Jerusalem:Rami Khoury, head of the Presidential High Committee for Church Affairs, has stated that the claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel being the only place in the Middle East where Christians are growing sharply contradict the reality faced by Palestinian Christians.
According to Palestine news & Information Agency, Khoury highlighted that the decline in the number of Christians in Palestine is primarily due to the Israeli occupation and its arbitrary measures. These include ongoing violations against churches, monasteries, and holy sites, land seizures, imposition of taxes and fees on church institutions, and restrictions on freedom of worship and access to sacred sites.
Khoury emphasized that these violations against Palestinian Christians are not limited to Jerusalem but also occur in various parts of the occupied Palestinian Territory, including villages such as Taybeh, Birzeit, and Ein Arik in the Ramallah governorate, as well as Bethlehem.
He further noted that Israeli actions have also targeted Christian educational institutions and their curricula. Restrictions on access to Jerusalem for Christian schools' teachers and staff are part of a broader strategy targeting the foundations of presence and survival of the Christian community.
The latest attacks 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, illustrate the growing scope of assaults on holy sites and Christian institutions.
Khoury pointed out a continuous pattern of violations impacting Palestinian Christians' freedom of worship, education, land ownership, and the continuity of Christian institutions, contravening relevant rules and obligations regarding the protection of religious and cultural sites.
He concluded that despite these challenges, Palestinian Christians will remain steadfast in their homeland, continuing their mission in the land of Christ, even as the occupation's policies of colonization, uprooting, and displacement intensify.