Palestinian Denial of Religious Freedom

Source: Jerusalem Fund of Aish Hatorah

Introduction: Religious Intolerance

Since the end of September 2000, the Holy Land has been beset by turmoil and terrorism. The Palestinian-Israeli strife is often described in terms of competing nationalist movements or in terms of disputed territories. Another factor behind the conflict, however, is too often ignored: the religious intolerance and prejudice practiced and preached by the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Islamicists against Christians and Jews.

Along side the Palestinian Authority's military and terrorist attacks against the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli civilians, the PA has escalated its physical attacks against Christian and Jewish sites and its verbal onslaught against Judaism and the Jewish right to their holy sites. Official Palestinian media has unleashed a torrent of blatant anti-Semitism. Palestinian clerics and political leaders repeatedly broadcast - in Arabic - claims that Jews have no historical ties to the Land of Israel or Jewish holy sites.

This study reviews commitments on religious tolerance made by the Palestinian Authority in the Oslo Accords. The study will examine the repeated Palestinian violations of the commitments, citing human rights and official U.S. government reports. The study also reveals that the Palestinian Authority is repeating the patterns of intolerance and religious prejudice it practiced in Lebanon in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Contents

• Oslo Commitments and the Situation Today
• History of Palestinian Assaults on Christian and Jewish Holy Sites
• Palestinian Denial of Jewish Holy Sites
• What the U.S. Government Says about Palestinian Treatment of Christians
• Appendices and Notes