Ramallah- Two Palestinian reports show a noticeable increase in the volume of Israeli violations and attacks on Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine during 2023, to be the largest since the 1948 Nakba.
These attacks ranged from demolition and destruction in the Gaza Strip, to raids and desecration in the Al-Aqsa and Ibrahimi Mosques and other mosques and churches in the West Bank, in addition to restrictions on the performance of worship and attacks on worshipers, Muslims and Christians.
In Gaza stripAccording to data from the government media office, the occupation, as of Monday, completely destroyed 161 mosques, 253 mosques partially destroyed, in addition to 3 churches that were completely destroyed.
In the West Bank, an annual report on “the reality of Israeli violations of holy sites” published this week by the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs reported a raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque 258 times during the past year, and the call to prayer was prohibited 704 times in the past year The Ibrahimi Mosque In the city of Hebron, south of the West Bank.
#Abu Obeida:
We say to two billion Muslims
This enemy destroyed most of the mosques #Gaza
Stop the call to prayer and prayer
In a clear religious war
He is at war with God
This is a bad omen and destruction for him
And for every Muslim
To be aware of this issue
In Gaza, silos and shops in which the name of God was mentioned were demolished.
Supporting the people of Gaza is a religious duty #Gaza_100days pic.twitter.com/orUI4hhzHA– Adham Abu Selmiya 🇵🇸 Adham Abu Selmiya (@adham922) January 14, 2024
Desecrated and closed
The ministry said that 2023 was “difficult and harsh for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Ibrahimi Mosque, and all other places of worship in all its forms,” adding that the storming of Al-Aqsa was accompanied by dozens of deportations of the mosque’s guards, guards, marabouts, marabouts, and citizens.
The Ministry alerted that settlement groups were performing collective prayers inside Al-Aqsa, bringing “offerings,” raising occupation flags inside, and cutting speaker wires, noting that among the intruders was the extremist Minister of National Security. Itamar Ben Gvir.
Regarding restrictions on prayer, the same source stated that the occupation authorities turned Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings into a military barracks, and attacked worshipers on several occasions, and more so after October 7, which reduced the number of worshipers to several thousand.
Regarding the Ibrahimi Mosque, the Ministry of Endowments’ report said that the occupation celebrated the completion of the construction of the electric elevator and the tourist trail “in a blatant attack on the identity and status of the mosque.”
The same report indicated that settlers raised Israeli flags and religious and historical symbols, such as menorahs, on its walls, held noisy parties, repeatedly closed it, and prevented its restoration, especially after October 7, when the occupation imposed a curfew in its vicinity.
In light of the ban on Muslims from entering #Al-Aqsa.. The Union of Temple Organizations publishes a picture combining the extremist “Ehuda Glick” and a group of occupation soldiers, and writes: “Our soldiers ascended to the Temple Mount to pray for their success and the success of all Israeli soldiers on various fronts.” pic.twitter.com/BtWTEeUgMG
– Al Jazeera Net | Jerusalem (@Aljazeeraquds) December 29, 2023
Intrusions and vandalism
Regarding the entire West Bank, the Ministry of Endowments’ report indicated violations and attacks that affected 24 mosques: 5 mosques in Hebron9 in the city Tulkarm Some of them assaulted her repeatedly up to 8 times, and 5 times EmbryoThe rest are distributed among several governorates.
He pointed out that the Al-Ansar Mosque in the Jenin camp was bombed with missiles several times, and Talmudic prayers were performed in the camp’s large mosque.
In his comment on the targeting of Gaza’s mosques, Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Hatem Al-Bakri said in his interview with Al Jazeera Net that what is happening is “a war aimed at destroying the Gaza Strip and ending the Palestinian presence and all necessities of life in it.”
The minister added that what is happening in the West Bank is dangerous, but less severe. “The occupation prevents the Palestinians from going to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has made the number of people allowed to pray negligible, in addition to unprecedented measures in the Old City of Hebron that deprive the Ibrahimi Mosque of worshipers.”
He pointed out that the call to prayer for the Maghrib prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque is prohibited daily, while the call to prayer for the Maghrib and Fajr prayers is prohibited on Saturdays, in addition to 10 days a year in which the mosque is completely closed to Muslims.
Since the massacre carried out by a settler in the mosque in 1994, the occupation has cut off more than half of the mosque and turned it into a Jewish synagogue, in which the call to prayer room is located and thus the muezzin is prevented from entering it to give the call to prayer.
Targeting Christians
As for the most prominent attacks on Christian and Palestinian sanctities since the beginning of the year 2023, a report by the Supreme Presidential Committee for Church Affairs (Palestinian government) reported an escalation of “violations against sanctities, churches and monasteries, including attacks and raids, abuse of worshipers, restriction of freedom of worship, and insulting and assaulting clergy.” “.
The commission documented 24 attacks, the most prominent of which were attacks on churches in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. They included destroying tombstones, writing offensive and racist phrases on the walls of churches, and attempting to burn some of them.
The report monitored the attack on a Christian tourist cleric in Jerusalem, insulting him, trying to force him to remove the cross, provoking and threatening Christians in the Armenian Quarter, and attacking worshipers during their celebrations.
The report of the Presidential Committee spoke of a noticeable increase during 2023 in physical and verbal harassment and attacks, noting that “an Armenian priest was spat on more than 90 times,” while nuns were spat on several times in Jerusalem.
Settlers assaulted nuns by insulting them and spitting on them in front of a church in the Old City in #Jerusalem Occupied pic.twitter.com/V6NAvyEmKh
– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) April 13, 2023
Churches of Gaza
Regarding Gaza, the Presidential Commission report said that the genocide did not spare Palestinian Christians, along with Christian churches and institutions.
He pointed to at least 8 attacks, the most famous of which was targeting a building National Baptist Hospital On October 17, the Saint Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church complex was targeted in an attack that led to the destruction of the church council building and claimed the lives of 17 Palestinian Christians, including 9 children.
He also mentioned the targeting in Gaza: the bombing of the Arab Orthodox Cultural and Social Center of the Greek Orthodox Church, where 1,000 displaced people took refuge, the Rosary Sisters School of the Catholic Church, the Holy Family Catholic Church, the Sisters of Mother Teresa, and the Young Men’s Christian Association.
Commenting on these data, Father Issa Musleh, spokesman for the Orthodox Church in: Jerusalem The principle is to respect the holy places and not attack them, expressing his astonishment at “how the Israeli government thinks.”
He added in his interview with Al Jazeera Net that many correspondences and communications were made to put the Christian authorities in the world in the picture of what is happening. “We sent messages about what is happening in Gaza to the patriarchs of the world and His Holiness the Pope, and we expressed our dissatisfaction with this reality.”
Regarding the insults and attacks to which Christians in Jerusalem and its Christian visitors are subjected, the same speaker said that they are “many and on the increase,” adding, “They do not want (they do not want) neither a Christian nor a Muslim in the country. They want Jerusalem to be monopolized for them, but we will remain.”