West Bank

Palestinian Christians Face

March 30, 2013 News

Lena Odgaard for Al-Monitor  Palestine Pulse- 30/3/13 Thousands of Christians from across the globe are flocking to Jerusalem to  follow the footsteps of Jesus during the Easter festivities. But while pilgrims  from Africa, Asia, the US and Europe can easily spend the most important  Christian holiday in the historic city, Christian Palestinians living only five  [...]

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Christmas in Bethlehem

December 24, 2012 Featured News

24/12/12 Israel has taken measures to ensure a safe environment, smooth access and movement for the many worshippers and tourists who come to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. (Communicated by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories – COGAT) Israel actively supports and protects freedom of worship for every religion. This takes on special significance [...]

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Extremist Israeli Settlers Write Racist Graffiti On Christian Monastery

December 13, 2012 Featured News

Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies – 13/12/12 A number of extremist Israeli settlers wrote, on Wednesday at dawn, racist graffiti attacking Christianity and Jesus Christ on the walls of a monastery in occupied Jerusalem, the WAFA News Agency reported. The graffiti written on the walls of the monastery included “Price Tag”, and several insults [...]

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‘Jesus is a monkey’ daubed on Jerusalem monastery wall

September 4, 2012 Featured News

Menahem Kahana / AFP – Getty Images A Trappist monk stands between graffiti reading in Hebrew, “Jesus is a monkey” (L) and “mutual guarantee, Ramat Migron and Maoz Ester” (West Bank settlements) (R), which was sprayed on the wall of the Latrun Monastery between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Tuesday after unknown people set the [...]

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Palestinians push Nativity church as Heritage site

June 24, 2012 Featured News

Associated Press 23/6/2012 (AP) The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is becoming the church of contention, with a bid by the Palestinians to use their position as the newest members of the U.N.’s cultural arm to obtain World Heritage status for the iconic Christian site and perhaps boost their own campaign for legitimacy. The [...]

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A Palestinian Christian Eyewitness Remembers The Israeli Military Siege Of The Church Of The Nativity

April 8, 2012 News

By Sharat G. Lin with Jiries Canavati in Bethlehem 8/4/2012 Ten years ago, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in response to a rapid succession of suicide bombings by Palestinians inside Israel and against Israeli settlements in the West Bank , vowed revenge, calling for “an uncompromising war to uproot these savages.” Calling Palestinian leader Yasir [...]

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Ancient monastery attacked by Israeli extremists

April 5, 2012 Featured News

By Lauren Gelfond Feldinger 4/4/2012 Continuing vandalism at religious sites prompts condemnation from religious communities and politicians. A medieval Greek Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem, one of the latest holy sites to be targeted in the region in an epidemic of vandalism, is at the centre of a diplomatic dispute between Greece and Georgia. In February, [...]

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‘Price Tag’ mirrors Hitler’s youth

March 16, 2012 News

By Jamal Kanj 15/3/2012 Death to Christians’ and ‘Death to Arabs’ were scrawled in Hebrew last week on an old monastery and property of Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem. On February 20, a Baptist church was defiled with graffiti insulting Jesus’ mother. Earlier in the same month, an 11th century Greek Orthodox monastery was desecrated. The [...]

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Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians

March 10, 2012 News
A damaged crucifix survives the burning of a Greek-Orthodox church in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Sept. 17, 2006.

9/3/2012 The church in Bethlehem had survived more than 1,000 years, through wars and conquests, but its future now seemed in jeopardy. Spray-painted all over its ancient stone walls were the Arabic letters for Hamas. The year was 1994 and the city was about to pass from Israeli to Palestinian control. I was meeting with [...]

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Judean Desert Draws In Tourists

February 10, 2012 Featured News

BY DANIELA BERRETTA 9/2/2012 JERICHO, West Bank — Located between Jerusalem and Jericho, the Judean Desert provided an inspiration to thousands of hermits who lived here in the early Middle Ages. With its breathtaking, rugged beauty, it was the perfect setting for those searching spiritual fullness in the emptiness of the desert. Today only a [...]

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“Price tag” graffiti daubed on Jerusalem monastery

February 7, 2012 Featured News
Israeli police officers stand with a priest beside a car that was sprayed with graffiti outside the Monastery of the Cross, which was also defaced with graffiti, in Jerusalem February 7, 2012

7/2/2012 (Reuters) – A Jerusalem monastery, built on the site where tradition says the tree used in the making of Jesus’s cross once stood, was defaced with “Death to Christians” graffiti on Tuesday. The words “Price Tag” daubed on a vandalized car parked outside the 11th-century Monastery of the Cross suggested that militant Jewish settlers [...]

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Orthodox Epiphany Celebrations 2012

January 19, 2012 Featured News
A Greek orthodox Christian pilgrim pray at the Monastery of St John the Baptist near the Jordan River during the Epiphany celebrations on January 18, 2011 in Kasser el-Yahud. Thousand of Orthodox Christian pilgrims participated in the procession at the Jordan River baptismal site of Kasser el-Yahud to celebrate the annual festival, marking Jesus' baptism, when the gospels say a dove settled onto him and a voice from heaven declared him 'my beloved son.' According to tradition John baptized Jesus at the Jordan River in the Holy Land.

19/1/2012 Source:

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Armenian Christmas in Holy Land – Snaps

January 19, 2012 Featured News
An Orthodox Armenian worshiper prays, in front of an icon of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus Christ in the Church of the Nativity, during a procession celebrating Christmas Day according to Julian calender, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on January 18, 2012. While most Armenians celebrate Christmas on January 6, the Orthodox Armenians of Jerusalem mark the birth of Jesus on January 18, according to an ancient Julian calender.

The Armenian Orthodox Christian in Jerusalem are the last ones to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and every year it is on the 18th of January. 19/1/2012 Source:

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Churches in Israel struggling to keep up with mass influx of foreign workers

December 31, 2011 News

By Julia Niemann 30/12/2011 While the number of Christians with roots in Israel is on the decline, temporary residents are flocking to local services in record numbers. Shifting demographics are changing the landscape of Israel’s Christian communities as an influx of migrant workers poses a new set of demands for local churches. While the number [...]

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Clerics clash in Church of the Nativity

December 28, 2011 News
A member from the Greek Orthodox clergy (L) and a Palestinian use diesel to scrub the floor and columns of the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 28, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Ammar Awad

BETHLEHEM, West Bank 28/12/2011 (Reuters) – A Christmas cleaning of the Church of the Nativity turned into scuffles on Wednesday between rival Christian clerics zealously guarding denominational turf at the holy site. Brooms and fists flew inside the church marking the birthplace of Jesus as some 100 priests and monks of the Greek Orthodox and [...]

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Christians in Israel: Thriving, Beleaguered at the Same Time

December 23, 2011 News

David Rosenberg 22/12/2011 They succeed at school and at work, but their numbers are barely growing Economically, the Holy Land’s tiny Christian minority is thriving as its moves into the holiday season this year. But, except for a one-time boost from a wave of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, their numbers are barely growing [...]

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Israeli army to ease Christmas travel

December 21, 2011 News

20/12/2011 Jerusalem: The Israeli army announced special measures, on Monday, to ease the movement of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from now till into January to allow for seasonal celebrations. The West Bank Christians will be allowed to visit Israel without any age limitations, the army said without saying how [...]

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Israel’s Red Carpet for Christian Pilgrims

December 19, 2011 Featured News

Pilgrims pray at the St. George’s monastery (Photo: Matthew Bell) By Matthew Bell 16/12/2011 Christians are a tiny minority in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. They account for about 2 percent of the population. But Christian pilgrims are visiting the Holy Land in record numbers these days. The Greek Orthodox monastery of St. George’s is [...]

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A Christmas journey part 3: ‘Tis the season

December 16, 2011 Featured News

Ramallah – Wadi Qelt – Beir Zeit – Ramallah: popping into summer. 13/12/2011 More Snaps here: My Australian readers will have to forgive me on this one, but Christmas is about winter. The first condition to knowing holiday spirit is a Jack Frost-bitten nose. This is why I was so glad to arrive last night [...]

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Israel openes the traditional baptism site of Jesus for daily Visits

July 13, 2011 Featured News

13/7/2011 Israel opened the traditional baptism site of Jesus to daily visits Tuesday, a move that required the cooperation of Israel’s military and the removal of nearby mines in the West Bank along the border with Jordan. The location, where many believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River, is [...]

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Orthodox Holy Fire Ceremony in Jerusalem, 2011- Snaps

April 23, 2011 Featured News

23/4/2011 Source:

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Ousted Patriarch behind locked doors in Jerusalem

January 8, 2011 Featured News

By JOSH LEDERMAN The Associated Press 6/1/2011 JERUSALEM — Six years ago, Irineos I was the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem with about 100,000 followers. Today, he sits behind locked doors in his Old City apartment, claiming he has been imprisoned by the successor who ousted him in a dispute over sale [...]

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Orthodox Nativity Celebrations Worldwide – Snaps

January 6, 2011 Featured News

Photos of Orthodox Christian Nativity Celebrations Worldwide. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas mainly on 25th of December, 6th and 7th of January. 2010/2011 Source1: Source2: Source3: Source4: Source5: Source6: Source7: Source8: Source9:

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Bethlehem Is Booked for Christmas

December 17, 2010 Featured News

Written by Arieh O’Sullivan 15/12/2010 As tourism swells, no room in any inns despite Israeli restrictions Amid unseasonably sunny December days in Bethlehem, it appears history is about to repeat itself. During the week of Christmas all the city’s hotels are fully booked for the first time in decades, which will leave some of the [...]

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Fayyad Denounces Greek Orthodox Church Decision

December 2, 2010 Featured News

2/12/2010 Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denounced Wednesday the participation of officials from the Greek Orthodox Church in an event marking the opening of an Israeli road in the occupied West Bank. The Tuesday event was slammed by Arab Orthodox associations in Palestine and Jordan, who said church participation in the event asserting Israeli control [...]

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