Archbishop: Israel targets the mosque today, the church tomorrow [View All]

Published today (updated) 27/09/2009 19:54


Jerusalem – Ma’an – Archbishop Atallah Hana, one of the highest-ranking Christian clergy in Jerusalem, has said that Sunday’s violence near the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a dark indication of Israel’s plans for the city.

“What is being planned for Jerusalem is very dangerous,” the archbishop said in a statement. “What happened today in the Al-Aqsa yards is a dangerous indicator for what the Israeli authorities intend to work on toward Al-Aqsa in particular and in Jerusalem in general.”

Dozens were injured in clashes that took place after right-wing religious Jews reportedly entered the Al-Aqsa compound ahead of the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur. Riot police used stun grenades and batons to disperse stone-throwing protesters inside the compound.

“We, as Christian Palestinians and Jerusalemites cannot keep watching with our hands folded in the face of what happened today,” Hanna continued. “Today it is Al-Aqsa tomorrow it will be the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.”

“The occupation and its racism does not exclude anyone,” he said.

Hanna reaffirmed “the solidarity of the Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem and all of the Holy Land with their partners, the Muslims … targeting them is the same of us, attacking them is attacking us.”

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