MIDEAST: Palestinians condemn attack on church conducted by Israelis

Record ID: 354350

  • Title: MIDEAST: Palestinians condemn attack on church conducted by Israelis
  • Date: 5th March 2006
  • Summary: WOMAN LIGHTING CANDLE AT SHRINE PEOPLE OUTSIDE CHURCH
  • Embargoed: 20th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SKZERVE8J366T0T91MABYMW1
  • Story Text: The attack on one of the most important Christian shrines in the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth has sparked outrage from Palestinian politicians as well as religious leaders on Saturday (March 4).
    On Friday (March 3), three Israelis set off firecrackers inside Church of Annunciation, sparking panic among worshippers and causing a mass brawl outside.
    During the riots that followed the explosions in the church, one police car was torched as protesters tried to surge past police into the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation to get at the three Israelis -- a man and two women. Police later removed the three and took them away for questioning.
    Thirteen people were injured at the violent riots which followed the attack though none were seriously hurt.
    Father Amjad Sabara, the head of the Catholic church in Bethlehem hopes that the Israeli authorities will act swiftly to prevent any future acts of violence against holy sites.
    "We are hoping that all authorities, the Israeli and the Palestinians to continue to protect the holy places because these places are not places for protesting but it is a place for praying in which we need all the people who come here to feel security because they want to pray," he said.
    Haim Eliahu Habibi and his wife Violet entered the church on Friday (March 3) evening with a baby stroller loaded with firecrackers, Israeli police said.
    The Habibi couple and another Israeli woman set off the firecrackers inside during the evening prayers,
    The couple is known to Israeli security and media as troublemakers. A few years ago the couple caught the attention of Israel's media when they took up residence in the Palestinian presidential compound of late leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
    The Habibis lived next to Arafat and became friendly with his security guards when they sought his help against Israel's social welfare services who took away the couple's children.
    Palestinian Prime Minister designate Ismail Haniyeh condemned on Saturday (March 4) the attack on the Church of Annunciation.
    "This messing with the holy sites comes as part of the Israeli culture of hatred and opposition towards the Palestinians and their sacred Muslim and Christian sites. Just like they target al-Aqsa mosque they target al-Bishara church and this stems from the culture of hatred and aggression, which can not be tolerated in this land," Haniyeh told reporters after addressing students at the Islamic University in Gaza city.
    Palestinian militants also spoke out against the attack on Saturday (March 4).
    In a news conference held in Gaza city a masked representative for al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees said the attack was aimed to offend all Palestinians and Arabs.
    "We consider this attack an attack against the Arab world as a whole and against the Arab dignity. We say to the Zionists that this land, on which you uproot trees and burn churches and damage mosques is a land that refuses you and you will never have a place on it," said the masked gunmen to reporters.
    Nazareth, in Israel's north, is the largest Arab town in the Jewish state. The church, which was mostly undamaged is one of Christianity's most important sites in the Holy Land.
    However, the latest violence sent thousands of Israeli Arabs to the streets on Saturday (March 4) in protest against attack to holy sites.
    The protesters, headed by Arab political and religious leaders, marched through the streets of town and rallied outside the Basilica of the Annunciation.
    Arabs make up about 20 percent of Nazareth's population which includes a sizeable Christian community.
    Israeli Arabs are descended from families who stayed while hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the 1948 war of the Jewish state's founding.
    They complain of discrimination and say the government fails to give the same funding to their towns and schools as it does to the Jewish majority. Israeli officials deny the accusation.
    The Church of the Annunciation is built above a sunken grotto where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she was to bear Jesus.
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