Defending the cradle of Christianity: The plight of Christians in Jerusalem and Palestine

In the heart of Jerusalem, a distressing trend endangers the rich mosaic of faith traditions that have coexisted there for centuries. Christians, one of the oldest religious communities in the region, face increasing hostility, a concern that has been voiced strongly by local and international political and church leaders.

Varsen Agabakian, the Palestinian minister of state for foreign affairs, recently highlighted the gravity of this growing crisis: “Incitement and attacks against Christians in the State of Palestine and Jerusalem jeopardize the future of Christianity in its cradle.”

The challenges Christians encounter in Jerusalem are multifaceted. Restrictions on religious visits, bans on spiritual texts for Christian prisoners, including copies of the Bible, and violent incidents targeting clergy cast a shadow over the freedom and safety of the community.

Incitement has been on the rise for years, especially under the rule of the current right-wing Israeli government, which includes many members openly hostile to Christianity. In the first quarter of this year alone, 44 incidents of harassment were recorded, including people spitting on clergy, verbal abuse and stone throwing, along with escalating cases of vandalism at Christian institutions, churches and cemeteries.

This military assault on one of the few remaining medical facilities in Gaza exemplified the precarious situation facing Christians and all other civilians.

Daoud Kuttab

A particularly troubling aspect of the current situation is the restricted access to Easter celebrations in Jerusalem granted to Palestinian Christians living outside the city. This year, they were offered a limited opportunity to enter the holy city only for a seven-day period in April. This required that they apply online through the Israeli army’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. Those approved by security agencies were allowed to visit Jerusalem for one week only.

In other words, if a person wanted to visit the holy places, or family and friends, on Palm Sunday, (a week before Easter Sunday) and on Easter Monday (a day after) they would not be able to do both and have to decide which one to give up.

In previous years, Christians from the West Bank and Gaza were granted an entire month of access to partake in spiritual events during the Easter season. The change represents a significant decline in freedom of movement.

In a serious escalation of violence, meanwhile, Israeli settlers have set their sights on the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank. On the morning of Wednesday, April 9, settlers bulldozed about 150,000 square meters of agricultural land belonging to a Palestinian Christian family in the Khillet Al-Qutn area, south of Bethlehem.

It was not the first time land in Khillet Al-Qutn has come under attack; the latest and similar previous assaults are indicative of a deliberate strategy to displace its residents and landowners while expanding colonial control over the territory.

The latest annual report from the Rossing Center, an interreligious organization in Jerusalem, documented 111 cases of harassment and violence against the Christian community in Israel and East Jerusalem during 2024. According to Federica Sasso, one of the authors of the report, this highlights a climate of hostility but only represents “the tip of the iceberg of a much larger phenomenon.”

This troubling pattern was especially poignant as Christians last weekend celebrated Palm Sunday, the start of the holy Easter week for Christians; local Palestinians in the West Bank were prohibited by the Israeli military from entering Jerusalem, and Israeli missile strikes damaged or destroyed parts of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which is run by the Christian Anglican Church in Jerusalem.

This military assault on one of the few remaining medical facilities in Gaza, on the morning of Palm Sunday, exemplified the precarious situation facing Christians and all other civilians. Anglican Church leaders in Jerusalem condemned the strikes in the strongest terms, noting that the attacks had demolished a two-story genetics laboratory, and damaged the hospital’s pharmacy and emergency department. There was also collateral damage to St. Philip’s church.

The Israeli army gave just 20 minutes’ warning of the military assault as they ordered the evacuation from the site of all patients, employees and displaced individuals sheltering there. Thankfully, there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths directly caused by the bombing, but a child with a head injury tragically died as a result of complications arising from the rushed evacuation.

This was the fifth time the hospital has been bombed since the current conflict between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023.

The Anglican diocese of Jerusalem called on all governments and compassionate individuals to intervene and attempt to halt the attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions, and offered its prayers for an end to the ongoing conflict and the suffering of so many.

An attack in February on the Roman Catholic Church of the Flagellation in Jerusalem also drew attention to the broader issues surrounding the safety of Christians. The incident was portrayed by the complicit Israeli and Western media as the actions of an “American tourist,” conveniently overlooking the fact that the attacker, who vandalized a statue of Jesus with a hammer, was a settler with dual citizenship.

Following the attack, the public received little information about any deterrent measures from Israeli police, who merely carried out an assessment of the attacker’s mental fitness. This trivialization of the criminal act stripped it of context and significance, allowing police to sidestep the accountability measures necessary to deter future incidents.

This reluctance to hold perpetrators to account, coupled with a broader atmosphere of excusing such acts of violence, emboldens people to commit further acts of aggression against Christian communities. In recent years, churches have been called upon to adopt a firmer stance against such threats. Fear of repercussions from the occupying authorities, who control permits and access, often results in passive responses to violence.

As Sasso articulates in her report, however, the “growing polarization and radicalization within Israeli society” necessitates a more proactive and internationalized approach to safeguarding Christian presence and rights.

• Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. He is the author of ‘State of Palestine NOW: Practical and Logical Arguments for the Best Way to Bring Peace to the Middle East.’ X: @daoudkuttab