Palestine condemns the settlers’ attack on a church in Jerusalem

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates denounced that these continuous attacks come within the framework of Tel Aviv’s strategy to Judaize the region and impose Israeli sovereignty and isolate it from the rest of the West Bank.

For his part, the head of the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs, Ramzi Khoury, accused the “extremist and fascist government of Israel” of sponsoring the crimes committed by settlers against the Palestinian people.

He emphasized that these measures coincide with the approaching month of Ramadan, which is a holy month for Muslims, and Palm Sunday and Holy Saturday.

He pointed out that the repeated raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque and churches are a violation of international law that guarantees freedom of worship.

And alerted the Palestinian authorities that two settlers entered the temple this morning with the aim of harming it, but a Palestinian citizen refused to do so.

Earlier this year, a group of them broke crosses and tombstones from more than 30 graves in a Christian cemetery in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post recently warned that attacks by ultra-Orthodox settlers and Jews against Christians living in or visiting the so-called Holy City have escalated in recent months, despite police avoiding intervention.

The newspaper indicated that harassment has become routine, including spitting, insulting and pushing priests in the alleys of the city.

Young people of ultra-Orthodox appearance come in groups to identify priests in order to harass and insult them, but the police have not yet given the slightest response, he said.

The newspaper revealed that residents of the Armenian Quarter say they are not receiving an adequate response or follow-up to complaints submitted to the authorities.

In early February, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, condemned the systematic attacks by Israeli extremists against Christians in that city.

In December 2021, patriarchs and heads of churches in the capital warned that “Christians have become the target of frequent and continuous attacks by extremist extremist groups.”

Mim / Rob