Israel Considers Mandating Military Service for Israeli Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has announced that legislation under consideration to introduce universal conscription would mandate that Israel's Orthodox Jewish fundamentalists as well as its Arab citizens participate in military and national service. More here.

Israel Approves Construction of 1,600 Housing Units in East Jerusalem

The Israeli Interior Ministry has authorized the construction of 1,600-unit apartment complex in predominantly Palestinian Arab East Jerusalem. The Interior Ministry simultaneously announced that it would shortly approve the construction of a further 2,700 more housing units in East Jerusalem. The approval comes as the Palestinian National Authority prepares to request admission to the United Nations as an independent state. More here.

Jerusalem Patriarch Interviewed on Issues in the Holy Land

In an interview Patriarch Theophilos III (Giannopoulos) of Jerusalem has said that his largely Arabic-speaking Palestinian Orthodox flock should "refer back to [its] roots" in side-stepping a question about ethnic Greeks' dominance of the Orthodox hierarchy in the Holy Land (which consists of seventeen ethnic Greeks and one ethnic Arab despite the largely Arab and Russian composition of the laity), also saying that one "cannot disregard the Byzantine presence that was here [in the Holy Land]."

In the same interview the patriarch strongly reaffirmed the Church of Jerusalem's involvement in the World Council of Churches and answered questions about the political and religious tensions in the Holy Land. The full interview can be found here.

Palestinian Orthodox Metropolitan Backs Calls for Preservation of Jerusalem Cemetery

Metropolitan Theodosius (Hanna) of Sebaste of the Jerusalemite Orthodox Church has added his voice to calls from Palestinian and Israeli Arabs that the destruction of the Holy City's historic Mamilla Cemetery be halted. The cemetery, which is the burial place of many Palestinian Arab residents of Jerusalem, is being razed to make way for the 'Museum of Tolerance.' More here.

Israel Approves West Bank Housing Expansion

The Israeli government has approved the construction of 294 homes on Palestinian Arab territory on the West Bank in the wake of an announcement from the US government that it still expects a peace between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority to include Palestinian Arab control of the entirety of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The houses will become residences for Jewish fundamentalists wanting to live in the area. More here.

Efforts Made to Reduce Immigration of Jerusalem's Christians

The Roman Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Holy Land's Franciscans have agreed to work together to expand the availability of affordable housing to Jerusalem's Christians in the hopes of stemming the immigrations of the Holy City's Christian residents. More here.

Palestinians Demand Access to Jerusalem During Holy Week, Pascha

Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank are demanding greater access to Jerusalem during Holy Week and Pascha. This year Israel's Passover holidays fall over part of Holy Week and Pascha and as Israel has enforced a military closing off of the West Bank during the Passover holidays for the past several years the West Bank's Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics will be unable to attend the services in the Holy City if the blockade is not lifted. More here.

Israeli Arab Actor Gunned Down in West Bank

The half Jewish, half Arab Catholic Israeli actor Juliano Mer Khamis has been killed in Jenin on the West Bank. More here.

Egypt Blames Palestinian Group for Alexandria Bombing

The Egyptian government has singled out a Palestinian Arab organization, the Army of Islam, as being responsible for the New Year bombing of All Saints' Church in Alexandria. The group is apparently inspired by al-Qaeda, but not directly linked with it. More here.

Palestine to Seek UN Recognition

As Israel continues to stall the peace process and build new settlements on Palestinian Arab land the Palestinian National Authority's foreign minister has stated that his government will seek for United Nations' recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Roughly a 100 countries worldwide already recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. More here.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Visits Bethlehem

In the wake of the recent violence against Christians in Iraq and Egypt the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, sent his foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, to Bethlehem to participate in the old style Nativity celebrations there and to express his solidarity with and support for the Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics living in the occupied territories in Palestine. More here.

Beit Jala Parish Protests Visit of Theophilus III to Bethlehem

During the visit of Patriarch Theophilus III (Giannopoulos) of Jerusalem to the Bethlehem area this past Sunday for St. Nicholas' day the parishioners of the Palestinian Orthodox parish in Beit Jala, a suburb of the holy city, refused to meet with the patriarch and instead protested his visit because of revelations that the Patriarchate has continued to sell lands owned by the Palestinian Orthodox Church in the occupied West Bank to Israeli citizens for development as Jewish settlements.

The predecessor of Theophilus III, Patriarch Irenaeus I (Skopelitis), was removed from the Patriarchate for selling land to Israelis, so the failure of the new patriarch to stand up for the interests of his flock and to serve instead the interests of the predominantly Greek Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher (which administers the Patriarchate and the holy sites of Palestine) has come as a great disappointment to the Palestinian Orthodox faithful. In addition to his mishandling of church property in the Holy Lands Patriarch Theophilus also recently abandoned the Jerusalemite Orthodox faithful in North America under pressure from the Phanar, transferring them to the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

More on the Beit Jala protests can be found here.

Upper Nazareth Mayor Bans Christmas Decorations

The mayor of a largely Jewish suburb of Nazareth has refused to allow any decorations to be put up in honor of Christmas or the Nativity despite the fact that roughly 15% of his community is Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christian and the vast majority of nearby Nazareth is Palestinian Arab (and a third of them Christians). More here.