The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the Israeli authorities’ measures and what it described as ‘the oppressive and racist’ tight restrictions imposed against Palestinian Christians which aim to limit the number of Christians’ access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City during Holy Light ceremony on Saturday. The ministry, in a statement, slammed these Israeli measures as a collective punishment that targets the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem and its holy sites, denouncing them as a gross encroachment on the legal and historical status quo of the city and a clear violation of the occupying power, Israel’s, obligations. It stressed that such measures are illegal and unlawful and will not establish any rights for Israel in Jerusalem or the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. It further condemned them as a serious violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and signed agreements, as well as a provocation in a conflict area. The ministry called on the international community to promptly provide international protection to the Palestinian people in general, and for Jerusalem and its holy sites in particular.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)