The Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols and the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby have called on the Israeli Government to protect the status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem.
The status quo is the agreement that governs relations between Church and state.
In a joint letter to the Israeli Ambassador to London, Mark Regev, the two faith leaders expressed their deep concern at the events unfolding in Jerusalem of "unprecedented, punitive and discriminatory" taxation of Christian institutions and their fears that this dispute could inflict long term damage on relations between the two communities.
The taxes “threaten to cause serious damage to the Christian presence in Jerusalem, to Christian families, and to the Christian institutions, including hospitals and schools, which serve many of the poorest people, regardless of their background," Cardinal Nichols and Archbishop Welby state in their letter.
“It is our view that the measures being pressed in Jerusalem and in the Knesset are a clear and evident threat to the status quo. These violations of historic agreements risk undermining prospects for peaceful coexistence between communities, at a time of already heightened tensions."
The two Archbishops have committed to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and have urged the Israeli government to address this crisis "as a matter of urgency" and immediately enter dialogue with the local Churches to find a resolution.
They wrote after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped in to the crisis in Jerusalem that resulted in the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In response the three Christian leaders who took the action of closing the Church, the site of Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection, reopened it.
The leaders, Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land and Nourhan Manougian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem had accused Israel of a “systematic campaign against the Churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land,” and “flagrant violation” of the status quo.
They were particularly concerned about a new bill that would allow the state to appropriate land that Churches have sold to private buyers.
In Israel, most homeowners build their houses on land that is leased to them, on the understanding that the lease is automatically renewed. Churches have sold several parcels of land to developers, and homeowners who live there say that they are being asked for large sums if they want to stay there, and told they will otherwise lose their homes.
The bill, promoted by Knesset member Rachel Azaria of the centrist Kulanu party, would give the state the right to impose compulsory purchase orders on the land in question. It would appropriate the land from whoever purchased it from Churches, at a rate fixed by the Treasury but subject to appeal. The legislation would have the impact of preventing Churches from selling more land where homeowners have built on leased land - but leave the door open for Churches selling land to the state.
The Church leaders were also seething at Mayor Nir Barkat’s determination to collect unpaid council tax on church properties.
Pic: A woman prays at a wooden cross outside the locked doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, after Christian leaders closed the church in protest of Israel's plans to expropriate church land in Jerusalem and collect $186 million dollars in back taxes from the churches, February 25, 2018. The church was subsequently reopened. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI/PA
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