The decision to suspend the taxation of church-owned properties is insufficient and Israel must be obliged to rescind it, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said on Wednesday.
She said in a statement that Israel must rescind all moves that target Palestinian Christian and Muslim holy sites and refrain from any such acts in the future.
“The ‘status quo’ in Jerusalem must be maintained,” she said.
Israel’s attempt to force churches to pay taxes, a step unprecedented in the history of the churches in the Holy Land, was met with strong resistance. The leading churches in Jerusalem shut down the Holy Sepulcher on Sunday, the holiest site in Christianity, to protest these measures. Israel was forced to suspend it decision on Tuesday, which led to the reopening of the church on Wednesday.
“Outrage and resistance from both Palestinians and international religious and political leaderships forced Israel to retreat from its hostile and calculated assault on the heart and birthplace of Christianity in occupied Jerusalem. When people of conscience and members of the global community hold Israel to account for its violations, the Israeli government is forced to stand down.,” said the PLO official.
“Palestinian holy places and institutions have existed for centuries, long before the creation of the state of Israel. Palestinian Christian and Muslim holy sites have been the target of Israeli occupation measures that seek to distort and negate the culture, history and sanctity of these human heritage sites, while simultaneously attempting to eradicate the Palestinian identity and presence from occupied Jerusalem.”
Ashrawi said that “Israel’s false claims that it respects freedom of worship and other religions have been repeatedly exposed and negated by its actions and policies on the ground. Palestinians (Christians and Muslims) have been systematically prevented from reaching their places of worship in Jerusalem, a city that languishes under a stringent Israeli siege and security control. In addition, these places of worship and institutions have been targeted repeatedly by Jewish-Israeli fundamentalists and extremists without the Israeli authorities providing any form of protection for the victims or accountability for the perpetrators.”
“It is thus a global responsibility to curb such persistent Israeli violations and to bring the occupation to the end,” concluded Ashrawi.
(WAFA)
