Christians in Palestine hope against hope for a peaceful and joyous Easter

Israeli Police restrict Christians’ arrival at a church in the Old City of Jerusalem during Easter 2022. (Supplied)
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Updated 09 April 2023
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Christians in Palestine hope against hope for a peaceful and joyous Easter

  • Israeli authorities limit the number of Palestinian Christians allowed to visit Jerusalem for Easter celebrations
  • Church leaders and Israeli authorities held meetings this year to enable wider participation in events

RAMALLAH: Christians of all denominations prepared to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem amid expectations that — like last year — Israeli authorities would limit the number of Palestinian Christians allowed to participate in these celebrations.

With Christian families from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip required to obtain permits to enter the Old City, and with military checkpoints stationed there and on roads leading to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, many were dissuaded from participating in the celebrations, Arab News was told.

Ghadir Al-Najjar, a Christian from Bethlehem who lives in Jerusalem, noted that the Easter celebrations this year coincide with Ramadan, making it particularly special. She said that Christians who wanted to participate in the Holy Saturday celebrations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were likely to have arrived a day or two in advance and hid in a relative’s or friend’s house in the Old City so that, on the day, they could reach the church without passing through the checkpoints.

Jack Nassar, a Christian from Ramallah who holds a Jerusalem identity card, told Arab News that Jerusalem is more significant to Christians than Bethlehem or Nazareth. He said that the Israelis would not always grant entry permits to all family members at Easter time — sometimes they would be given to parents but not children, or vice-versa.

Nassar said that many Christians in the West Bank no longer participate in Easter celebrations in Jerusalem because of the traffic jams at the Qalandia and Bethlehem checkpoints leading to Jerusalem, adding that the Israeli police at checkpoints in the Old City discriminate between Arab Christians and foreign Christians.

“During the Holy Saturday celebrations in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, an Israeli policeman stood and shouted at the thousands of Christians who flocked to the church to attend the celebrations, saying, ‘The Arab Christian stands on the right and the foreign Christian on the left,’ which angered the Palestinian Christians,” Nassar told Arab News.

Nassar claimed that he was beaten by the Israeli police in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher five years ago when participating in Good Friday celebrations. He said that the police asked him what denomination he and his two friends belonged to, and that when he told them they were “Arab Christians without a sect,” a police officer pushed him “violently” out of the church and beat him.

Israeli authorities say that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre can only accommodate a limited number of people — far fewer than the numbers that flock to it at Easter time. “They do not allow Palestinian Christians to enter the Old City under the pretext that the church cannot accommodate thousands,” Archbishop Munib Younan, former head of the Lutheran Union, told Arab News. Nassar also does not accept the Israelis’ claims.




A scout band on the Ramallah streets for Easter in 2022. (Supplied)

“Why do they not (limit) the number of Jews allowed to enter to pray at the Western Wall, but (do limit) the number of Christians coming to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? It is unacceptable to limit the number of Christians allowed to participate in Easter celebrations,” he said.

Nassar added that the heads of Christian churches in the Holy Land are non-Arabs, so they do not understand the suffering of Palestinian Christians under Israeli occupation. Therefore, they do not pressure the Israeli authorities to facilitate the movement of Christians to and from Jerusalem and ensure freedom of movement between the West Bank, Gaza and Israel.

“What matters to them is only their interests and the interests of the countries from which they came,” Nassar said.

On Sunday, April 2, the Christian Palm Sunday march — involving hundreds of Christians from across the world — took place, beginning at Beit Faji Church in the Mount of Olives and heading to the Church of St. Katrina in the Old City. Participants carried palm and olive branches and the flags of their countries. But Palestinians carrying the Palestinian flag were likely be arrested by Israeli police, so many instead wore T-shirts bearing the Palestinian flag.

Father Ibrahim Faltas, the attorney general of the Custos of the Holy Land, told Arab News that Christians were furious about the recent spate of attacks carried out against Christian churches and cemeteries in Jerusalem, noting that the heads of churches sent letters of protest to the Israeli authorities, who described the attackers as “mentally ill.”

“We still do not know the motives behind the attacks,” Father Faltas told Arab News.

Faltas revealed that meetings were held between the heads of churches and the Israeli authorities to permit the entry of large numbers of Christians into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday (April 8), and to ensure that last year’s violence was not repeated.

 


Syria unable to import wheat or fuel due to US sanctions, trade minister says

Updated 11 sec ago
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Syria unable to import wheat or fuel due to US sanctions, trade minister says

  • The sanctions were imposed during Assad’s rule, targeting his government and also state institutions such as the central bank

DAMASCUS: Syria is unable to make deals to import fuel, wheat or other key goods due to strict US sanctions and despite many countries, including Gulf Arab states, wanting to do so, Syria’s new trade minister said.
In an interview with Reuters at his office in Damascus, Maher Khalil Al-Hasan said Syria’s new ruling administration had managed to scrape together enough wheat and fuel for a few months but the country faces a “catastrophe” if sanctions are not frozen or lifted soon.
Hasan is a member of the new caretaker government set up by Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham after it launched a lightning offensive that toppled autocratic President Bashar Assad on Dec. 8 after 13 years of civil war.
The sanctions were imposed during Assad’s rule, targeting his government and also state institutions such as the central bank.
Russia and Iran, both major backers of the Assad government, previously provided most of Syria’s wheat and oil products but both stopped doing so after the rebels triumphed and Assad fled to Moscow.
The US is set to announce an easing of restrictions on providing humanitarian aid and other basic services such as electricity to Syria while maintaining its strict sanctions regime, people briefed on the matter told Reuters on Monday.
The exact impact of the expected measures remains to be seen.
The decision by the outgoing Biden administration aims to send a signal of goodwill to Syria’s people and its new Islamist rulers, and pave the way for improving basic services and living conditions in the war-ravaged country.
At the same time, US officials see the sanctions as a key point of leverage with a new ruling group that was designated a terrorist entity by Washington several years ago but which, after breaking with Islamist militant group Al Qaeda, has recently signalled a more moderate approach.
Washington wants to see Damascus embark on an inclusive political transition and to cooperate on counterterrorism and other matters.
Hasan told Reuters he was aware of reports that some sanctions may soon be eased or frozen.


Libya military says air strikes target smuggling sites

Updated 07 January 2025
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Libya military says air strikes target smuggling sites

  • The Libyan Army said the air strikes “targeted and destroyed fuel trafficking sites in Zawiya, specifically in Asban,” a semi-rural area outside of the city

ZAWIYAH, Libya: Libya’s UN-recognized authorities have launched air strikes targeting drug trafficking and fuel smuggling hubs west of the capital, a military statement said on Monday.
It remained unclear if there were casualties from the strikes in Zawiya, a city on the Mediterranean coast about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital Tripoli.
Libya was plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed strongman Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, with armed groups exploiting the situation to fund their activities through fuel smuggling and the trafficking of migrants.
The Libyan Army said the air strikes “targeted and destroyed fuel trafficking sites in Zawiya, specifically in Asban,” a semi-rural area outside of the city.
It also called on locals to clear areas it labelled as “strongholds for trafficking and crime.”
In May 2023, the Tripoli-based government carried out drone strikes as part of an anti-smuggling operation, killing at least two people and injuring several others, authorities said at the time.
Those strikes followed clashes between armed groups suspected of involvement in human trafficking and smuggling of fuel and other contraband goods.
Libya’s eastern-based parliament accused the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity of targeting the home of one of its lawmakers, an opponent of the government.
Libya is divided between the Tripoli-based GNU and a rival administration in the east, backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Footage posted on the army’s Facebook page showed a military truck smashing into the facade of a small dwelling.
Other footage showed tanks and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns driving through Zawiya.
The city hosts Libya’s second-largest oil refinery, with smugglers trafficking the fuel across the border into neighboring Tunisia.
 

 


UN envoy in rare Yemen visit to push for peace

Updated 07 January 2025
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UN envoy in rare Yemen visit to push for peace

  • Grundberg’s office said his visit would also “support the release of the arbitrarily detained UN, NGO, civil society and diplomatic mission personnel”

SANAA: Hans Grundberg, the United Nation’s special envoy for war-torn Yemen, arrived Monday in the rebel-held capital in a bid to breathe life into peace talks, his office said.
Grundberg last visited the capital Sanaa, controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis, in May 2023 for meetings with the rebels’ leaders in an earlier effort to advance a roadmap for peace.
The envoy’s current visit “is part of his ongoing efforts to urge for concrete and essential actions... for advancing the peace process,” Grundberg’s office said in a statement.
Yemen has been at war since 2014, when the Houthis forced the internationally recognized government out of Sanaa. The rebels have also seized population centers in the north.
A UN-brokered ceasefire in April 2022 calmed fighting and in December 2023 the warring parties committed to a peace process.
But tensions have surged during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, as the Houthis struck Israeli targets and international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in a campaign the rebels say is in solidarity with Palestinians.
In response to the Houthi attacks, Israel as well as the United States and Britain have hit Houthi targets in Yemen over the past year. One Israeli raid hit Sanaa’s international airport.
Grundberg’s office said his visit would also “support the release of the arbitrarily detained UN, NGO, civil society and diplomatic mission personnel.”
Dozens of staff from UN and other humanitarian organizations have been detained by the rebels, most of them since June, with the Houthis accusing them of belonging to a “US-Israeli spy network,” a charge the United Nations denies.
 

 


US says anti-Daesh operation in Iraq kills coalition soldier

US army soldiers stand on duty at the K1 airbase northwest of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on March 29, 2020. (AFP)
Updated 07 January 2025
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US says anti-Daesh operation in Iraq kills coalition soldier

  • US officials have said Daesh is hoping to stage a comeback in Syria following the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar Assad

WASHINGTON: The US military said on Monday operations against Daesh in Iraq over the past week led to the death of a non-US coalition soldier and wounded two other non-US personnel.
It also detailed operations in Syria against Daesh militants led by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, including one that resulted in the capture of what the US military’s Central Command said was an Daesh attack cell leader.
US officials have said Daesh is hoping to stage a comeback in Syria following the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar Assad.  

 


West Bank camp under fire as Palestinian forces face off militants

Updated 38 min 8 sec ago
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West Bank camp under fire as Palestinian forces face off militants

  • Gunshots occasionally rung out from inside the camp, an AFP correspondent reported this week

JENIN, Palestinian Territories: A month into a crackdown by Palestinian security forces on militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the streets of Jenin refugee camp are deserted, except for a few residents briefly checking on their homes.
Shops are closed, and militants have erected metal barricades to block Palestinian forces, in the area where Israeli army raids are more common.
Black military vehicles from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which exercises limited control over the West Bank, are stationed beyond roadblocks at the camp’s entrances.
“I only came back to check on my house,” said Muayyad Al-Saadi, a 53-year-old resident of Jenin camp, riding a bicycle down roads stripped of pavement.
Saadi, one of around 17,000 Palestinians who live in the camp, fled when clashes began in early December, citing a lack of electricity and running water.
The fighting, triggered by the arrests of several militants, has involved Palestinian militant factions affiliated with opponents of the PA’s leadership.
One of these factions, the Jenin Battalion, is largely made up of fighters affiliated with Islamic Jihad or Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.
Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, is the main political rival of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party, which dominates the PA.

Fourteen Palestinians have been killed, including six security forces, seven civilians, and one gunman in the clashes.
Gunshots occasionally rung out from inside the camp, an AFP correspondent reported this week.
Since bakeries have closed, an unusually long line stretched from a shop that delivers bread from outside the camp.
“I’ve lived through wars since I was eight years old,” said the shopkeeper, Umm Hani, who is in her 70s.
She said there was “never anything like this” since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when Israel captured the West Bank.
“Let them (the security forces) come and arrest whoever they want. We have nothing to do with it,” said Umm Hani.
Another woman, in her 30s, said: “Everyone wants to speak out, but they’re afraid of repercussions from both sides.”
“We’re suffering. We can’t leave or enter the camp freely.”
The intra-Palestinian clashes erupted amid a major PA raid on the camp after the December 5 arrest of a Jenin Battalion commander on charges of possessing weapons and illicit funds.
Armed factions in Jenin and elsewhere see themselves as more effective resistance to Israeli occupation than the PA, which coordinates security matters with Israel.
“They (the PA) don’t want any resistance against the occupation,” said a fighter carrying an M16 rifle, blocking a road with militants.

The militants accuse the PA of cutting off the water and power supply to the camp, a claim the Ramallah-based authority denies.
“The gunmen fire at electricity and water crews whenever they attempt to repair the networks,” Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the PA forces, told AFP.
He said militants were also shooting at distributors of food aid.
Rajab added that the PA was trying to spare civilians, accusing militants instead of disrupting the lives of residents.
“We’re not besieging the camp. People are entering and leaving the camp normally.”
One gunman said the fighting has been “incredibly difficult for civilians. They have no water, no food, and they’ve stopped working.”
Walls throughout the camp are riddled with bullet holes, some from past Israeli army incursions and others from the recent fighting.
A 19-year-old Hamas fighter, who requested anonymity, said residents of Jenin camp have been exposed to violence long before the current operation.
“Every house here has a martyr, a prisoner or an injured person,” he said.
The fighter accused the PA’s forces of firing indiscriminately.
Both sides have traded blame for the deaths of the seven civilians, including a father and son killed on a rooftop on Friday.
“If they’re targeting us — the resistance factions and the Jenin Battalion — why don’t they come for us directly instead of targeting civilians?” said the young militant.