Greek Orthodox protest in Jerusalem
Dozens of Palestinians demonstrate outside Church of the Holy Sepulchre in protest of reports of Jerusalem church land sold to Jews; they claim it is part of Israeli attempt to gain control of Arab property
JERUSALEM - Dozens of Greek Orthodox Christians demonstrated Friday in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre against Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Irineos I.
A violent confrontation ensued after demonstrators refused to vacate the area, resulting in one police officer lightly injured.
Police managed to scatter the crowd and four
demonstrators were taken in for questioning.
Both Christian and several Muslim Palestinians approached the Church waving Palestinian flags in protest to Irineos, who has been accused of selling Greek Orthodox Church land in Jerusalem to Jews.
Irineos had been conducting Orthodox Good Friday mass inside the church at the time. Holy Saturday mass, signaling the day before Greek Orthodox Easter (Pascha), is to be celebrated Saturday.
Significant landholder in Jerusalem
Patriarch Irineos has denied all allegations regarding the land sales.
"I can say that these allegations are lies. I would like to confirm that I did not carry out any property deal and I confirm that even if such a thing took place through fraud or any other manner then we will coordinate with the legal consultants to annul
these illegal measures," he told reporters several weeks ago.
Newspaper reports that church land in the Holy City had been illegally sold to Jews have angered Palestinians, who view such deals as attempts by Israel to gain control of property in Arab East Jerusalem.
The Greek Orthodox Church is a significant landholder in Jerusalem owning thousands of acres of property.
Dismissal rumors
The church is led by Greek clerics rather than Palestinians, unlike most other churches that have recently appointed Arab patriarchs.
Several weeks ago the London-based al-Quds al-Arabia reported that the Greek government had decided to dismiss Irineos from his position after consulting with Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, in a bid to “end the crisis that has been created due to church land being sold to Jews,” the newspaper said.
However, the report has not yet been officially confirmed.
- Reuters contributed to this report
