South African churches have condemned an Israeli ban on Christians from the besieged Gaza Strip travelling to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to celebrate Christmas. Occupied by Israel for over 50 years, Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem are forced to obtain permits from Israel in order to travel within the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), to enter Israel or to go overseas. 

Last week, Israeli officials cited “security orders” and announced that no travel permits would be granted to Palestinians from Gaza so that they could celebrate Christmas in Christianity’s most sacred cities. The decision sparked widespread anger and condemnation worldwide, including South Africa.

“We condemn Israel's barring of Gazan Christians to freely express and practice their faith by visiting the sacred places of our religion. Freedom of religion is a basic human right, and it is unthinkable that a 21st century so-called democracy should even be thinking in this way,” said Reverend Moss Nthla, the General- Secretary of the Evangelical Alliance of South Africa (TEASA) which represents almost 4 million South African Christians who identify as born-again or evangelical.

Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agrees with Ntlha’s sentiments. “Israel talks about respect for freedom of religion but its actions are the complete opposite of this. Palestinians are essentially being held captive, and Israel consistently destroys anything that is meaningful to Palestinian life. In this case it is religion,” she said in an interview with the Afro-Palestine Newswire Service.

Speaking from Gaza, Hamas spokesperson, Basem Naim, also condemned Israel’s barring of Gaza’s Christians from the holy cities.

Israeli groups have also slammed the decision. “This is a reflection not only of Israel’s disregard for the rights of Palestinians living under its control, but also of Israel’s misleading use of ‘security reasons’ to justify denying outright their movement,” said Tel Aviv-based group, Gisha.

Rifat Kassis, the coordinator of Kairos Palestine - an umbrella movement of Palestinian Christians of various denominations, which advocates for ending the Israeli occupation, finds it outrageous that indigenous Christians who live a few kilometers away from Jerusalem cannot visit, while foreigners can fly in without any problem.

The South African Council of Churches (SACC) has previously condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestine, calling Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “worse than apartheid”.

In September, the Anglican and Methodist Churches of Southern Africa – representing churches in Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini (Swaziland), Mozambique, Angola and St Helena - resolved to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign until Israel ended its military occupation of Palestine.

Source: Afro-Palestine Newswire Service