<>

CHURCHES IN JERUSALEM NOW FAVOUR PALESTINIAN SOVEREIGNTY

The leading Christian churches in Jerusalem have shifted their position and now favor Palestinian sovereignty in the city, according to The New York Times. The past three months of violence have caused the churches to back Palestinian demands for sovereignty over Jerusalem’s Old City and its Christian and Muslim holy sites, with the exception of the Jewish quarter and adjoining Western Wall plaza, which are expected to remain under Israeli control, the newspaper reported.

Greek and Armenian Orthodox, Roman and Greek Catholics, Copts, Syriacs, Lutherans, and Anglicans all have called for Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied after the 1967 war. “Both peoples can then live peacefully side by side, each in their own sovereign state, without being a source of fear for the other,” leaders of the major Jerusalem churches said in a joint statement. They defended recent Palestinian street protests and criticized Israel’s use of military force.

The Arab Christian community in Israel is small but influential. There are about 50,000 Christians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and another 120,000 within the boundaries of Israel, mostly in the northern Galilee region, the newspaper reported. – RT