Church leaders in Jerusalem are threatening to shutter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest sites in Christianity, like they did earlier this year, in protest of a bill that would permit Israel to appropriate church-owned land.
The bill, sponsored by MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu), would give the finance minister the authority to transfer ownership of the leased land that the churches sold off to developers after 2010 over to the state. The developers would be compensated.
Azaria says that the questionable sales of these properties have plunged thousands of Jerusalem residents into uncertainty over their living conditions.
Jerusalem residents are living under the threat of evacuation because their homes were built on land the church leased to the Jewish National Fund. The government is realizing that it can no longer ignore the legal reality that when the lease is up – in 17 years, in some cases – the land and the buildings will revert to church ownership and that the sale of some of the leased land to private developers complicates the residents' situation even further.
According to Azaria, some of these developers are demanding that the residents pay them hundreds of thousands of shekels.
In February, the churches shuttered Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried, for three days after the municipality tried to levy taxes on church properties.
On Friday, Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian church leaders wrote a letter to Netanyahu on Friday saying the vote "constitutes a flagrant disregard" of his earlier assurances to block the legislation. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has expedited the bill and the Ministerial Committee for Legislation was slated to vote on it on Sunday.
The church leaders reminded Netanyahu that he had promised that until a committee led by Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi charged with looking into the issue has submitted its conclusions, there would be no vote on the bill.
"The sense is that we have been abandoned, that the prime minister is allowing Minister Shaked to move forward and is not keeping his promise," the letter reads.
"This step comprises a blatant violation of the prime minister's decision and contradicts the promises given to the church leaders by Minister Hanegbi when they met," the letter continued. "We pray that the delicate fabric of [interfaith] relations and the status quo between the church and the State of Israel will be preserved."
Calling on Netanyahu directly to intervene, the letter said that "we have no choice but to urge your immediate involvement in stopping this legislation once and for all."
In response, the Prime Minister's Office stated that "the new legislation has nothing to do with the church and does not constitute an infringement of their rights."
