Christian leaders took the rare step on Sunday of closing Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where tradition holds Jesus was buried, in protest at Israeli tax measures and a proposed property law.
It was not clear how long the closure of the church, announced by Christian officials at a news conference, would last. Church officials said only that it would remain closed until further notice.
The church is considered the holiest site in Christianity, built where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, and is a major pilgrimage site.
“As a measure of protest, we decided to take this unprecedented step of closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Catholic leaders said in a statement.
They said recent Israeli measures seemed to be “an attempt to weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem”. The decision to close the church was extremely rare.
In 1990, Christian sites including the Holy Sepulchre were closed for a day to protest the installation of Jewish settlers near the church, located in east Jerusalem.
Other sites
Christian sites were shut again for two days in 1999 to protest the planned construction of a mosque near Nazareth’s Church of the Annunciation, where tradition holds the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary she was to become the mother of Jesus.
Christian leaders have been angered over attempts by Israeli authorities to enforce tax collection on church property they consider commercial, saying exemptions only apply to places of worship or religious teaching.
