Israeli Servicemen Hold the Russian Orthodox Church House for Pilgrims
12.04.2002 · English, Архив 2002
ISRAELI SERVICEMEN HOLD THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH HOUSE FOR PILGRIMS
The Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem informs about the development of the situation with the House for Pilgrims of the Russian Orthodox Church in Bethlehem occupied by the Israeli servicemen on April 2.
According to this information, dozens of soldiers still held the building in the morning of April 3. The demands of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission and the Russian Embassy to vacate the building have been ignored by the Israeli side, which said that the soldiers will leave the House for Pilgrims after the military operation in the city is completed. However, nobody knows how long the current military confrontation will continue. According to the news, which reached the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, the Israeli soldiers have taken up positions on the floors and the roof of the building.
Bethlehem is completely blocked by tanks and armoured vehicles. Civilians cannot enter the city or leave it. This ban concerns also the ministers of the Church and the staff of the consulates. No response has been given to the request of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission to issue its representative a pass for entering Bethlehem and secure him a safe access to the Russian plot of land.
Four persons, who guarded the House for Pilgrims and the plot of land, remain in the building, among them a woman with two young children: a boy of one year and a half and a girl of three. There is no baby food and necessary clothes to change. These people are deprived of normal living conditions. The soldiers once permitted them to contact their relatives, but since then no telephone calls have been allowed.
All this imperils the life and safety of the civilians and jeopardizes the church property, which is there to serve the believers who come to the city of the Nativity of Christ as pilgrims.
See also: