Jerusalem’s Christian community is facing mounting pressure as Israel blocks Palestinian teachers from the occupied West Bank from entering the city, threatening to sever a vital link between the city’s Christian schools and Bethlehem, Al Jazeera reported, citing Bethlehem pastor Reverend Mitri Raheb.<\/p>\n
Christian schools in occupied East Jerusalem remained shut on Tuesday after Israel refused to renew entry permits for Palestinian teachers travelling from the West Bank, according to the report.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ: Iranian Money Can Go To Terror Victims, Says Bessent; Warns New Sanctions For IRGC Ties<\/a><\/p>\n Raheb described the decision as an \u201cattack on the Christian presence\u201d, saying several affected teachers are Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem who have been unable to enter Jerusalem.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of these teachers are Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem who are still being prevented from entering Jerusalem,\u201d Raheb told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n He said the restrictions also affect members of the clergy. Raheb added that, despite being a pastor based in Bethlehem, he does not currently have a permit to travel to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n According to the pastor, the latest restrictions represent another escalation in what he described as pressure on the Christian community in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is just another step in attacks on the church presence in Jerusalem, which is really now threatened with extinction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n ALSO READ: Hormuz Tensions Rise As Projectiles Hit Saudi, South Korean Oil Tankers<\/a><\/p>\n Raheb also criticised plans by Israel to expand its curriculum to schools in East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n He alleged that attempts to alter the curriculum in Christian schools form part of a broader pattern aimed at changing how Palestinians understand their history and identity.<\/p>\n He characterised the situation across historic Palestine differently, saying the Gaza conflict amounted to genocide, while in the occupied West Bank, he alleged, Palestinians were being displaced through what he called a settler-colonial project.<\/p>\n The comments come amid broader tensions over access, education and the status of Palestinian institutions in occupied East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n \n Essential Business<\/a> Intelligence,
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\n Practical Personal Finance<\/a> Advice, Daily Fuel<\/a>, Gold<\/a> and Silver<\/a> Prices and Latest<\/a> Stories \u2014 On NDTV Profit.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jerusalem’s Christian community is facing mounting pressure as Israel blocks Palestinian teachers from the occupied West Bank from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,116027,116028,34560],"class_list":["post-276758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-facing","tag-mounting","tag-pressure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}