Jerusalem – Page 3 – HolyLandJustice.org

Mon, May 14, 2018Mon, May 14, 2018

LIVE UPDATES: Israeli troops kill dozens of Palestinians in protests as US embassy opens in Jerusalem

5760 — Palestinian women wave national flags and chant slogans near the Israeli border fence. (photo: Adel Hana / AP)

52 Palestinians killed and over 2,400 wounded in protests in Gaza and West Bank over moving US embassy to Jerusalem.

By Amanda Holpuch and Matthew Weaver | The Guardian | May 14, 2018

“We condemn unreservedly the Israeli government for their brutal, lethal and utterly unjustified actions on the Gaza border, and our thoughts are with all those Palestinians in Gaza whose loved ones have been killed or injured as a result.
“These actions are made all the worse because they come not as the result of a disproportionate over-reaction to one day’s protests, but as the culmination of six weeks of an apparently systemic and deliberate policy of killing and maiming unarmed protestors and bystanders who pose no threat to the forces at the Gaza border, many of them shot in the back, many of them shot hundreds of meters from the border, and many of them children.”
— Emily Thornberry MP, Britain’s Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary

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Thu, May 10, 2018Wed, May 9, 2018

Israel thanks Trump by naming a Jerusalem roundabout in his honor

4928 — Trump announced in December that the US embassy would be moving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (photo: Sergey Orlov / Tass)

“Jerusalem returns the love to Trump,” writes Jerusalem Mayor Nir Bakat before official opening of new US embassy.

By Oliver Holmes | The Guardian | May 8, 2018

“Naming this square in honor of the president is our way of showing our love and respect for the president and the American people, who always stand by the side of Israel.”
— Jerusalem Mayor Nir Bakat

So thrilled was the mayor of Jerusalem that Donald Trump had recognized the city as the capital of Israel that he decided a fitting tribute of thanks –—naming a roundabout in honor of the US president.

“Jerusalem returns the love to Trump,” Nir Barkat wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, showing a picture of the traffic circle at the site where the new American embassy is due to be opened next week.

“We have decided that the square adjacent to the embassy in the capital will be called ‘United States Square — in honor of President Trump’,” he said in the Hebrew-language post.

Continue reading “Israel thanks Trump by naming a Jerusalem roundabout in his honor”

Wed, May 9, 2018Mon, May 7, 2018

Why is the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem?

FILE PHOTO: A worker holds a road sign directing to the U.S. embassy, in the area of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem — A worker holds a road sign directing to the US embassy in Jerusalem, May 7, 2081. (photo: Ronen Zvulun / Reuters)

The United States opens its new embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, a move that has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians.

By Stephen Farrell | Farrell | May 7, 2018

In 1947 the UN recognized that Jerusalem had special status and proposed international rule for the city, along with nearby Bethlehem, as a “corpus separatum” to be administered by the United Nations. That never happened.

On Monday, road signs directing traffic there went up around the neighborhood where the US Embassy will be situated, and next week’s opening ceremony is timed to coincide with Israel’s 70^th anniversary. The initiative was driven by President Donald Trump, after he broke last year with decades of US policy by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Trump said his administration has a peace proposal in the works, and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of America’s closest ally had “taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table.”

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, celebrated Trump’s decision, but the move upset the Arab world and Western allies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called it a “slap in the face” and said Washington could no longer be regarded as an honest broker in any peace talks with Israel.

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Sun, May 6, 2018Wed, May 2, 2018

Despite outrage, Jerusalem museum vows to keep censoring evolution exhibit

An exhibit on evolution at the Natural History Museum in Jerusalem, blocked from view with a pink sheet, in April 2018. (photo: Michael Bachner / Times of Israel)

Natural History Museum justifies covering up displays during visits by ultra-Orthodox groups, as many in Israel and abroad slam institution as betraying science.

By Michael Bachner | The Times of Israel | May 2, 2018

“Science and knowledge are not a joke. The museum should decide whether it is a scientific museum presenting the truth or an institution with self-censorship that seeks to tell its visitors half-truths and complete lies.”
— Uri Keidar, Executive Director of Be Free Israel, a non-profit which promotes religious pluralism

The Natural History Museum in Jerusalem has vowed to continue its policy of hiding an evolution exhibit from view, along with other displays on dinosaurs and the human body, during visits by ultra-Orthodox groups in order to avoid offending their religious beliefs. The announcement came despite an outrage caused in Israel and abroad by its decision to self-censor displays on evolution, dinosaurs and the human body.

“Of course,” the museum’s educational director, Dr. Evgeny Reznitsky, told The Times of Israel on Tuesday when asked whether he will carry on with the practice, citing the institution’s dire financial situation and saying it was better to have ultra-Orthodox schoolkids visit on their terms than have them not come at all.

As people protested outside the building with a megaphone and demanded that the museum reject the demands set by Haredi schools, Reznitsky said he would only reconsider his position if ordered to stop by municipal authorities.

Continue reading “Despite outrage, Jerusalem museum vows to keep censoring evolution exhibit”

Sun, May 6, 2018Wed, May 2, 2018

Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City “under threat” from settlers

3500 — The Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, speaks in front of the closed doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City. (photo: Amir Cohen / Reuters)

Church leaders claim priests are being verbally abused and spat at while property is being vandalized in ancient walled city.

By Harriet Sherwood | The Guardian | May 1, 2018

“Today the church faces a most severe threat at the hands of certain settler groups. The settlers are persistent in their attempts to erode the presence of the Christian community in Jerusalem. These radical settler groups are highly organized. Over the last years we have witnessed the desecration and vandalism of an unprecedented number of churches and holy sites and receive growing numbers of reports from priests and local worshippers who have been assaulted and attacked. Where the authorities are concerned, this behavior goes largely unchecked and unpunished.”
— Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem

Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City say their presence at the geographical heart of their faith is under threat from intimidation and aggressive property acquisition by hardline Jewish settlers.

According to church leaders, priests are being verbally abused and spat at, and property vandalized.

Tensions have risen this year in the Christian and Armenian quarters of the one square kilometer ancient walled city, which includes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest place in Christianity where Jesus was believed to be crucified and resurrected. The Old City is also home to places of critical religious importance to Jews and Muslims.

Continue reading “Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City “under threat” from settlers”

Tue, May 1, 2018Mon, Apr 30, 2018

Paraguay pledges to move embassy to Jerusalem

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes. (photo: notihispanic.com)

Paraguay would become the third country to commit to moving its embassy to Jerusalem.

By Tovah Lazaroff | The Jerusalem Post | Apr 30, 2018

Guatemala is the only country besides the US that plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Romania and Honduras are also considering the move.

The Czech Republic plans to open a consulate in Jerusalem, but not an embassy.

Currently 87 countries have embassies in Israel, none of them in Jerusalem

Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes pledged to relocate his country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem at a special celebratory event in Asunción to mark Israel’s 70th anniversary.

Cartes said that he would like the move to take place before he leaves office in mid-August. Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted about the statement under the heading “good news.” But he later said that it was still unclear if plans to relocate the embassy were in the works.

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Wed, Apr 25, 2018Mon, Apr 23, 2018

Steven Mnuchin to lead delegation of 250 to embassy opening in Jerusalem

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin holds a press conference during the IMF/World Bank spring meeting in Washington, DC, on Apr 21, 2018. (photo: Andrew Caballer-Reynolds / AFP)

Group to include Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham, Jewish leaders and heads of pro-Israel evangelical Christian organizations.

By Staff | The Times of Israel | Apr 22, 2018

Trump, who formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced the embassy relocation on December 6, had mulled attending the inauguration, but reportedly decided against it.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is to lead a delegation of 250 people from the United States, including some 40 politicians, to the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem next month, Channel 10 news reported Sunday.

Mnuchin will be accompanied by US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, as well as 40 senators and representatives, the report said.

The Times of Israel first reported last week that Kushner and Ivanka Trump were likely to attend.

Continue reading “Steven Mnuchin to lead delegation of 250 to embassy opening in Jerusalem”

Sun, Apr 1, 2018Thu, Mar 29, 2018

Easter in Jerusalem: Palestinians continue to live the suffering of Christ

ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-JERUSALEM — Right wing demonstrators wave Israeli flags as they pass through the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City, May 24, 2017. (photo: AFP)

The ultimate goal of Israeli policy is to maintain a Jewish majority in Jerusalem and if possible end all Palestinian presence in it, particularly in the Old City.

By Khalil Fawadleh | Wafa | Mar 29, 2018

“Jerusalem should be open to all without any discrimination. We should have free access to Jerusalem, free access to our holy places.”
— Rev. Ibrahim Shomali, Chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

As the Holy Week during which Christians commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ draws nearer, Palestinians in general and the Christians in particular continue to experience the suffering of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago, according to Palestinian Christian activists.

Noura Carmi, member of the Armenian Orthodox Church, said during a tour of Jerusalem’s Old City organized by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Negotiations Affairs Department on the occasion of Easter celebrations, and specifically through Via Dolorosa, which marks the 14 stations that Christian tradition identifies as the path which Jesus Christ took before his crucifixion, that Palestinians today were still living the suffering of the Christ, who walked that road more than 2,000 years ago, bloodied from wearing a crown of thorns on his head and carrying a heavy cross on his shoulder.

She pointed to buildings taken over by fanatic Jewish settler organizations, many of them were owned by Arab Christian residents of East Jerusalem, as part of a broad Israeli scheme to turn the Old City into a purely Jewish city.

Continue reading “Easter in Jerusalem: Palestinians continue to live the suffering of Christ”

Sat, Mar 31, 2018Sat, Mar 31, 2018

Israel fast-tracks new US embassy in Jerusalem

merlin_134540252_d1feccad-2d96-47c7-8b34-188c09990c68-master768 — US consulate in Jerusalem, Feb 24, 2018. (photo: Ammar Awad / Reuters)

The Finance Ministry will allow the Jerusalem municipality to waive the required permits.

By Staff | Reuters | Mar 27, 2018

“We will not allow needless bureaucracy to hold up the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem, Israel’s eternal capital.”
— Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon

Israel has expedited construction permits to enable temporary quarters for the US Embassy to open in Jerusalem as planned in May, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump in December broke with other world powers by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announcing the US Embassy would be moved there from Tel Aviv.

Trump’s reversal of decades of US and broad international policy was welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “historic decision.” But it drew criticism from around the world and outraged Palestinians, who want a capital for their own future state in eastern parts of the city.

Israel has said the Embassy will be opened on May 14, the 70^th anniversary of its founding. A US official said it would be located at a provisional site in Jerusalem that now houses a US consular section.

Building a permanent embassy could take several years.

Continue reading “Israel fast-tracks new US embassy in Jerusalem”

Wed, Mar 28, 2018Thu, Mar 22, 2018

450 elderly immigrants will be displaced by US embassy move to Jerusalem

9551056-3x2-700x467 — The former Diplomat Hotel, now part of the United States consular compound in Arnona area of Jerusalem, is built on disputed territory. (photo: Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The US Embassy move to Jerusalem will cause 450 elderly immigrants to lose their homes, and the Knesset doesn’t have a solution yet.

By Avichai Scher | Forward | Mar 21, 2018

“There are only two years left to create a practical and fair solution, and today we hear again from the Ministry of Immigration that they still have no solutions. . . . We have lost too much time, but we will not wait any longer. The issue of Diplomat Hotel and its tenants must be solved immediately.”
— Ksenia Svetlova, Zionist Union member of Knesset

The Diplomat Hotel, which is owned by the US and is located next door to the Jerusalem consulate that will become the embassy in 2020, is being leased as housing for elderly immigrants. But the building is slated to become part of the embassy, forcing the residents to find other housing.

At a heated discussion at the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee on Monday, Ksenia Svetlova of the left-wing Zionist Union blasted the committee for not moving quickly enough to find a solution for the residents.

Continue reading “450 elderly immigrants will be displaced by US embassy move to Jerusalem”