As worshipers and tourists from all over the world come to Jerusalem this Easter, spare a few moments to think about those Christians who will not be allowed to make the short journey from Bethlehem.
This year’s Easter celebrations will highlight, as they do every year, the effect Israel’s occupation regime has on Palestinian religious freedoms. A Christian tourist from the United States, Russia or Japan will have a better chance of spending Easter in Jerusalem than a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. While tourists retrace Jesus’ footsteps in the Old City, Palestinians will be waiting for Israel to grant them a permit simply to visit the city. If they’re lucky enough to receive one, they will have to hope that the soldier at the checkpoint will not find an excuse to deny them
entry.
A few years ago, the Roman Catholic Emeritus Patriarch of the Holy Land, Michael Sabbah, observed that Israel should not insist on defining itself as a Jewish state because “if there is a state of one religion, other religions will naturally be discriminated against.” For more than 60 years, Israel has implemented policies that systematically discriminate against the Christian and Muslim populations of this land, beginning with the expulsion of over 700,000 Christian and Muslim Palestinians from their homes in historic Palestine during Israel’s creation in 1948. Across the country, churches and mosques were razed to the ground along with hundreds of entire Palestinian towns and villages. Following Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities destroyed part of the Muslim Quarter in the Old City in order to expand the Jewish Quarter.
East Jerusalem, the capital of any future Palestinian state, is a case
study in Israeli discriminatory policies. Organizations such as the
United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and
B’Tselem, have all confirmed that Jerusalem is being systematically
stripped of its Christian and Muslim identity and heritage.
Over the last two years alone, more than 5,000 Christian and Muslim
Jerusalemites have been deprived of the right to live in the city
where they and their ancestors were born. Since 1967, some 20,000
Palestinian Jerusalemites have had their residency rights revoked.
In addition to the revocation of residency rights, demolitions of
Palestinian homes, and expansion of Jewish-only settlements, Israel
regularly seizes Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem, evicting
Palestinian families and turning over their homes to extreme
right-wing Jewish settlers. Palestinians are also denied equal access
to social services and other benefits. The result of this
discrimination is clear to see; walk through East Jerusalem and you
feel like you are in a third-world country, while West Jerusalem
resembles a European suburb.
Sixty-three years ago Israel was created upon the ruins of Palestine.
Since then, Palestinians have been awaiting the day when we will be
able to exercise our rights and live in freedom. We were told that if
we recognized Israel’s right to exist we would be granted our freedom,
so we complied. Yet more than 20 years later Israel’s illegal
military occupation and colonizing enterprise are more entrenched than
ever in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today we are told that it
is not enough to recognize Israel, but that we must recognize its
right to exist as a “Jewish state.” In other words, that we must
actively participate in undermining the rights of Palestinians
refugees, the rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the
rights of Muslims and Christians all around the world who have a
spiritual and religious connection to the Holy Land.
We have faith in the justness of our cause and we will continue to
struggle for our rights using all legal means. At the international
level, we are seeking recognition for the state of Palestine on the
pre-1967 War borders. In September we will ask the United Nations for
admission as a full member. We are fully within our rights pursuing
these measures. The argument that this path will undermine the peace
process has little credibility since it has been already been fatally
undermined by Israel’s unrelenting settlement construction in the West
Bank and East Jerusalem.
A Palestinian priest said at an Easter past, “we cannot celebrate
because our people have died many times and we are still waiting for
our own resurrection as a free nation.” In the months and years to
come, we will continue our struggle for the resurrection of our
nation, and for justice and peace in the Holy Land. We hope the world
will join us on that journey.
Dr. Ghassan Khatib is the Director of the Palestinian Government
Media Center and official spokesperson of the Palestinian National
Authority.
