Christians Shut Israel Sites to Protest Settlers

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher and other sacred sites in Israel were shut Friday as Christians protested a Jewish settlement in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

In an unusual show of unity, about 150 clergymen from nine major Christian sects gathered to oversee the closing of the church, the traditional site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and burial. It is near the Hospice of St. John, a complex that 150 Jewish settlers are occupying in defiance of the Greek Orthodox Church, which owns it.

Wajih Nusseibeh, a Muslim whose family keeps the key of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, said he believes it is the first time the church has been shut since the Crusaders were driven out of the city by the Islamic warrior Saladin in the 12th Century.

The Church of the Nativity, the site of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, and holy sites throughout Israel were also closed in the daylong protest. Church bells rang in somber, funereal cadence for about five minutes every hour, and black flags fluttered in the breeze.

In an act of solidarity, Muslim leaders closed Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine to tourists. Only worshipers were permitted in the complex.

Bishop Samir Kafiti, the head of the Anglican Church in Jerusalem, told reporters that Christian leaders are dissatisfied with an Israeli Supreme Court decision, issued Thursday, to evict most of the Jewish settlers by Tuesday. Some would be allowed to stay pending a lower court decision on the tenancy issue.

Kafiti said the court decision is ambiguous because the judges did not return full control of the building to the Greek Orthodox Church. The church alleges that the settlers are in the building under an illegal sublease.

The settlers moved into the 72-room Hospice of St. John on April 11, touching off angry protests from Palestinian Muslims and Christians and bringing international condemnation.