Shrines Reopen in Jerusalem’s Christian Area

Christian leaders reopened shrines and churches in the Holy Land on Saturday after a 24-hour closure but threatened to shut their doors again if Jewish settlers remain in the Christian Quarter of the Old City.

One hundred fifty Jewish settlers moved into a four-building complex owned by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Christian Quarter on April 11.

The move interrupted Easter celebrations and provoked demonstrations by angry clerics and Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim.

Last week, after repeated denials, the Israeli government admitted it had contributed $1.8 million to help establish the settlement, provoking outrage in Israel and abroad.

Israel’s Supreme Court has ordered the settlers to leave by Tuesday but said 20 settler guards and maintenance staff could remain pending a final ruling on the tenancy dispute.

On Friday, leaders of nine major Christian sects closed their churches for a day after the Greek Orthodox Church locked the gates to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Catholics say Jesus was crucified and buried. It was believed to be the first time the Church of the Holy Sepulcher had closed its doors in 800 years.

Tourists, congregating impatiently in the courtyard outside the doors, poured into the building after it was reopened, many bending to touch or kiss the marble stone on which the body of Jesus was said to have been laid after he had been taken down from the cross.

Church leaders plan more protests unless all of the settlers leave.

“If the situation continues to be critical, we will have to close churches again, hold more special prayers and appeal to the international community to pressure Israel to evict the settlers,” said Lufti Laham, the Melchite Catholic bishop.

“The closure of churches and houses of worship in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and the Galilee was never done, not even in the darkest conditions. This shows how serious we are,” said George Hintilian, secretary to Armenian patriarch Torkum Manoogian.

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah said on Vatican Radio that the church protest was aimed at showing the world that in Jerusalem, “the non-Jewish population is in danger.”

The Old City, captured from Jordan during the 1967 Middle East War, is divided into jealously guarded sectors--the Christian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter.

The Jewish settlers say they intend to leave peacefully but only after Israeli Independence Day, which begins tonight and ends Monday night.