Preventing the Latin Patriarch from Entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday is a Crime Affecting Both the Christian and Muslim Worlds and Requires Urgent International Intervention
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates strongly condemns in the harshest terms the Israeli occupation authorities’ prevention of His Beatitude the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied Jerusalem to perform Palm Sunday Mass. This comes as a dangerous precedent that undermines freedom of worship and targets the authentic Christian presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
The Ministry affirms that this arbitrary prevention, which has not occurred for centuries against church leaders performing their religious rituals, constitutes a crime and an illegal military measure. It is a blatant violation of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among them freedom of worship. It also represents a disregard for the feelings of hundreds of millions of people around the world, and affects the sentiments of both Christians and Muslims who share the sanctity of Jerusalem and its religious and historical significance. It further constitutes a violation of the existing legal and historical status quo.
The Ministry warns of the danger of this precedent, which represents an assault by the occupation on existing obligations, and reveals an escalating policy in occupied Jerusalem aimed at displacing our people and Judaizing the holy city. It threatens to deprive worshippers of practicing their religious rituals, even during the holiest of occasions.
The Ministry calls on the international community and its institutions to take immediate and practical steps to stop this crime and the escalating occupation policy in occupied Jerusalem, including exerting pressure on the extremist occupation government and increasing international presence on the ground to preserve the Palestinian Christian presence, ensure they are not deprived of their rights, and guarantee respect for freedom of worship and access to holy sites, and the protection of the existing historical and legal status quo. It also calls for providing international protection for the Palestinian people and for their Islamic and Christian holy sites, in light of the continued systematic and widespread Israeli assaults, crimes, and ongoing violations.