Gazan Christians say have no permits yet to visit Jerusalem at Easter
FILE PHOTO: A worshipper lights a candle as she visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Christians in the Gaza Strip have yet to receive any permits to go to Jerusalem to celebrate Easter, they said on Tuesday.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said church authorities had applied for around 600 permits for Gazans to travel, but had not received any, three days before Good Friday.
[…]
"Israel is a sovereign state and it has the right to decide who will enter its gates. No foreign residents have an inherent right to enter Israel, including Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip," a Civil Administration (COGAT) spokesman said, without saying whether permits would be issued this year.
[…]
Father Ibrahim Shomali, chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said worshippers should not even be required to get permits.
"We have to have free access to the Holy Land, free access to our holy places," he said at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.
"Of course we apply, but in reality there must be no applying for permits to come to visit your own places."
[…]
Christian leaders said U.S. President Donald Trump's decision in December to recognize Jerusalem - sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam - as Israel's capital could embolden Israeli authorities' restrictions to their holy sites.
"(Israel) will close every single checkpoint, and this will be more strict than any other year because of the proclamation of Trump and the effects we got from it, and that we will get from it," Shomali said.
[…]