WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime has refused to issue travel permits for members of the small Christian community living in the Gaza Strip to visit East al-Quds and the West Bank for Easter celebrations.
The occupying regime’s authorities denied travel permits for hundreds of those Palestinian Christians hoping to visit the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem City and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in East al-Quds, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.
Christians in Gaza had said that no permits had been issued until then.
George Anton, a prominent Catholic Gaza activist, said Catholics in Gaza were "upset” and "disappointed” at not having received permits.
"We don’t see any reason to refuse our permits,” The Guardian quoted Anton as saying.
The regime’s military last week announced it would let only 200 Christians aged 55 and older for Easter — which is celebrated by Catholics on Sunday and Orthodox Christians the following week — to travel to Jordan without stopping in al-Quds.
The Tel Aviv regime’s decision sparked protests, including by the Israeli human rights group Gisha, which called it "a further violation of Palestinians’ fundamental rights to freedom of movement, religious freedom and family life.”
In the past, many — though not all — members of Gaza’s 1,100-strong Christian minority had sometimes been granted exit permits to Jerusalem al-Quds and the West Bank for worship and to visit relatives at Easter and Christmas.
Meanwhile, more than 150 Zionist settlers have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of East al-Quds under the protection of Zionist troops.
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency, citing spokesperson for the Islamic Waqf (Endowment) organization Firas al-Dibs, said that a total of nearly 167 Israeli settlers entered the compound through the Moroccan Gate in the early hours of Sunday and throughout the afternoon.
He said the settlers, who were being escorted by heavily-armed Israeli forces, provocatively toured the holy site to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover, also known as Pesach.
Dibs further said that a large group of Zionist settlers performed Jewish religious rituals in the compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza and houses both the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques.
Locals say Zionist settlers routinely "raid” the sacred compound via the Moroccan Gate, tour the site, and leave through the Chain Gate.
The Israelis regard the site as their most holy place, as it is located where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood.
The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but according to an agreement signed between Israel and Jordan — which is the custodian of the holy sites in the compound — after Israel’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is strictly prohibited.