Israeli Occupation Violations at Jerusalem’s Church of Holy Sepulchre are racist Measures, Says Hamas

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Hamas said Saturday 23 April 2022 that raiding and desecrating the sanctity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at gunpoint by Israeli occupation soldiers, coupled with the restrictions imposed on Palestinian Christians marking the Easter Fire ceremony, are racist measures and a stark violation of the freedom of worship.

“Raiding and desecrating the sanctity of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at gunpoint by Israeli occupation soldiers, coupled with the restrictions imposed on Palestinian Christians marking the Easter Fire ceremony, including capping the number of Christian pilgrims allowed to the church and erecting checkpoints hindering their movement, are racist measures and a stark violation of the freedom of worship and access to holy sites, which are subjected to daily incursions by Israeli occupation forces,” said Hamas in a statement.

Israeli occupation forces prevented Saturday Palestinian Christians from entering the old city of occupied Jerusalem seeking to reach the Sepulcher Church inside the old city to celebrate Easter’s Holy Fire.

Thousands of local Christians and pilgrims attend the Holy Fire event inside the church, but this year Israeli occupation has decided to restrict the number who can reach the Sepulcher Church to only 4000.

“As we hail Muslim and Christian Palestinians for their rejection of these aggressive measures and steadfastness in the face of Israeli attempts targeting the holy city’s national identity, we stress that Jerusalem will remain the eternal capital of Palestine,” Hamas added.

“Its Muslim and Christian residents will remain an icon of steadfastness and resilience in the face of the Israeli occupation’s arrogance.”

The movement called on all Palestinians to fend off these violations targeting their lands and holy sites.

It also urged the international community to end its double-standards policy toward the just Palestinian cause and place pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to end these policies which constitute a blatant violation of human rights and international law.