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Member of the Palestinian Negotiations Steering Committee and head of the Fatah Foreign Relations Commission Dr. Nabeel Shaath, condemned today Israeli settlement expansion in Bethlehem affecting Palestinian Christians, particularly during the Holy Lents period. His comments were made during a visit to the Bethlehem district on March 24, 2010. “What Israelis are doing in Bethlehem is a crime not only against Palestinian people but against Christianity as a whole.. Palestinian Christians are the oldest Christian community in the World, but today they have no space for natural growth due to the Israeli settlement activities.” “The connection between Christian communities in Bethlehem and their holy sites in Jerusalem has been cut by the Jewish Settlements and the Apartheid Wall. Currently Christians are not able to freely go to the Olive Mount nor to other Christian Sites and ceremonies on Palm Sunday. This means that Christianity in the Holy Land has been forced to change not due to a Christian council but due to the Israeli occupation.” A large amount of the ongoing Israeli settlement expansion has been carried out on Christian land properties, such as Gilo, Har Homa, Giv’at Hamatos and Har Gilo, all of them interrupting the historic links between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Currently, the construction in all these settlements is going on.. Two days ago, Palestinian Christian institutions in Jerusalem issued a statement denouncing Israeli measures against Christian traditions during Easter. Dr. Shaath commented on the statement by saying that “what Israel is doing on a daily basis in Jerusalem reflects its lack of respect for Christianity and Islam. While Israeli officials claim that freedom of worship can only be respected under Israeli rule in Jerusalem, its policies as the occupying power against religious traditions that have been alive in Palestine for centuries demonstrate practices of ethnic cleansing rather than a call for coexistence.” “The people on the ground wonder for how long they will have to wait for justice! Who is going to stop the Wall from reaching Mitri Ghnem’s home in Beit Jala, a Palestinian Christian refugee from Jaffa, whose land has been confiscated to build a bypass road for settlers and now will probably have the eight meters high Wall built six meters outside his home? Who is going to stop Israeli settlers from building an outpost in Oush Ghrab, Beit Sahour, which will confiscate the town’s only open area for natural growth?” Dr. Shaath’s visit to Bethlehem included meetings with popular committees, students and affected families by the Israeli ongoing settlement expansion.
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