Palestinian Orthodox attend the Palm Sunday mass in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP
Palestinian Orthodox attend the Palm Sunday mass in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP
Palestinian Orthodox attend the Palm Sunday mass in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP
Palestinian Orthodox attend the Palm Sunday mass in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP

Israel cancels permits for Gaza Christians ahead of Orthodox Easter


Holly Johnston
  • English
  • Arabic

Israel has cancelled permits allowing Christians in Gaza to leave the enclave for Orthodox Easter, the Saint Porphyrios Orthodox Church said.

The church said it had been informed of the cancellations by the Palestinian Ministry of Civil Affairs.

“The permits for Easter have been cancelled on the Israeli side,” it said on its Facebook page.

Gaza residents require a permit from Israeli authorities to leave the enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007.

There was no immediate announcement from Israel.

It comes amid rising violence between Israeli and Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Israel has in the past barred Christians from leaving Gaza during religious holidays.

About 1,000 Christians live Gaza alongside more than 2 million Muslims.

Most of them are Greek Orthodox and celebrate Easter a week after western denominations.

Gaza is home to only three churches — the Orthodox church, the Gaza Baptist Church for Evangelical and Protestant Christians and the Roman Catholic Holy Family Church.

Palestinian Orthodox attend the Palm Sunday mass at a church in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP
Palestinian Orthodox attend the Palm Sunday mass at a church in Gaza City on Sunday. AFP

More than 700 permits were reportedly granted for the Easter holiday before the cancellation.

The Christian community has dwindled sharply since Hamas took power in 2007, with large numbers emigrating to flee conflict and difficult living conditions.

Church leaders in Jerusalem have warned that Palestinians Christians are at risk from a rise in right-wing violence spurred by Israel's new government.

Jordan's King Abdullah II said Jerusalem's Christian community was “under fire” in comments at the UN General Assembly in September.

“The rights of churches in Jerusalem are threatened. This cannot continue. Christianity is vital to the past and present of our region and the Holy Land. It must remain an integral part of our future,” the monarch said.

Church property across Jerusalem has also been attacked in recent months.

A US citizen was arrested in February after breaking a statue of Jesus at the Church of the Flagellation, one of several incidents targeting the minority.

Israelis also paraded through the Armenian quarter of the Old City, assaulting Christian tourists and writing “Death to Christians” on the walls of a monastery.

Two teenagers were arrested in January for allegedly vandalising more than two dozen Christian graves on Mount Zion, where tombstones at the Protestant Cemetery were found pushed over and pulled from their foundations.

Korean Film Festival 2019 line-up

Innocent Witness, June 26 at 7pm

On Your Wedding Day, June 27 at 7pm

The Great Battle, June 27 at 9pm

The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion, June 28 at 4pm

Romang, June 28 at 6pm

Mal Mo E: The Secret Mission, June 28 at 8pm

Underdog, June 29 at 2pm

Nearby Sky, June 29 at 4pm

A Resistance, June 29 at 6pm 

 

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ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer

Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000

Engine 3.6L V6

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm

Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm

Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km

The specs: 2019 Haval H6

Price, base: Dh69,900

Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder

Transmission: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm

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Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km

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Formula One top 10 drivers' standings after Japan

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 306
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 234
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 192
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 148
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 111
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 82
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 65
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 48
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 34

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

'Gold'

Director:Anthony Hayes

Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes

Rating:3/5

Updated: April 11, 2023, 1:31 PM`