WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Al-Quds has accused radical Zionist groups of threatening the presence of Christians in the holy city.
In a column in the Times of London, His Beatitude, Theophilos III, said he believed the aim was to drive the Palestinian Christian community from Al-Quds’ Old City, which has sites sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Israel occupied East Al-Quds, including the Old City, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a 1967 war. It annexed East Al-Quds after the war in a move that has not won international recognition.
“Our presence in Al-Quds is under threat,” the patriarch wrote in the article, published a day after the Greek Orthodox celebration of Christmas.
“Our churches are threatened by Israeli radical fringe groups. At the hands of these Zionist extremists the Christian community in Al-Quds is suffering greatly,” he said.
“Our brothers and sisters are the victims of hate crimes. Our churches are regularly desecrated and vandalized. Our clergy are subject to frequent intimidation.”
He further called on Al-Quds to remain a diverse “mosaic community” of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Back in December, patriarchs and heads of churches in Al-Quds also said extremist Zionist groups are trying to drive Christians out of the holy city, arguing that Zionist regime authorities have failed to curb assaults against members of the religious community and desecration of their sites.
The church leaders said in a statement that the occupying regime exhibits bias against Christians and apathy about attacks on Christian holy places and clergy, warning of the “current threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land.”
The church leaders highlighted that since 2012, there had been “countless incidents of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, attacks on Christian churches, with holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives.”
Church groups have for some time reported attacks of vandalism at religious sites in the holy city.
In May, Zionist troops attacked Christians in the holy city as they tried to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the area.
The regime forces assaulted the worshippers and prevented them, including several nuns, from accessing the religious site.