Freedom of Religion during the 2000 Christmas Season and Holy Month of Ramadan

How can one measure the degree of respect for the freedom of religion in Palestine? By the number of worshipers praying in the streets of Jerusalem, outside the Old City, in front of Damascus and Lion's Gates surrounded by a legion of Israeli soldiers and other special units. Also the silent Christmas nights in Bethlehem. 

Hundreds of Muslim worshipers, who are denied access to the Haram Al Sharif, have been forced to pray in front of Damascus and Lion's Gates due to the policy of closures and restrictions imposed on the Palestinian people by the Israeli authorities. Friday 22, 2000 the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan for the Muslims was no exception.

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a universally recognized right established in many international and legal provisions such as article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: " Every one has the freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance". 

The Palestinian people have long been deprived of this right; the Christian population has suffered from the restrictions and the closures of holy sites imposed by the Israelis.  Bethlehem and Nazareth could only plan "to hold a muted Christmas"1. Only limited festivities were held, first of all because of the occupation, and also, as the Nazareth mayor's spokes person Ramzi Hakim said, "in consideration of the 13 Israeli Arabs killed during riots at the beginning of the Intifada"2.

Many celebrations have been canceled because of the late events. People are not in a festive mood. For many it is a time for mourning all those who have been killed during the Al Aksa Intifada. There are very few decorations and colored lights adorning the streets and shop windows. The streets are empty and many foreigners have canceled their trips to Jesus birthplace. This has had serious repercussions on the tourist dependent economies cities like Bethlehem that, according to Palestinian officials, "enjoyed an average of 88,000 tourists a month between December 1999 and the beginning of the violence this September; those figures plummeted drastically to 27,000 in October and they continue to fall"3.

The indiscriminate shelling of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour by the Israeli forces and the closures imposed by the Israeli authorities restricts, and of course discourages, the influx of tourists who feel that their safety is endangered.

It is manifest that Israel deliberately imposes numerous checkpoints and closes the access to holy places in order to prevent worshipers from celebrating religious holidays.  This year, the holy month of Ramadan coincides with the Christmas season. This is of strong significance to the entire Palestinian people as it tightens the relationship between the Christian and the Muslim communities.

For Muslims, Ramadan is a month of fasting and celebration. During this holy month, people come from all over the Occupied Territories to pray at the Al Aksa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. However, this year during Ramadan only a few worshipers were allowed access to the Haram Al Sharif. On November 30, 2000, Israeli officials decided that "the preexisting closure of the Occupied Territories would be tightened banning all Muslims from the West Bank and Gaza from praying at the Al Aksa Mosque"4.

For the first Friday of Ramadan, only Palestinians from East Jerusalem and individuals with Israeli citizenship were allowed to enter the Haram Al Sharif to pray. All Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who tried to reach Jerusalem were turned back and harassment of Palestinians at checkpoints was reported.

It is obvious that the aim of the Israeli soldiers terrorizing Palestinians at the checkpoints is to humiliate them and to prevent them from fulfilling their religious duties. Various incidents of abuse took place at checkpoints. In one instance, Israeli soldiers stopped a car in the neighborhood of Nablus and threatened the passengers of the car. They said they would kill the driver if the passengers in the car did not eat, thereby forcing the passengers to break their fast by eating food even though during the holy month of Ramadan observant Muslims fast from dawn to sunset.

The denial of access to Muslims living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the Mosque cut the number of worshipers there to only 25,000, from the usual number of 250,000 who worship at Al Aksa during Ramadan5. The same scenario took place every single Friday during Ramadan. According to an Affidavit collected by one of Al Haq's fieldworkers, on December 8, 2000, access to Jerusalem was made even more difficult during Ramadan with extra checkpoints set up in order to make sure that Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza did not reach the Old City. Many individuals, both children and adults, carrying Palestinians ID cards were denied access to the holy site, and were thereby forced to pray in front of Damascus Gate surrounded by a huge number of soldiers and additional combat units.

On December 15, 2000, the third Friday of Ramadan, and on December 22, 2000, the last Friday of Ramadan, the vast majority of worshipers from the West Bank and Gaza were not allowed to enter Jerusalem once again.  Only 1000 worshipers from the West Bank age 45 and above were allowed into Jerusalem. Access to the Al Aksa Mosque was also restricted to Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and to those with Israeli citizenship. Only Palestinians age 35 and above were allowed to go to pray.

The destruction of holy places is also prohibited under International Law. Article 16 of the Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and related to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts states that: "It is prohibited to commit any acts of hostility directed against historic monuments, works of arts or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples…" On October 20, 2000, Israeli soldiers shot at the Aida Refugee Camp mosque using heavy weapons, destroying windows, damaging the loudspeakers and the main gate, and leaving a 50 cm hole inside the mosque.

Israeli aggression against holy places is not something new, and has taken on many different forms, including shooting at or closing holy sites and transforming churches and mosques into synagogues or museums, as in the case of the Khan Al Ahmar Mosque near Maale Adumim settlement. Finally, according to Al Wakf, the Israeli authorities have closed 28 mosques.

During the whole month of Ramadan and the Christmas season massive numbers of Israeli soldiers, policemen and other combat units were deployed in the areas of Jerusalem and Bethlehem to ensure that the blockade to holy places remained intact. These actions, carried out by the Israeli authorities are blatant violation of numerous International Laws, such as article 27 of the IV Geneva Convention, which states that an occupying power must provide for the protection of the religious convictions and practices of the occupied party6. It is also a gross violation of article 46 of the Hague Convention of 1907.

It appears now that these types of policies carried out by the Israeli authorities have evolved into a form of collective punishment, not to say collective humiliation, of the Palestinian people in its entirety. Such tactics and behavior are illegal under International Law. The total and indefinite closure of the Occupied Territories now poses an acute threat to Palestinian community life and especially to freedom of religion.