TEHRAN – The High Presidential Commission on Palestinian Church Affairs said the Israeli occupation regime has destroyed the Christian presence in Palestine.
Following the Israeli regime’s genocidal attacks on Gaza, the commission reported that many churches and Christian institutions were attacked, including St. Porphyrius Church, Holy Family Church, Baptist Hospital, and Orthodox Cultural and Social Center.
The report confirmed that 44 Christians have been killed since the start of the massacre, some as a result of direct attacks by the Israeli regime and others as a result of the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
The committee also highlighted repeated raids on settlers in the Christian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, freezing of the bank accounts of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem (al-Quds), imposing heavy taxes on churches, and seizing Armenian church property, all in violation of the long-standing status quo agreement.
The statement noted that Christians face daily harassment, including spitting, physical assault, and the desecration of churches and cemeteries. In addition, checkpoints and separation walls severely restrict movement, often preventing Christians from practicing their faith or celebrating religious festivals such as Easter.
Attention was also focused on the siege of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, which is currently surrounded by more than 150 checkpoints, settlements and part of the separation wall. The city’s area has shrunk from 37 square kilometers to just 7.3 square kilometers.
The commission warned that the Israeli settlement plan, known as “E1,” would further isolate Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and tighten the siege of Bethlehem.
Before the Nakba in 1948, Palestinian Christians comprised approximately 12.5% of the population of historic Palestine. Today, they make up just 1.2%, and only 1% of the territory occupied in 1967.
The report concluded by stating that the Israeli regime, and no one else, systematically dismantled the Christian presence in the Holy Land. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lies cannot erase history or the reality of Palestinians living under occupation,” the statement said.
The commission issued a statement accompanied by a photo of an Israeli military tank outside the Church of the Nativity during the 2002 invasion of the West Bank, stressing that the Israeli regime’s colonial policies, including ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide, had led to the destruction of Christian life in Palestine.
The report noted that before the 1948 Nakba, Palestinian Christians made up about 12.5 percent of the population of historic Palestine. Today, they make up just 1.2% of the country, compared to only 1% of the area occupied in 1967.
According to the commission, 90,000 Palestinian Christians were displaced during the Nakba and around 30 churches were forced to close. Zionist militias also committed massacres against Christian civilians, including killing 25 people at the Semiramis Hotel in Jerusalem and executing 12 people in the village of Eirabun near Nazareth in 1948.
The statement also recalls the Christian villages of Ikrit and Kafr Birim in the occupied Upper Galilee, where residents were prohibited from returning despite court rulings in their favor.
In 1953, Israeli occupation forces destroyed the village to prevent their return. Today, only the church and cemetery remain as evidence of forced migration.
The commission called on the international community to hold the regime accountable under international law, urged the world’s Church to speak out in defense of fellow Christians in the Holy Land, and called on the United Nations to protect freedom of worship and the Christian presence in Palestine.