The Palestine National Council (PNC) addressed the regional and international Parliamentary associations on the decision of Israeli’s Jerusalem municipality to collect property taxes from the churches in the occupied city of Jerusalem and from monasteries, religious shrines, institutions, real estate and land owned by churches and the UN in the occupied Jerusalem, to be applied retroactively from 1967. This came in the framework of the insistence of the occupation authorities to continue their plans to Judaize, to end the Palestinian Christian and Islamic presence in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

The Council calls on the international community to pressure the Israeli government to abolish and not just freeze this false measure which violates agreements and the historic status quo that has existed since the Ottoman period in the holy city, as symbol of coexistence and tolerance of the Christian-Islamic religions.

The Council also warns of the approval of the Knesset Ministerial Committee for legislation of the church land bill that would allow Israel, the occupying power, to expropriate land in the occupied city, and therefore demands that the IPU take decisive action before it is too late.

The Council appeals to the Vatican and the world to intervene quickly to force the Israeli occupation to stop the harassment and persecution of churches to seize their property.

The occupation municipality of Jerusalem announced that it will collect about 191 million US dollars from 887 assets and properties owned by these churches including hospitals, schools, homes and residences of monks, priests and bishops, and end the tax exemptions for church-owned properties existed since Ottoman times. The occupation municipality threatened to put liens on churches bank accounts and confiscate their properties if taxes were not paid, In addition, the decision will burden churches and their property in the occupied city, especially since these institutions do not receive any compensation from government agencies or from the Palestinian National Authority. But manage their financial affairs by theirself and provide many services, which include not only religions but also social ones to those in need of the community of occupied Jerusalem.

The Palestine National Council affirms that the Israeli occupation authority with this arbitrary and illegitimate measure has flagrantly violated all existing international conventions, historical customs and obligations guaranteeing the rights and privileges of the Churches, with the aim of changing the historical and legal status of the Holy Places, including Christian religious institutions through ending the tax exemptions for church-owned properties and through the issuance of laws granting the occupying power the right to confiscate or purchase or, at least, cement its grip on church properties in the occupied city.

The Council considers that the Israeli measures to impose taxes on churches, an aggression against Jerusalem, its Christian and Islamic sanctities, which are invalid, since they stem from an illegal occupation. This is an attempt to pressure the Christian religious institutions to leave the city of Jerusalem and cut their religious, humanitarian and spiritual role in the service of the Palestinian Jerusalemite community