman Catholic sanctuary.
Last July, two suspects were arrested in connection with the 2012 torching of the door of a Trappist monastery in Latrun, about six miles from the scene of the convent attack.
In the 2012 attack, the arsonists scrawled "Jesus is a monkey" on a nearby wall in an incident that shocked the religious and political establishment.
Suspected Jewish extremists on Thursday slashed the tires of over 40 cars and sprayed racist graffiti in a predominantly Christian town in northern Israel, Israeli media reported.
The perpetrators sprayed "Only goyim should be evacuated from our land" on a wall in the village of Jish, a majority Maronite village of some 3,000 residents.
The attackers also slashed the tires of 40 cars.
Israeli police have opened an investigation into the incident, and labeled the incident a suspected "price tag" attack.
On Tuesday, Jewish extremists sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on the walls of a convent west of Jerusalem and damaged vehicles parked nearby.
Slogans including "Mary is a cow," "price tag" and "America (is) Nazi Germany" were sprayed in Hebrew on the walls of the Roman Catholic sanctuary.
Last July, two suspects were arrested in connection with the 2012 torching of the door of a Trappist monastery in Latrun, about six miles from the scene of the convent attack.
In the 2012 attack, the arsonists scrawled "Jesus is a monkey" on a nearby wall in an incident that shocked the religious and political establishment.
2 apr 2014
The Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage (AFEH) strongly denounced the "heinous crime" committed by the so-called Price Tag extremist Jewish groups on Tuesday targeting a monastery in occupied Jerusalem. The Foundation held Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for "this cowardly attack" that came in light of the Israeli religious persecution and racial discrimination policy.
The Foundation's statement said that Christian and Islamic holy sites in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem became noticeably targeted by Jewish extremist groups as part of the Israeli systematic policy that aims to erase the Arab-Palestinian existence.
Extremist Jews carried out a price tag attack on Deir Rafat monastery of the Latin Patriarchate in occupied Jerusalem. The monastery’s outer walls were sprayed with hate graffiti and slogans against Virgin Mary and the USA. The assailants also slashed the tires of four nearby Palestinian cars.
Meanwhile, the Islamic-Christian Commission for the support of Jerusalem and the holy sites has issued Tuesday its monthly report on Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem.
The monthly report documented the arrest of 26 Jerusalemites during March, while nine break-ins were carried out into al-Aqsa Mosque during the same period.
Four Jerusalemites were deported from al-Aqsa Mosque during March, while Palestinian worshipers under the age of fifty were prevented from having access to the Mosque, the report added.
According to the monthly report, Israeli forces have attacked eight Palestinians in al-Aqsa Mosque including four journalists.
The Jerusalemite commission also documented the demolition of two sheds, a store, a carwash, and two homes under the pretext of being built without a permit.
The Israeli government has approved during March the construction of 128 settlement units in favor of Israeli army recruits, and 168 settlement houses in East Jerusalem, in addition to 387 housing units in Ramat Shlomo settlement built on Shufat town north of occupied Jerusalem.
The Foundation's statement said that Christian and Islamic holy sites in occupied West Bank and Jerusalem became noticeably targeted by Jewish extremist groups as part of the Israeli systematic policy that aims to erase the Arab-Palestinian existence.
Extremist Jews carried out a price tag attack on Deir Rafat monastery of the Latin Patriarchate in occupied Jerusalem. The monastery’s outer walls were sprayed with hate graffiti and slogans against Virgin Mary and the USA. The assailants also slashed the tires of four nearby Palestinian cars.
Meanwhile, the Islamic-Christian Commission for the support of Jerusalem and the holy sites has issued Tuesday its monthly report on Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem.
The monthly report documented the arrest of 26 Jerusalemites during March, while nine break-ins were carried out into al-Aqsa Mosque during the same period.
Four Jerusalemites were deported from al-Aqsa Mosque during March, while Palestinian worshipers under the age of fifty were prevented from having access to the Mosque, the report added.
According to the monthly report, Israeli forces have attacked eight Palestinians in al-Aqsa Mosque including four journalists.
The Jerusalemite commission also documented the demolition of two sheds, a store, a carwash, and two homes under the pretext of being built without a permit.
The Israeli government has approved during March the construction of 128 settlement units in favor of Israeli army recruits, and 168 settlement houses in East Jerusalem, in addition to 387 housing units in Ramat Shlomo settlement built on Shufat town north of occupied Jerusalem.
1 apr 2014
Extremist Jews carried out a price tag attack on Deir Rafat monastery of the Latin Patriarchate in occupied Jerusalem. The monastery’s outer walls were sprayed with hate graffiti and slogans against Virgin Mary and the USA, in addition to slashing the tires of 4 nearby cars.
Extremist Jewish settlers have been carrying out acts of vandalism in recent years where mosques and churches have been targeted in these so-called price tag assaults.
In a related context Israeli settlers attacked on Monday evening Palestinian vehicles near the entrance to Yabad village, south of Jenin, and smashed four vehicles’ windows, while chanting anti-Arab slogans.
Hundreds of settlers, from Mabo Dotan, gathered at Barta'a junction near the town and started stoning the passing vehicles, Local sources reported.
Israeli forces arrived at the scene and provided protection for the settlers who have recently intensified their attacks against Palestinians and their properties.
'Nazi America' sprayed on monastery near Beit Shemesh
'Price tag' attacks have become increasingly popular among youth settlers in recent years, appear to target not just Palestinians, but anyone objecting to settlement enterprise.
The words "America is Nazi Germany" and "price tag" were spray painted on a wall of a Catholic monastery in Deir a-Rafat village close Kibbutz Tzora near Beit Shemesh on Tuesday morning. The tires of four vehicles were also slashed.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were investigating and searching for suspects.
The incident is the latest in a string of similar attacks, known as "price tag" attacks as they "exact a price" from local Palestinians or Israeli security forces for any action taken against the settlement enterprise.
Two months ago, the words "buy just from Jews" and "price tag" were spray painted on a nursery in the Arab town of Kfar Qassem, and property worth thousands of shekels was destroyed.
A month earlier, some 30 cars had their tires slashed and anti-Arab graffiti was sprayed on walls in an East Jerusalem neighborhood
An additional attack took place in Deir Aistia, south of Qalqilya, in January. Apparently, vandals lit a fire at the base of a mosque door and the words "Arabs out!" were spray painted on the door.
According to the United Nations, Israeli security forces have largely failed to stem the attacks in which assailants cut down trees, deface mosques and beat Palestinian farmers. Israeli leaders across the spectrum have repeatedly denounced the attacks, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon even branded them "outright terrorism". The IDF says its soldiers are under strict orders to stop them.
Extremist Jewish settlers have been carrying out acts of vandalism in recent years where mosques and churches have been targeted in these so-called price tag assaults.
In a related context Israeli settlers attacked on Monday evening Palestinian vehicles near the entrance to Yabad village, south of Jenin, and smashed four vehicles’ windows, while chanting anti-Arab slogans.
Hundreds of settlers, from Mabo Dotan, gathered at Barta'a junction near the town and started stoning the passing vehicles, Local sources reported.
Israeli forces arrived at the scene and provided protection for the settlers who have recently intensified their attacks against Palestinians and their properties.
'Nazi America' sprayed on monastery near Beit Shemesh
'Price tag' attacks have become increasingly popular among youth settlers in recent years, appear to target not just Palestinians, but anyone objecting to settlement enterprise.
The words "America is Nazi Germany" and "price tag" were spray painted on a wall of a Catholic monastery in Deir a-Rafat village close Kibbutz Tzora near Beit Shemesh on Tuesday morning. The tires of four vehicles were also slashed.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were investigating and searching for suspects.
The incident is the latest in a string of similar attacks, known as "price tag" attacks as they "exact a price" from local Palestinians or Israeli security forces for any action taken against the settlement enterprise.
Two months ago, the words "buy just from Jews" and "price tag" were spray painted on a nursery in the Arab town of Kfar Qassem, and property worth thousands of shekels was destroyed.
A month earlier, some 30 cars had their tires slashed and anti-Arab graffiti was sprayed on walls in an East Jerusalem neighborhood
An additional attack took place in Deir Aistia, south of Qalqilya, in January. Apparently, vandals lit a fire at the base of a mosque door and the words "Arabs out!" were spray painted on the door.
According to the United Nations, Israeli security forces have largely failed to stem the attacks in which assailants cut down trees, deface mosques and beat Palestinian farmers. Israeli leaders across the spectrum have repeatedly denounced the attacks, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon even branded them "outright terrorism". The IDF says its soldiers are under strict orders to stop them.
28 mar 2014
Pope Francis will pray side-by-side with Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew in Jerusalem in a powerful sign of Christian unity during his May visit to Holy Land, the Vatican said on Thursday.
The prayer will take place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the spots widely believed to be the sites of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
The two will also sign a joint declaration when they meet on what will be the 50th anniversary of a visit to Jerusalem by two of their predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.
"We are called to be one, and the pope is coming to remind us of this and renew the spirit of unity and fraternal love," Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal told reporters in Jerusalem as he announced the program of the pontiff's May 24-26 visit to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories.
During the brief trip, Francis will celebrate Sunday mass in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where Jesus is believed to have been born.
He will meet Palestinian and Syrian refugees and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
But Twal warned the visit could be jeopardized if a strike by staff at Israel's foreign ministry, demanding better wages and working conditions, is not resolved in time.
"If the strike goes on for two months, I don't think we can make the visit to Israel, but for sure the visit will be done in Jordan and Palestine," said Twal, the Holy Land's senior Roman Catholic prelate.
However, Father David Neuhaus, who represents Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel, said the government had pledged the visit would not be affected.
"Israel has given assurances, both from the prime minister's office and from the office of the foreign minister, that the strike will not affect the visit," he said.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's spokesman confirmed Neuhaus's remarks.
But a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry's labor union insisted that if the strike was not resolved, they would not facilitate the visit.
"As long we are on strike, we are not attending to the Pope’s visit," she told AFP, indicating that a preparatory visit by Vatican officials, due to take place earlier this month, was cancelled because of the industrial action.
Twal also addressed disappointment among Catholics in the Galilee and Nazareth, who had hoped the pope would visit these religiously significant sites in northern Israel, saying he "agreed with them".
"We hope that in the future this visit can take place," the patriarch said.
The Argentine pontiff's predecessor, Benedict XVI, visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2009.
Israel and the Vatican first established full diplomatic relations in 1993, but have been engaged in years of thorny diplomatic negotiations over property rights and tax exemptions for the Catholic Church, which have yet to be fully resolved.
The prayer will take place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the spots widely believed to be the sites of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
The two will also sign a joint declaration when they meet on what will be the 50th anniversary of a visit to Jerusalem by two of their predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.
"We are called to be one, and the pope is coming to remind us of this and renew the spirit of unity and fraternal love," Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal told reporters in Jerusalem as he announced the program of the pontiff's May 24-26 visit to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories.
During the brief trip, Francis will celebrate Sunday mass in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where Jesus is believed to have been born.
He will meet Palestinian and Syrian refugees and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
But Twal warned the visit could be jeopardized if a strike by staff at Israel's foreign ministry, demanding better wages and working conditions, is not resolved in time.
"If the strike goes on for two months, I don't think we can make the visit to Israel, but for sure the visit will be done in Jordan and Palestine," said Twal, the Holy Land's senior Roman Catholic prelate.
However, Father David Neuhaus, who represents Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel, said the government had pledged the visit would not be affected.
"Israel has given assurances, both from the prime minister's office and from the office of the foreign minister, that the strike will not affect the visit," he said.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's spokesman confirmed Neuhaus's remarks.
But a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry's labor union insisted that if the strike was not resolved, they would not facilitate the visit.
"As long we are on strike, we are not attending to the Pope’s visit," she told AFP, indicating that a preparatory visit by Vatican officials, due to take place earlier this month, was cancelled because of the industrial action.
Twal also addressed disappointment among Catholics in the Galilee and Nazareth, who had hoped the pope would visit these religiously significant sites in northern Israel, saying he "agreed with them".
"We hope that in the future this visit can take place," the patriarch said.
The Argentine pontiff's predecessor, Benedict XVI, visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2009.
Israel and the Vatican first established full diplomatic relations in 1993, but have been engaged in years of thorny diplomatic negotiations over property rights and tax exemptions for the Catholic Church, which have yet to be fully resolved.
20 mar 2014
By Rifat Odeh Kassis
Rifat Odeh Kassis is the general coordinator of the Palestinian-Christian activist group Kairos.
In any situation of oppression, some of the oppressed direct their anger toward the oppressors. But some do not. Instead, they channel their frustration toward their peers, their fellow oppressed.
They try to erase their past, hoping that the future will bring them a better lot in life, a new reality -- and often, in the process, becoming more racist than their most bigoted neighbors.
Nonetheless, history reminds us that these projections will never truly help the oppressed. Their oppressors will continue to see them as strangers -- or, at best, as a fifth column, a group used to undermine their own country without ever gaining the respect of those who seek to serve them.
On February 24 of this year, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill that creates a legal distinction between Christians and Muslims, categorizing Christians as non-Arabs. Israel actively seeks to make Palestinians forget that they share a history, a community, and a struggle, and is increasingly implementing legislation to make this aim a reality.
The international media, unfortunately, has aided in this process through their simplistic, biased, and at times outright untruthful coverage of the issues facing Christian Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.
Michele Chabin's article "Israeli Christians seek integration, including army service" published on Mar. 14, 2014 in USA Today, is a good example of this kind of coverage. The article focuses on certain Christians' decision to participate in activities run by the Israeli state, on different public responses to that decision, and on the Israeli government’s direct recruitment of Christians for the Israeli army and other bodies.
I stopped short at three points. Each point represents a major falsehood, misrepresentation, misunderstanding, or reduction; each point opens a door onto subjects unexplored in Chabin's article, subjects we must discuss in order to truly understand the reality of Christians in Israel and Palestine.
The first word that made me pause appears in the title: the integration in "Israeli Christians seek integration…" The use of this word makes me think of the many immigrants to Europe who struggle to understand their marginalization within their new social contexts and often blame themselves for it; what they don’t see are the policies and attitudes that prevent them from becoming an integral part of society.
In the case of Israel, some Christians fail to see the discriminatory policies, laws, and practices against non-Jewish citizens.The fundamental tension of the Israeli state itself -- its self-definition as both a democracy and a Jewish nation, its desire to serve as a model of democratic ideals and its simultaneous insistence on maintaining a Jewish majority -- is often referenced and crucial to remember here.
Victims of this systematic discrimination often vote for the most right-wing parties in their new host countries -- thinking, whether consciously or unconsciously, that becoming members of the hardline right will grant them the integration they yearn for. They try to become, in other words, more Catholic than the Pope.
And will this help them? Of course not: they will remain "outsiders" in the eyes of the majority, will remain unwanted, will remain the "other" that the right-wing wishes to exclude. This is the same fate that non-Jewish citizens suffer in the state of Israel, despite the fact that they are not immigrants (and that, indeed, their families have lived their for generations upon generations), and no matter what they do to prove the contrary.
The second point that struck me is the quote from a Palestinian Christian man who serves with the Israeli army in the city of Hebron -- I'll call him "the victim," because he has been damaged by the system that marginalizes him and yet brainwashes him into seeking this form of acceptance. This victim should accompany other victims, like the refuseniks (young Jewish Israeli citizens who refuse to fulfill their mandatory army service), who see, for example, the Jewish settlers in Hebron as the major threat to the Israeli state.
These settlers insist on living in the very heart of a Palestinian community, depriving Palestinians of water, use of the streets, access to schools and hospitals and places of worship; forbidding them from practicing normal life in scores of other ways; and often physically assaulting them.
They maintain that all these practices contribute to the security of the state of Israel, and they consider all non-Jews to be outsiders who should be evacuated from "their" country. The Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, committed in 1994 by American-born Israeli Baruch Goldstein, is just one example of this mentality.
The victim's decision to "serve" the settlers in Hebron, protecting them in their enclaves, will not change their opinion of him. Moreover, the Israeli decision to assign this and other victims to a military post in Hebron is a telling one. Israel didn't dispatch him to the state borders, or to Bethlehem or Ramallah, where he would have been in contact with his Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers living in these cities: stopping them at checkpoints, humiliating them at roadblocks, arresting their children in the middle of the night.
This contact could have awakened some uncomfortable, important feelings in him: feelings of confusion, feelings of connection with the people whose oppression he was sent to enact.
Rifat Odeh Kassis is the general coordinator of the Palestinian-Christian activist group Kairos.
In any situation of oppression, some of the oppressed direct their anger toward the oppressors. But some do not. Instead, they channel their frustration toward their peers, their fellow oppressed.
They try to erase their past, hoping that the future will bring them a better lot in life, a new reality -- and often, in the process, becoming more racist than their most bigoted neighbors.
Nonetheless, history reminds us that these projections will never truly help the oppressed. Their oppressors will continue to see them as strangers -- or, at best, as a fifth column, a group used to undermine their own country without ever gaining the respect of those who seek to serve them.
On February 24 of this year, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill that creates a legal distinction between Christians and Muslims, categorizing Christians as non-Arabs. Israel actively seeks to make Palestinians forget that they share a history, a community, and a struggle, and is increasingly implementing legislation to make this aim a reality.
The international media, unfortunately, has aided in this process through their simplistic, biased, and at times outright untruthful coverage of the issues facing Christian Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.
Michele Chabin's article "Israeli Christians seek integration, including army service" published on Mar. 14, 2014 in USA Today, is a good example of this kind of coverage. The article focuses on certain Christians' decision to participate in activities run by the Israeli state, on different public responses to that decision, and on the Israeli government’s direct recruitment of Christians for the Israeli army and other bodies.
I stopped short at three points. Each point represents a major falsehood, misrepresentation, misunderstanding, or reduction; each point opens a door onto subjects unexplored in Chabin's article, subjects we must discuss in order to truly understand the reality of Christians in Israel and Palestine.
The first word that made me pause appears in the title: the integration in "Israeli Christians seek integration…" The use of this word makes me think of the many immigrants to Europe who struggle to understand their marginalization within their new social contexts and often blame themselves for it; what they don’t see are the policies and attitudes that prevent them from becoming an integral part of society.
In the case of Israel, some Christians fail to see the discriminatory policies, laws, and practices against non-Jewish citizens.The fundamental tension of the Israeli state itself -- its self-definition as both a democracy and a Jewish nation, its desire to serve as a model of democratic ideals and its simultaneous insistence on maintaining a Jewish majority -- is often referenced and crucial to remember here.
Victims of this systematic discrimination often vote for the most right-wing parties in their new host countries -- thinking, whether consciously or unconsciously, that becoming members of the hardline right will grant them the integration they yearn for. They try to become, in other words, more Catholic than the Pope.
And will this help them? Of course not: they will remain "outsiders" in the eyes of the majority, will remain unwanted, will remain the "other" that the right-wing wishes to exclude. This is the same fate that non-Jewish citizens suffer in the state of Israel, despite the fact that they are not immigrants (and that, indeed, their families have lived their for generations upon generations), and no matter what they do to prove the contrary.
The second point that struck me is the quote from a Palestinian Christian man who serves with the Israeli army in the city of Hebron -- I'll call him "the victim," because he has been damaged by the system that marginalizes him and yet brainwashes him into seeking this form of acceptance. This victim should accompany other victims, like the refuseniks (young Jewish Israeli citizens who refuse to fulfill their mandatory army service), who see, for example, the Jewish settlers in Hebron as the major threat to the Israeli state.
These settlers insist on living in the very heart of a Palestinian community, depriving Palestinians of water, use of the streets, access to schools and hospitals and places of worship; forbidding them from practicing normal life in scores of other ways; and often physically assaulting them.
They maintain that all these practices contribute to the security of the state of Israel, and they consider all non-Jews to be outsiders who should be evacuated from "their" country. The Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, committed in 1994 by American-born Israeli Baruch Goldstein, is just one example of this mentality.
The victim's decision to "serve" the settlers in Hebron, protecting them in their enclaves, will not change their opinion of him. Moreover, the Israeli decision to assign this and other victims to a military post in Hebron is a telling one. Israel didn't dispatch him to the state borders, or to Bethlehem or Ramallah, where he would have been in contact with his Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers living in these cities: stopping them at checkpoints, humiliating them at roadblocks, arresting their children in the middle of the night.
This contact could have awakened some uncomfortable, important feelings in him: feelings of confusion, feelings of connection with the people whose oppression he was sent to enact.
Israel does not want this to happen: the idea is to sever those possible connections, to fragment communities, to quash empathy and solidarity where it might arise among Palestinians of any and all backgrounds.
These divisive tactics are appearing more and more in national legislation. The only way its victims can "protect" their country is by refusing to serve as another instrument of their own occupation and oppression.
The third and final point I must take issue with is a quote from the writer herself: "Indigenous Christians say they can trace their roots back 2,000 years to the time of Jesus. But they complain they feel sometimes like second-class citizens in the Jewish homeland and are denied top private-sector jobs and positions in government." They feel sometimes like second-class citizens? The author must know, as any halfway competent observer knows, that non-Jewish citizens of Israel rank as second- or third- or fourth-class citizens.
In the social hierarchy that is the Israeli state, Ashkenazi Jews are the privileged first class, followed by Sephardic Jews. (These two categories contain other sub-ranks and divisions, of course, but this is not the topic of my text.) The Druze, who have been serving in the army and "protecting" their country for the past 50 years rank third or fourth; despite their service, they are continually subjected to discrimination in many professional and social contexts and their cities are not allocated the budgets that Jewish ones are.
What about Christians, then? Will they become the equals of Israel's Jews? Will they be able to return to the villages they were expelled from in 1948 and many years thereafter?
Let us think of the village of Iqrit: in 1951, the Supreme Court ruled that the villagers could go back and inhabit their homes. But the military government found pretexts to refuse their return, and the Israeli army destroyed the entire village later that year.
Will Israel have a Christian prime minister soon? Or a president of the state? History, policy, and reality respond with an overwhelming "no." The population of Israel is 20 percent non-Jewish, in addition to thousands of Russians, Asians, and Africans, both Jews and non-Jews.
Yet the state discourse, policies, and practices insist on Israel's Jewishness above all else.
It is not interested in equality. It needs second-class citizens to be what it is.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect Ma'an News Agency's editorial policy.
These divisive tactics are appearing more and more in national legislation. The only way its victims can "protect" their country is by refusing to serve as another instrument of their own occupation and oppression.
The third and final point I must take issue with is a quote from the writer herself: "Indigenous Christians say they can trace their roots back 2,000 years to the time of Jesus. But they complain they feel sometimes like second-class citizens in the Jewish homeland and are denied top private-sector jobs and positions in government." They feel sometimes like second-class citizens? The author must know, as any halfway competent observer knows, that non-Jewish citizens of Israel rank as second- or third- or fourth-class citizens.
In the social hierarchy that is the Israeli state, Ashkenazi Jews are the privileged first class, followed by Sephardic Jews. (These two categories contain other sub-ranks and divisions, of course, but this is not the topic of my text.) The Druze, who have been serving in the army and "protecting" their country for the past 50 years rank third or fourth; despite their service, they are continually subjected to discrimination in many professional and social contexts and their cities are not allocated the budgets that Jewish ones are.
What about Christians, then? Will they become the equals of Israel's Jews? Will they be able to return to the villages they were expelled from in 1948 and many years thereafter?
Let us think of the village of Iqrit: in 1951, the Supreme Court ruled that the villagers could go back and inhabit their homes. But the military government found pretexts to refuse their return, and the Israeli army destroyed the entire village later that year.
Will Israel have a Christian prime minister soon? Or a president of the state? History, policy, and reality respond with an overwhelming "no." The population of Israel is 20 percent non-Jewish, in addition to thousands of Russians, Asians, and Africans, both Jews and non-Jews.
Yet the state discourse, policies, and practices insist on Israel's Jewishness above all else.
It is not interested in equality. It needs second-class citizens to be what it is.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect Ma'an News Agency's editorial policy.