Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice consider the Palestinian Territories to be under Israeli occupation. The territories came into being in June 1967 when Israel seized areas beyond the 1949 armistice lines, held until then by Jordan and Egypt, namely East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 1993, as a result of the so-called Oslo peace process, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) formally recognised each other. One year later, the Palestinian (National) Authority (PA) was established as an institution of Palestinian self-rule in certain areas of the West Bank and Gaza, but not East Jerusalem, which Israel considers an integral part of its capital and where the PA exerts no authority at all.
Bilateral negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians intended to create a Palestinian state next to Israel have not been successful. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza but kept control over access to the territory. The Islamist Hamas party took over Gaza in 2007. Since then, the Palestinian Territories have been split between the internationally recognised PNA government in Ramallah (West Bank) and the Hamas-controlled Gaza. During this time, Israel and Hamas have clashed militarily on several occasions. In November 2012, the General Assembly of the United Nations recognised Palestine as a non-member observer state.
Palestine is currently recognised by 139 states, among them the Holy See. In 2015, the Holy See and the State of Palestine signed a Comprehensive Agreement, which came into full force in January 2016. It covers essential aspects of the life and activity of the Catholic Church in Palestine, including the right of the Church to operate in Palestinian territory, and of Christians to practise their faith and participate fully in society.
Palestinians are mostly Sunni Muslims, but there is an indigenous Christian community of about 50,000 (including East Jerusalem) and a tiny Samaritan community of around 400 members living near Nablus. More than 650,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements in the Palestinian Territories and East Jerusalem, considered illegal under international law.
Palestine has no permanent constitution, but the Palestinian Basic Law serves as a temporary charter. Article states: “Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect for the sanctity of all other divine religions shall be maintained. The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be a principal source of legislation.” According to Article 9, “Palestinians shall be equal before the law and the judiciary, without distinction based upon race, sex, color, religion, political views or disability.” Article 18 stipulates: “Freedom of belief, worship and the performance of religious functions are guaranteed, provided public order or public morals are not violated.” Article 101 says that Shari’a affairs and personal status are under the jurisdiction of Shari’a and religious courts in accordance with the law.
Conversion from Islam is not explicitly banned but, in practice, it does not occur due to strong social pressure. Proselytising is also forbidden.
Pursuant to a presidential decree of 2017, the heads of several municipal councils - Ramallah, Bethlehem, Beit Jala and seven others - must be Palestinian Christians even if Christians are not the majority in those cities. A 2021 presidential decree allocates seven seats to Christians in the 132-member Palestinian Legislative Council. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has Christian ministers and advisers. Christians are also represented in the PA foreign service and domestic administration.
A 2008 presidential decree officially recognises 13 Christian denominations. These include the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Apostolic Churches. Ecclesiastical Courts decide on matters of personal status, including marriage, divorce and inheritance in accordance with Church laws. Other Churches, mostly Evangelical ones, are not officially registered but can operate freely. However, they do not have the same rights when it comes to matters of personal status. In 2019, the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in Palestine was granted legal recognition.
Incidents and developments
In May 2021, Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki stated that the PA considers Palestinian Christians as an “integral, essential and solid part of the Palestinian people, it doesn't matter what the percentage of Christians is in Palestine”. In the interview with Agenzia Fides, Minister al-Maliki said, “We don't see Christians as a different community” […] “They were in Palestine before the Muslims. Therefore, if we talk about seniority, they have priority over Muslims in Palestine”.
In May 2021, Catholic Bishop Emeritus Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, Patriarchal Vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem for Palestine and the Holy City, criticised the Israeli aerial bombardments of Gaza as not proportionate. The Israeli raids took place after the launching of missiles by Islamist groups towards the territory of Israel. Earlier, Hamas had given Israel an ultimatum to remove its forces from the Temple Mount after clashes with Palestinians. During the raids of Gaza, Christian houses as well as the convent and the nursery school of the Sisters of the Rosary were damaged. The conflict in which more than 250 people were killed, mostly in Gaza, ended with a ceasefire. Hamas political bureau member Fathi Hammad said later, during a rally in Gaza to commemorate those killed, that the “Jews were a treacherous people. There can be no peace with the Jews”. In May 2021, Hamas also called for a “day of rage” in the West Bank to protest the return of suspended visits of Jewish worshipers to Al-Aqsa Mosque/Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem.
In June 2021, the publication of a European Union-funded review study of Palestinian textbooks stirred controversy. It found that textbooks for the academic year 2020/2021 not only underrepresented female and Christian points of view but also contained divisive text and images including changes to a teaching unit that added anti-Semitic content. According to the NGO IMPACT-se, the new textbooks are “more radical” containing “a systematic insertion of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects”.
In August 2021, a seaside resort in Gaza was bombed for holding a mixed gender concert. There were no casualties. Earlier, a Salafist preacher denounced the concert as “organised corruption on the land of jihad”.
In September 2021, Palestinian officials criticized the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem for leasing out Church land in Jerusalem to the Municipality and a Jewish investor. According to the Middle East news site, Al-Monitor, Ramzi Khoury, head of the Higher Presidential Committee for Churches’ Affairs in Palestine, sent a letter to the Catholicos of All Armenians Patriarch Karekin II calling land transactions in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem a violation of international law since the area inside the Old City is an “integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories” governed by relevant international resolutions.
In October 2021, the Palestinian State’s highest religious authority, Grand Mufti Muhammad Hussein, said on PA TV that, regarding the Israeli control of Jerusalem, the city “will certainly be liberated and return to the embrace of Islam, noble and strong with its holy sites and its people, and the evil will pass, Almighty Allah willing.”
In November 2021, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a Palestinian bid to stop the building of an elevator at the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
In November 2021, a Jewish Hannukah Menorah was removed from the roof of the Nebi Samuel Mosque after Palestinian protests. According to The Times of Israel newspaper, the Menorah which was installed by Nature and Parks Authority wardens at Nebi Samuel site, holy to both Jews and Muslims, was moved to a synagogue entrance instead. The site is located in the West Bank but controlled by Israel. Earlier, Muslim villagers complained that their request to light up a crescent on top of the mosque was turned down. In August 2021, Israeli authorities approved a plan for the development of the archaeological and holy site of Nabi Samuel. The NGO Emek Shaveh criticised the plan stating it ignores the village of Nabi Samuel/Samwil, adjacent to the archaeological site, which suffers from a lack of building permits as none of its proposed master plans have been approved.
In November 2021, a Hamas gunman shot dead an Israeli tour guide and wounded four others near the gate to Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. Israeli police shot the assailant dead. Hamas later called the attack heroic.
In November 2021, Hamas warned of repercussions with regard to a planned visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to the Tomb of Patriarchs/Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron for the Jewish festival of Hannukah. When visiting, Herzog said that “the Jewish historical connection to Hebron, to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, to the legacy of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, is beyond a doubt”. In December 2020, Imam Mahmoud al-Habbash, the PNA's highest Islamic authority, condemned the placing of a menorah on the roof of the sanctuary as a “sacrilege” and a “desecration” of the holy site. In December 2021, an Israeli was wounded lightly after being stabbed by a Palestinian woman near the sanctuary.
In December 2021, The Times of Israel reported that violent assaults from Israeli Jewish extremist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank went up by nearly 50 percent in 2020, but arrests and indictments remain scant in all but the most extreme cases. Israel’s Public Security Minister, Omer Barlev, was criticised by right wing politicians after he told a top US official that Israel took the settler violence spike seriously and would deal with it.
In December 2021, a Jewish student from a religious school was killed and two others lightly injured in an attack near Jenin in the West Bank. Later, Israeli security forces arrested six Palestinian suspects.
In December 2021, two Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jews were attacked and their car set ablaze by a crowd of Palestinians after they entered downtown Ramallah. Palestinian security forces escorted the uninjured Israelis out.
In April 2022, Palestinians broke into Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and damaged the site heavily. The tombstone on the grave was broken and the rooms were set on fire in the compound. Previously in December 2021, PA security forces foiled two attempts by Palestinians to set fire to that site, revered by Jews. Also in September 2021, armed Palestinians attacked buses taking some 500 Jewish worshipers to pray at Joseph’s Tomb; Israeli troops returned fire. Two Israeli soldiers were wounded. In August 2022, Palestinians opened fire at Israelis visiting Joseph’s Tomb. Two visitors were wounded.
In April 2022, Palestinian Evangelical Pastor Johnny Shahwan was released after 40 days of imprisonment by the Palestinian Authority. He was accused of promoting “normalization” with Israel. In March, Shahwan had received former Israeli MP Yehuda Glick in his ministry in Beit Jala. Glick is known as promoter of a new Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The ministry issued a statement that the pastor was not aware of the visitor’s identity.
In April 2022, Hamas condemned the Israeli Supreme Court's decision to limit the number of Christians allowed to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the Orthodox Easter Fire ceremony to only 4,000. Basem Naim, Head of Hamas' Political and Foreign Relations in Gaza, extended the organisation’s “congratulations to all Palestinian Christians on the advent of this religious holiday”. The PA also condemned the Israeli decision stating that it was “a blatant and dangerous challenge to the heavenly religions and their sanctuaries, a provocation and a disregard for all human and religious values”.
In August 2022, Israel bombarded Gaza, seeking to destroy infrastructure of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The Iran-backed group launched rockets against Israel in response. At least 44 Palestinians died before a ceasefire ended the conflict. Later, the parish priest of the Catholic Parish in Gaza City said that incidents like that one between Israel and Islamic Jihad, “feed the desire to flee and fuel a sense of resignation and deep discouragement, especially among Christians.”
Prospects for freedom of religion
Sunni Islam is the official religion in the Palestinian territories. Therefore, no resident, either in the Fatah-ruled West Bank or the Hamas-controlled Gaza, enjoys full religious liberty (as the important aspect of freedom to change of religion is absent from most Islamic traditions). Christians of registered Churches enjoy freedom of worship only, both individually and collectively. That is especially true for the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority tries to maintain a good relationship with the traditional Churches.
Nevertheless, the conservative Muslim society imposes strict limits to Christian activity. Restrictions are more severe in Gaza where Hamas and other Islamist groups control the daily life of both Muslims and non-Muslims. Both Muslims and Christians in Gaza and the West Bank have no free access to Israeli occupied East Jerusalem and are dependent on Israeli permits to attend Muslim and Christian sanctuaries for the holidays.
The ongoing political conflict with Israel continues to weaken the Christian presence in the West Bank, but even more so in Gaza. The recent fierce military confrontations, economic hardship deepened due to COVID-19, and the omnipresent fear of further conflict weighs heavily on the minority Christians.
The situation of religious freedom has not changed and the prospects for a positive change towards full religious liberty are poor.
Palestine and Gaza