Since the start of its comprehensive aggression against our people in October 2023, the Israeli occupation has been trying, in various ways and means, to target the Palestinian presence, through the genocidal war it is committing in the Gaza Strip, or through daily crimes in the West Bank, including the occupied city of Jerusalem, from Incursions, executions, killings, arrests, and demolition of homes and facilities, in addition to colonial expansion, legitimizing colonial outposts, and cutting ties between Palestinian governorates.

The city of Jerusalem, which was isolated by the Israeli occupation from its surroundings by the separation wall and apartheid expansion, and by the military barriers that surround it on all sides, is accelerating the pace of targeting the Palestinian presence and the city’s Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, in an attempt to Judaize the city and its landmarks and displace its population.

In the last of these attempts, the Israeli occupation authorities informed the churches of the Holy City, in addition to churches in Jaffa, Nazareth, and Ramla, that they would begin what they called “legal measures” against them due to non-payment of taxes on the properties they own, in a new and old targeting of the churches, their endowment properties, and the Palestinian presence. Christians in Jerusalem and within the 1948 territories.

Palestinian Christians are one of the oldest Christian groups in the world, and some Palestinian Christian families are related by lineage to the first Christians, and for this reason Palestinian Christians are called living stones.

The heads of churches and patriarchs representing the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate, the Latin Patriarchate, the Anglican Episcopal Church, and the Custody of the Holy Land signed a joint letter, denouncing these measures as a violation of international law, denouncing the attack on churches and the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
They stressed that “these measures harm the historical and legal rights of the churches and contradict previous agreements between the churches and Israel. They also violate the status quo agreement.”
In 1852, the Ottoman Empire issued a series of decrees for the administration of the Christian holy places in Jerusalem, in order to regulate access to them. This regulation was enshrined in international law within the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, and was officially called the Status Quo Agreement.
Within the Berlin Treaty, the law was expanded to include Islamic and Jewish religious places in Jerusalem, after which the status quo agreement in Jerusalem became a binding international law. Later, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan assumed custodianship over the Islamic and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, as part of the status quo agreement.
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Chairman of the Supreme Presidential Committee for Follow-up of Church Affairs in Palestine, Ramzi Khoury, confirmed that the systematic occupation policies and procedures to impose taxes on churches, their properties and institutions in occupied Jerusalem aim to put pressure on the authentic Christian presence and forcibly displace it, and to extend complete occupation control over those areas. Churches and their properties.
In a statement issued by the committee, Khoury welcomed the principled, consistent and courageous positions of the patriarchs and heads of churches rejecting these illegal measures, stressing the committee’s support for all decisions that were taken to confront these occupation policies and procedures in targeting churches.
Khoury warned of the danger of implementing these Israeli plans, especially for Christian existence, especially in light of the challenges and difficulties plaguing the Palestinian issue as a result of Israeli policies, the war of extermination on the Gaza Strip, the escalation of violence against churches and their property, and the attacks on clergy by the colonialists.
Khoury stressed that all churches and their properties, whether monasteries, hospitals, institutions, schools, etc., especially in Jerusalem, are located on occupied Palestinian land in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions, and it is also a historical and legal right of churches and no party is allowed to interfere with it or violate its sanctity. Adding that Israel, over the long years of its occupation and all its successive governments, has violated and assaulted the status quo.
The Chairman of the Committee appealed to the leaders and heads of churches in the world, especially the World Council of Churches, and all human rights and international institutions, to intervene immediately to put an end to the Israeli violations against churches and their property, noting that the Committee had previously warned, and during its tours in many countries of the world, of the danger of The impact of these policies on Christian and church existence.
Coordinator of the World Council of Churches office in Jerusalem, Youssef Daher, confirmed to WAFA that the goal of what is happening is to seize Christian real estate in Jerusalem.
He said, "Imposing judicial procedures against churches in the occupation courts is a change to the status quo, indicating that Israel no longer respects the status quo agreement and the relevant international laws."
Following its occupation of the eastern part of the city of Jerusalem in June 1967, Israel formally recognized the status quo agreement to avoid escalation and international attack, but the actions and practices of successive occupation governments from then until today have repeatedly violated this agreement.
The city’s special legal status is based on international law and international legitimacy resolutions, most notably Resolution 181 issued by the United Nations General Assembly, and UN Security Council Resolution 242 and subsequent resolutions, most notably 252, 267, 2334 and others, which called for Israel’s withdrawal from the lands it occupied in 1967. , including Jerusalem, and the invalidity of unilateral Israeli actions in the occupied territories, including the Holy City, including establishing colonies and changing the status and character of the city.
Daher stressed that imposing taxes on churches will paralyze the financial situation of all Christian institutions, as it will be followed by closing their accounts in banks and not granting the required licenses to operate, as well as preventing movement permits and entry visas to Palestine for bishops, priests and clergy coming from outside it.
He pointed out that filing cases against churches in Israeli courts will affect the services they provide through their medical, educational and other institutions, stressing that Palestinian institutions and the people of the city of Jerusalem will take appropriate measures in response to this violation, recalling what happened in 2018 when the Church of the Holy Sepulcher closed its doors in protest against the imposition of Taxes on everything Palestinian Christian in Jerusalem.
In 2018, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem closed its doors, and its bells fell silent, in protest against the Israeli occupation authorities’ announcement of their intention to impose taxes on churches and pass a law allowing the seizure of their properties, in a move that was considered an aggression against Jerusalem and its sanctities. In light of the protests and international pressure, the occupation then retreated from this step.
Daher explained that targeting the Palestinian Christian and Islamic presence in Jerusalem aims to empty the city and Judaize it, indicating that the occupation believes that the Christian presence is weaker and that it will succeed in seizing church properties and displacing Christians from the city and from Palestine as a whole, but our Christian presence has been rooted in the Holy City for more than Two thousand years old and much older than the age of the occupation.
Father Abdullah July, from the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Jerusalem, told “Wafa” that the Israeli occupation aims to end the Arab Christian presence in Jerusalem and within the 1948 territories, and we are required to unite our ranks as a Palestinian Arab people to defend our churches and mosques in the face of Judaization and occupation.
He stressed that colonial groups are working in secret to seize Christian property in occupied Jerusalem, calling for the unification of Christian church discourse directed to the world, to put an end to targeting Christian presence.
Wadih Abu Nassar, coordinator of the Holy Land Christians Forum, confirmed the existence of clear understandings that have existed since the days of the Ottoman Empire, noting that imposing unilateral measures against churches is “immoral.”
He pointed to the agreement signed between Israel and the Vatican in 1993, to keep the situation as it is until new matters are agreed upon, noting that the occupation municipalities are changing existing procedures by piracy and seizing church property, while the Israeli government stands by and does nothing.
He touched on the services provided by the churches in Jerusalem and within the 1948 territories, pointing out that the Palestinian Arab in Israel does not receive equal rights like others, and is exposed to injustice, and the international community’s influence in this regard is limited, stressing that the churches will protest these measures by all diplomatic, religious and militant means. In order to stop it, as happened 6 years ago.
Abu Nassar said: "We are in a battle that has no end. The tension can be calmed as happened in 2018, but what I fear is that there will not be a solution to the issue soon. The churches are in a difficult situation, and are facing many problems related to the seizure of their lands and property."
The occupation's decision to impose taxes on churches sparked local and international reactions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the imposition of taxes by Israel, the illegal occupying power, on churches, their institutions and various properties, stressing that Israel has no sovereignty over the city of Jerusalem, and that sovereignty therein rests exclusively with the Palestinian people and their leadership.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry rejected these illegal measures and considered them part of the war of genocide and ethnic cleansing practiced by Israel against all of our Palestinian people, especially against the authentic Palestinian Christian presence in the holy land of Palestine, with Jerusalem at its heart.
It warned that targeting Israel, the illegal occupation authority, and its various tools for the Christian presence, systematic persecution and attacks against the Palestinian people, their Christian sons and clerics, is a deliberate targeting whose main purpose is to undermine the authentic Palestinian Christian presence in its holy land, and to transform the political conflict and the presence of the illegal occupation into a religious conflict. .
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appreciated the positions of the patriarchs and heads of churches rejecting these illegal measures, and called on countries to support the positions of the churches and the position of the State of Palestine, and to intervene to stop and prevent these policies and grave violations of international law, Security Council and United Nations resolutions, and the existing historical and legal situation, and to take punitive steps against them, especially countries. Which supports, preserves and respects the existing legal and historical situation.
The Foreign Ministry called on all countries, institutions and international organizations, and all Christian and other human rights institutions, to send a clear message to Israel to stop targeting churches and their property, and to threaten to take punitive steps against these provocative and illegal practices.
The Arab Parliament also condemned the imposition of taxes on churches and their institutions in the city of Jerusalem, in blatant defiance and gross violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions.
He called on the United Nations, the international community and the Security Council to take immediate and urgent action to stop these Israeli colonial plans, which aim to change the existing historical and legal situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, to abandon silence and confront these racist crimes, to activate the mechanisms of international law and international humanitarian law, and to hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable. In order to achieve justice and equity for the Palestinian people, against whom all war crimes are committed, in full view of the whole world, and to provide them with international protection.
For its part, the Churches for Peace in the Middle East (CMEP) organization expressed its solidarity with the churches in the Holy Land, at a time when they are subject to a new attempt by the Israeli occupation authorities to collect taxes on their property, considering it a step that threatens the sustainability of the churches’ work.
The organization said in a statement that it "is aware of the harm that these legal measures could cause to the shrinking Christian presence in this land," demanding the protection of the status quo that guarantees religious freedom and harmony in the Holy Land.
It services they provide, including schools, churches, nursing homes, hospitals, kindergartens, and orphanages, and churches will be forced to stop continuing to provide these social services.
Estimates indicate that the number of Palestinian Christians reaches 2.3 million people, the absolute majority of whom reside outside Palestine, as the percentage of Christians in the occupied Palestinian territory does not exceed 1%, after they constituted about 11.2% before the Nakba in 1948. The reason for this decline is the immigration that played a role. The Israeli occupation plays a major role in it.
According to statistics, the number of Palestinian Christians in the territory occupied in 1967 is about 50,000, of whom less than 10,000 are in occupied Jerusalem and 40,000 in the rest of the Palestinian governorates in the West Bank, and 850 Christians in the Gaza Strip. Their number declined after the recent Israeli aggression on the Strip to Less than 500.
The number of Palestinian Christians within the 48 territories is about 110,000, out of a total population of 9 million people.