Israeli attacks on Palestine churches part of campaign to 'eradicate Christian presence’

Israel is carrying out a “systematic campaign to eradicate Christian presence” in Palestine amid “unprecedented” attacks on churches, the Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine said on Friday.

In a letter addressed to global Christian leaders, the committee pointed to an attack “on the churches of the Holy Land, led by a direct attack on the Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem”.

The committee says the assaults are “part of a systematic policy aimed at dismantling the authentic Christian presence in Palestine and stripping the land of its historic religious institutions”.

The letter adds that lands belonging to the Orthodox Church around the Monastery of Saint Gerasimus in Deir Hijleh near Jericho have been targeted by aggressive settlement expansion.

Since October 2023, new illegal outposts have been established in Jericho, which the committee says poses a “direct threat to its historic and sacred character and forming part of a broader plan to erase Palestine’s Christian and historical identity”.

“These measures are inseparable from the wider occupation strategy to alter the identity of Jerusalem, erase its religious and cultural character, and ultimately eliminate the Palestinian presence in the city,” Ramzi Khouri, PLO Executive Committee member and Head of the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, said in the letter.

The committee also explained that Israeli authorities had frozen the Patriarchate’s bank accounts and imposed “crippling, unjust taxes on its properties”.

“Such measures severely threaten the Church’s ability to provide spiritual, humanitarian, and community services, constituting a flagrant breach of the historic status quo and a gross violation of international law and binding agreements,” the letter reads.

Israeli authorities have increased measures calling for historical churches in Jerusalem to pay taxes, while also allowed for church-owned properties to be taken over by Israeli settlers.

The Higher Presidential Committee also slammed the silence of the international community and churches around the world, describing it as “a green light for the continuation and escalation of these oppressive actions”.

“Protecting the churches of Palestine is a collective responsibility and a historic trust,” the committee adds.

Israel’s attack on Gaza’s Holy Family Church in July garnered widespread backlash. The attack killed three people, including a 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman, and injured several people, including the parish priest.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the attack on “stray ammunition”.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have also targeted the Gaza Baptist Church and the Saint Porphyrius Church.