BPNIC Briefing, October 2007

The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) in Jerusalem has reported on September 23rd 2007 that Israel has stopped issuing re-entry visas to Christian ministers.

HCEF also reported that Rev. Fares Khleifat, a Christian minister and the only Greek Melkite priest in Ramallah, was deported on September 14, 2007. Mr. Khleifat traveled to Jordan for several days in mid-September; when he tried to return to his parish on September 14, he was stopped at the Israeli border, and his valid, multiple-entry visa was canceled. Forced to remain in Jordan, he has been effectively deported from the Holy Land by the Israeli government, and his parish now has no priest.

Mr. Khleifat and other Christians are very much connected to Muslims because, whether in occupied cities or inside Israel itself, are experiencing daily injustices in the form of oppressive policies imposed on them by the Israeli government. Christians, like their Muslim equal, have experienced dispossession and have not been immune to Israeli occupation.

This shift in policy is a strong indication that Israel is denying entry to Christian ministries that are not driven by faith to support the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

Website for the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation