BETHLEHEM, September 25, 2026 (WAFA) - Head of the Presidential High Committee for Church Affairs Rami Khoury stated on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where they are growing starkly contradict reality experienced by Palestinian Christians.
Khoury added that the main reason behind the declining number of Christians in Palestine is the Israeli occupation and its arbitrary measures, coupled with ongoing violations against their churches, monasteries, and holy sites, alongside the seizure of lands, the imposition of taxes and fees on church institutions, and restrictions on freedom of worship and access to holy sites.
He noted that such Israeli violations and measures against Palestinian Christians are not restricted to Jerusalem, but also occur in various parts of the occupied Palestinian Territory, including the villages of Taybeh, Birzeit, Ein Arik in Ramallah governorate and Bethlehem.
Khoury stressed that Israeli violations and measures have also targeted Christian educational institutions and their curricula, as well as restrictions on the access of Christian schools’ teachers and staff to Jerusalem, noting that targeting education cannot be separated from targeting the foundations of presence and survival.
He affirmed that the latest attack on the Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist in Haifa and the Armenian Monastery, along with repeated attacks on churches and monasteries in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, confirms the widening scope of attacks on holy sites and Christian institutions.
Khoury referred to a continued pattern of violations affecting Palestinian Christians’ freedom of worship and education, land ownership, the continuity of Christian institutions, and their right to remain in their homeland, in violation of relevant rules and obligations concerning the protection of religious and cultural sites and freedom of worship.
Khoury said that those who close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, attack Christian churches and monasteries, vandalize Christians’ properties, impose taxes on their institutions, and restrict their schools and curricula cannot present themselves to the world as protectors of Christians.
He concluded that Palestinian Christians will remain steadfast in their homeland and will continue to bear witness and fulfill their mission in the land of Christ, despite the intensification of the occupation's policies of colonization, uprooting and displacement.
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