WASHINGTON, DC, Wednesday, May 04, 2022 (WAFA) – A bipartisan group of US lawmakers warned on Friday that the action of radical settler groups pose a threat to the long-term viability of Christian presence in Jerusalem.
The lawmakers, led by Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro and Republican Gus Bilirakis, said radical Israeli settler groups in Israel were looking to “drive out” Christians from the holy city and “engaging in sustained attacks against Christian clergy and destruction of church properties.”
“We write today as a bipartisan group of Members of Congress deeply concerned by the rise in attacks against the Christian community in Jerusalem,” the lawmakers stated.
Jerusalem is a holy city for Christians as well as Muslims and Jews. The city has 95 churches and is home the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which serves as the custodian of the many holy sites in Jerusalem and its environs, along with sizable numbers of Melkite Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics, Syriacs, and Armenians.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, headed by Patriarch Theophilos III, is one of the largest single property owners in Jerusalem, and has been locked in legal battles with settler groups, like the Ateret Cohanim, over property in the city, with tensions recently reaching their peak over settler break into the church-owned and strategically located Little Petra Hotel, which Israeli police helped a settler group partially seize in March.
Palestinians have long maintained that the settler takeover of the strategically-located hotel along with sustained settler attacks against Christians and the forced “evictions” of Palestinian families from the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan are politically-motivated and comes as part of Israel’s efforts to ethnically cleanse Jerusalemite Palestinians, including Christians.
The Christian population of Jerusalem declined from 25 percent a century ago to less than 2 percent today.
In their letter, the US lawmakers referred to recent dire warnings from church hierarchs about Christian presence in the city.
They cited a December 2020 attack by an Israeli man, who attempted to set fire to the Church of All Nations, located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, along with four Israeli settler acts of vandalism against the Monastery of the Romanian Church in Jerusalem in just one month in 2021.
They also drew attention to attacks on Christian clergy, including a May 2021 attack against an Armenian priest by three Israeli youths.
While noting the declared general protection afforded to minority religious communities by the Israeli government, they said that “the actions of radical groups pose a grave threat to the long-term viability of the Christian presence in Jerusalem.”
“The actions of radical groups who are able to act with impunity directly threaten the religious freedom of the Christian community in Jerusalem and undermines the rich history of interfaith cooperation within the city,” the letter said.
The lawmakers said that a shrinking Christian presence in Jerusalem would have humanitarian ramifications, as ministry programs organized under the auspices of the Christian churches in Jerusalem meet the medical, educational, and humanitarian needs for people regardless of religious affiliation throughout Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
“If the radical groups succeed in driving out the Christian community, many of these programs will no longer be able to operate.”
The lawmakers called on the US State Department “to work with the Israeli government to uphold its stated commitment” to freedom of religion and worship and to hold radical groups accountable for attacks against Christians and destruction of church property.
K.F.
