AMMAN: It is a rare thing — a success story in Jerusalem — and it has been achieved through an unusual combination of factors, both political and economic, and the intervention of a Christian leader.
The success story being celebrated is the announcement that Israel is to backtrack on plans for a draft law and suspend attempts to seize bank accounts for churches. But what led to this extraordinary event?
On Tuesday — following three days of protest — Israel backtracked from tax plans and draft property legislation.
The city’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the site of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial, closed for three days in protest, reopened the following day.
Church leaders had gambled and taken the rare decision to close the ancient holy site, a favorite among tourists and pilgrims as a protest.
With the busy Easter holiday approaching, extra pressure was placed on Israel to re-evaluate and suspend the moves.
After a statement on Tuesday from the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergy agreed that the church would reopen on Wednesday morning.
Hanan Ashrawi, PLO executive committee member, believes that the battle between the Churches and Israel was forced on the churches.
“Both US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have directly contributed to such an assault on the heart of Christianity in the place where it was born.
“Their illegal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US Embassy to the occupied city have rendered them complicit in such an outrageous move.”
The Church, wanting to fight to show its credentials as an authentic part of the Palestinian social fiber, had little choice but to take a strong stand against Israel’s actions.
The rare decision by the leaders of three churches — Orthodox, Catholic and Armenians — to shut the church was only taken in despair at the chances of reaching an agreement with the Israelis.
The bank seizure plan aimed to extract about $150 million (SR562.5 million) of what the Jerusalem municipality considers back taxes.
The Church cited an agreement signed in the nineteenth century, which has been honored by Turks, Britain and the Jordanians, which stipulates how church properties and endowments should be dealt with by ruling powers.
Botrus Mansour, general director of the Baptist School in Nazareth, told Arab News that the Church leaders took a risk in their decision to shut the church doors.
Last year 33,000 students of Christian schools went on strike because of lack of public funds — even so that did not change anything.
But not so this time around — images of the closed Church of Holy Sepulchre that were beamed around the world proved too powerful.
The closure of one of the most important churches in Christianity also meant that the three million tourists who visit Israel and Jerusalem each year would not get the chance to see inside the church.
A joint decision by Church leaders is rare. Differences among Christians in Jerusalem date back centuries. When the Muslim Caliph Omar came to the city he gave the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the respected Nusseibeh Muslim family.
But perhaps the most important reason why the church leaders succeeded in securing an agreement was due to problems faced by Theophilus III, the head of the Orthodox Church.
Khaled Abu Arafeh, a former Palestinian minister of Jerusalem affairs during the short-lived Ismael Haniyeh government in 2007, told Arab News that the Orthodox patriarch wanted to improve his image among Palestinians. Palestinian Christians had called for his resignation over property deals made with Israelis.
“Theophilus III wanted to clean up his record with Palestinians, and so he incited the leaders of the other Churches to make the drastic move.
“Palestinian Christians accuse the Greek Orthodox church leader of selling church property to the Israelis.
“Mansour agrees with Abu Arafeh that the internal problems of the Orthodox Church played a big role in his lead role in taking the drastic decision to close Christianity’s most holy places.”
But Mansour believes that in the end the deciding factor was the sight of people praying outside the church.
“When two billion Christians around the world saw the image caused by Israel’s decision, the Netanyahu government had little recourse but to back away,” he told Arab News.
A Jerusalem success story: How Christian churches succeeded where politician failed
A Jerusalem success story: How Christian churches succeeded where politician failed
Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in
The move comes amid growing international pressure on Israel to get more aid into Gaza, where aid agencies have warned of a gathering humanitarian crisis in the north of the enclave, where Israeli troops have been conducting a major operation for more than a month.
The new crossing would be opened following engineering work over recent weeks by army engineers to build inspection points and paved roads, the army said.
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave.
The letter, which was posted to the Internet by a reporter from Axios, gave the Israeli government 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Among the demands included in the letter was for the opening of a fifth crossing into Gaza.
Sudan army govt accuses paramilitaries of causing 120 civilian deaths in 2 days
- The Janjaweed militia (paramilitaries) committed a new massacre in the town of Hilaliya
PORT SUDAN: The Sudanese foreign ministry accused paramilitaries late Thursday of causing at least 120 civilian deaths over two days in Al-Jazira state, reportedly in attacks involving gunfire, food poisoning and lack of medical care.
“The Janjaweed militia (paramilitaries) committed a new massacre in the town of Hilaliya in Al-Jazira state over the past two days, resulting in 120 martyrs so far, killed either by gunfire or due to food poisoning and lack of medical care affecting hundreds of civilians,” the ministry of the army-backed government said in a statement obtained by AFP.
Yemen’s Houthi militants shoot down what they say was a US drone as American military investigates
- The US military acknowledged the videos circulating online showing what appeared to be a flaming aircraft dropping out of the sky
- The Houthis claimed to have downed an American MQ-9 Reaper drone
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militants shot down what they described as an American drone early Friday, potentially the latest downing of a US spy drone as the militants continue their attacks on the Red Sea corridor.
The US military acknowledged the videos circulating online showing what appeared to be a flaming aircraft dropping out of the sky and a field of burning debris in what those off-camera described as an area of Yemen’s Al-Jawf province. The military said it was investigating the incident, declining to elaborate further.
It wasn’t immediately clear what kind of aircraft was shot down in the low-quality night video. The Houthis, in a later statement, claimed to have downed an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.
The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft. Iran denies arming the militants, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi militants despite a United Nations arms embargo.
The Houthis have been a key component of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” during the Mideast wars that includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups.
Since Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the militants have shot down MQ-9 Reaper drones in Yemen in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024. The US military has declined to offer a total figure for the number of drones it has lost during that time.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA over Yemen for years.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The militants maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. The tempo of the Houthi sea attacks also has waxed and waned over the months.
In October, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the Houthis.
Israeli defense minister officially steps down
- Israel has been rocked by Gallant’s dismissal, with the news setting off mass protests across the country
- Israel Katz, his replacement, currently serves as foreign minister and is a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister
Israel Katz, his replacement, currently serves as foreign minister and is a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister
TEL AVIV: Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant officially stepped down Friday in a ceremony that replaced him with Israel Katz, the former foreign minister, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Gallant earlier this week.
Israel has been rocked by Gallant’s dismissal, with the news setting off mass protests across the country. Many in Israel view Gallant as the sole moderate voice in a far-right government, and see his removal as a sign that the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu has lost interest in returning hostages still held in Gaza.
Israel Katz, his replacement, currently serves as foreign minister and is a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister.
Also Friday, the Israeli military body handling aid to Gaza, COGAT, said it is preparing to open a new aid crossing into Gaza as the deadline for a US deadline to increase desperately-needed aid into the war-ravaged territory approaches. But the body did not say when the crossing will open nor if aid will be delivered to north of Gaza, where the UN and aid groups say the humanitarian situation is most dire.
The United Nations humanitarian office says Israel’s monthlong offensive in northern Gaza is preventing the estimated 75,000 to 95,000 Palestinians in the north from receiving essential items for their survival.
On Thursday, the Israeli military says it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Gaza Strip in the coming days. That’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States said it wants to see enter the war-ravaged territory.
The Israel-Hamas war began after militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting 250 others. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but say more than half of those killed were women and children.
Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Since the conflict erupted, more than 3,100 people have been killed and some 13,800 wounded in Lebanon, the health ministry reported.
Turkiye, Greece must work together to resolve host of issues, Turkish minister says
- Issues between NATO allies Turkiye and Greece are not limited to disagreements over maritime boundaries and jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean
ANKARA: Issues between NATO allies Turkiye and Greece are not limited to disagreements over maritime boundaries and jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday, adding the historic rivals must work together to resolve them.
Speaking at a press conference in Athens alongside his Greek counterpart, Fidan also repeated Ankara’s view that a federation model to resolve the dispute over the ethnically-split island of Cyprus was no longer viable, calling for a two-state solution.
He also said Turkiye wanted to deepen cooperation with Greece on irregular migration and counter-terrorism, while increasing cooperation on tourism and cultural affairs.
