ISRAEL CHURCH TAX HALTED AFTER HOLY SITES CLOSE IN PROTEST
▶ The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem reopens after three days as expropriation plans are shelved
The Jerusalem church built at the site many regard as the holiest in Christianity reopened yesterday after a three-day closure in protest at Israeli tax proposals that left thousands of visitors locked outside.
The two men who act as keepers of the key of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre opened its large wooden doors about 4am, ending the protest that began on Sunday at noon.
Shortly afterwards, a group of pilgrims emerged from the still dark corridors of Jerusalem’s Old City to visit the sacred site.
“We prayed in front of the doors every day since Sunday,” said Francois-Roch Ferlet, 29, as he stood near the ornate shrine encasing the site of Jesus’s tomb inside the church.
Mr Ferlet was visiting Jerusalem with 50 others from France. They were due to leave yesterday and were relieved that they were able to visit.
The church is built where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. Custody of the site is shared by the Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations.
The closure was the longest since at least 1990.
Christian leaders decided to reopen the church after Israel on Tuesday suspended a planned law over a tax that they said would allow Israel to expropriate church land.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said a “professional team” would be appointed to come up with a solution to the tax measures imposed by Israeli authorities in Jerusalem.
Israel’s Minister for Regional Co-operation, Tzachi Hanegbi, will also look into the issue of land sales in Jerusalem by Christian bodies, which prompted the proposed law that is now also suspended.
Christian leaders are in part angry over attempts by Israeli authorities in Jerusalem to enforce tax collection on church property they consider commercial, saying exemptions apply only to places of worship or religious teaching.
The Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, said the city was due 650 million shekels (Dh683m) in uncollected taxes on church properties. He said the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and all other churches were exempt, with the changes affecting only establishments such as “hotels, halls and businesses” owned by churches.
Christian leaders said the measure jeopardised their ability to conduct their work, which includes social services to those in need. A separate, equally controversial bill seeks to allay fears of those Israelis who live in homes on lands previously held by the Greek Orthodox Church and which were sold to private developers, according to the politician proposing the legislation.
The bill would allow certain lands sold by the Greek Orthodox Church to be handed over to the state, which would then compensate those who bought it from the church.
“This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature that were enacted against the Jews during a dark period in Europe,” Christian leaders said on Sunday.
Recent land sales by the Greek Orthodox Church – a major landowner in Jerusalem – to unknown buyers drew fire from Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestinians fear the sales will favour Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem, while Israelis are concerned over private developers’ intentions for the land.
The dispute over the taxes and proposed law is also linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The church is in Israeliannexed East Jerusalem, which Palestinians see as the capital of their future state.
Israel sees the whole city as its capital.
Christians in Jerusalem are mainly Palestinians and Arab Israelis.
The decision to close the church was extremely rare. In 1990, Christian sites were closed for a day to protest against the installation of Jewish settlers near the church.
Christian sites were shut for two days in 1999 to protest against the planned construction of a mosque near Nazareth’s Church of the Annunciation, where Christians believe the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary she was to become the mother of Jesus.