Palestinian Territories
(2000)
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has no constitution, and
no single law in force protects religious freedom; however, it generally
respects religious freedom in practice. Although there is no
officialreligion in the occupied territories, Islam is treated de facto as
the official religion.
Israel has no constitution; however, the law provides
for freedom of worship, and the Government generally respects this right in
practice.
There was no change in the status of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
Both government policy and the generally amicable
relationship among religions in society contribute to the free practice of
religion. There were unconfirmed reports that Muslim converts to
Christianity were subjected to mistreatment by individual PA officials and
in Palestinian society.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues
with the PA in the context of its overall dialog and policy of promoting
human rights. The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem investigated
allegations of harassment and discrimination against Christians in the
occupied territories.
Section I. Government Policies on Freedom of Religion
Legal/Policy Framework
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has no constitution, and
no single law in force protects religious freedom; however, the PA respects
religious freedom in practice. Although there is no official religion in
the occupied territories, Islam is treated de facto as the official
religion.
Israel has no constitution; however, the law provides
for freedom of worship, and the Government generally respects this right in
practice.
The draft Palestinian Basic Law proposes that Islam be
recognized as the official religion; however, under the draft law, freedom
of worship is to be provided to adherents of other faiths. The draft law
also stipulates that "the principles of Islamic Shari'a are a main
source of legislation."
Churches in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza can be
subdivided into three general categories: 1) churches recognized by the
status quo agreements reached under Ottoman rule in the late 19th century;
2) Protestant and evangelical churches that arrived between the late 19th
century and 1967, which are fully tolerated by the PA, although not
officially recognized; and 3) a small number of churches that became active
within the last decade whose legal status is more tenuous.
The first group of churches is governed by the 19th
century status quo agreements, which the PA respects and which specifically
established the presence and rights of the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic,
Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian, Greek Catholic, Coptic, and Ethiopian Orthodox
Churches. The Episcopal and Lutheran Churches were added later to the list.
These churches and their rights were accepted immediately by the PA just as
the British, Jordanians, and Israelis had done before. Like Islam with
Shari'a courts, these religious groups are permitted to have ecclesiastical
courts whose rulings are considered legally binding on personal status
issues and some land issues. Civil courts do not adjudicate on such
matters.
The second group of churches, including the Assembly of
God, Nazarene Church, and some Baptist churches, has unwritten
understandings with the PA based on the principles of the status quo
agreements. They are permitted to operate freely and are able to perform
certain personal status legal functions, such as issuing marriage
certificates. These churches thus far have been unsuccessful in securing de
jure recognition. However, they operate with de facto recognition and
maintain cooperation from the PA.
The third group of churches consists of a small number
of proselytizing churches, including Jehovah's Witnesses and some
evangelical Christian groups. These groups have encountered opposition in
their efforts to obtain recognition, both from Muslims, who oppose their
proselytizing, and Christians, who fear that the new arrivals may disrupt
the status quo. These churches generally operate unhindered by the PA.
The Palestinian Authority does not make overt attempts
at encouraging interfaith dialog. However, it supported the Bethlehem 2000
project, which attracted several hundred thousand visitors of many faiths
to the city. The project was a symbol of Muslim-Christian cooperation. In
March 2000, several thousand persons, including Chairman Arafat and senior
PA officials attended a public mass in Bethlehem conducted by Pope John
Paul II.
The PA makes an effort to maintain good relations with
the Christian community. Within the Ministry of Religious Affairs, there is
a portfolio covering Christian Affairs, and Chairman Arafat has a Christian
Affairs advisor. The established churches also have formed a legal
committee to address issues of religious freedom in the draft Basic Law,
and the PA has been willing to consider suggestions made by this committee.
Christian leaders participated in the design of a religious studies
curriculum for Christian students in the public schools.
Religious Demography
The great majority of the Palestinian residents of the
occupied territories are Sunni Muslims. A majority of Christians are Greek
Orthodox, with a significant number of Roman Catholics and smaller groups
of Greek Catholics, Protestants, Syriacs, Armenians, Copts, Maronites, and
Ethiopian Orthodox. Christians are concentrated in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and
the Bethlehem area. In addition, there is a Samaritan community of
approximately 550 persons located on Mount Gerazim near Nablus, and two
small communities of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bethlehem and Ramallah. Jewish
Israelis reside in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.
Governmental Restrictions on Religious Freedom
The PA generally does not restrict freedom of religion,
and there is no pattern of PA discrimination against or harassment of
Christians. However, since the establishment of the PA, there have been
periodic allegations that a small number of Muslim converts to Christianity
sometimes are subject to societal discrimination and harassment by PA
officials, including detention and questioning by security forces. During
the period covered by this report, there were several unconfirmed
allegations that converts to Christianity were subjected to societal
discrimination and harassment by PA officials, including detention and
questioning by security forces. In some cases, conversion may have been
only one of several factors influencing the mistreatment. In previous
years, the PA stated that it investigated similar allegations, but it did
not share or publicize the results of these investigations with any outside
party.
The PA generally does not prohibit or punish individuals
for speaking about their religious beliefs. In September 1999, PA officials
issued an order arrogating the establishment of religious radio and
television stations to the PA alone. The PA limited speech on religious
subjects in some instances. For example, in December 1999, the Ministry of
the Interior ordered a Christian television station in Bethlehem to limit
its broadcast of Christmas music. The radio station disobeyed the
directive, and Ministry officials ordered the station to close. The PA
subsequently agreed to drop the issue and allowed the radio station to
operate freely.
In practice, the PA requires that individuals be
affiliated at least nominally with some religion. Religion must be declared
on identification papers, and all personal status legal matters must be
handled in either Shari'a (Islamic law) or Christian ecclesiastical courts.
Foreign missionaries operate in Jerusalem, the West
Bank, and Gaza. These include a handful of evangelical Christian pastors
who seek to convert Muslims to Christianity. While they maintain a
generally low profile, the PA is aware of their activities and generally
does not restrict them.
Christians participate in Palestinian official life. A
number of PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat's senior advisors are Christians. Six
Christians and one Samaritan sit on the 88-member Palestinian Legislative
Council in seats set aside for representatives of these religions.
Occasionally, the PA takes steps to protect Christians.
The PA requires that religion be taught in PA schools.
Until recently, only courses on Islam were offered and Christian students
were excused from them. In 1998 the PA asked representatives of the
Christian community to develop a Christian studies curriculum in order to
implement a compulsory religious curriculum for Christian students.
According to PA officials, the curriculum for grades one through six are
complete and are scheduled to be implemented in 2001. The PA also is
formulating its first indigenous school curriculum that will include a
civic education component, which will cover issues of religious tolerance.
According to PA officials, the curriculum for grades one through six are
complete and will be implemented in academic year 2000-2001.
PA officials are not required to swear a religious oath
upon taking office. Witnesses in PA courtrooms are required to swear on a
religious book, such as the Koran or the Bible.
In July 1999, the PA prevented Jewish settlers from
entering Joseph's Tomb in PA-controlled Nablus due to the fact that the
settlers brought a cabinet onto the site without coordinating with the PA.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) responded by preventing PA officials from
entering Nablus. The issue was resolved when the IDF agreed to remove the
cabinet and the checkpoint into Nablus.
Palestinians residing outside of the Jerusalem municipal
boundary are required to obtain a permit to enter the city, even to visit a
holy site; the permits often are denied and Israeli security personnel also
sometimes deny permit holders access to Jerusalem. Israel has instituted
these permit requirements in order to address its security concerns.
The Israeli Government permits all faiths to operate
schools and institutions. Religious publications are subject to the
Publications Laws. In accordance with Orthodox Jewish practice, men and
women pray separately at the Western Wall, Judaism's most sacred site.
Reform and Conservative Jews have challenged this practice and seek to pray
at the Western Wall in mixed-gender groups. A group of women from all
branches of Judaism continued a long legal battle to pray aloud and to wear
prayer shawls at the Western Wall; in May 2000, the Israeli High Court
ruled that they may do so. Israeli legislators and the State Prosecutor's
office sought to overturn the ruling; however, they were not successful as
of mid-2000.
A 1995 ruling by the Israeli High Court of Justice
allows small numbers of Jews under police escort to pray on the Temple
Mount, which is the location of two Muslim holy places and also the former
site of the First and Second Jewish Temples. Other organized Jewish
religious activity on the Temple Mount is prohibited on public safety
grounds.
In May 2000, officials in the Israeli Ministry for
Religious Affairs reportedly threatened to reevaluate relations with the
Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Patriarchate if it did not discipline a Christian
cleric for expressing his political views to a group of Christian pilgrims.
As of mid-2000, the Patriarchate had not disciplined the cleric.
Governmental Abuses of Religious Freedom
In January 2000, members of the Preventive Security
Organization (PSO) seized a Jericho church compound, which was under the
auspices of the American-based Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR).
The PSO handed control of the church to members of the Moscow Patriarchate
(MP) of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although the church compound had been
under the control of the ROCOR for decades, members of the MP disputed the
ROCOR's property claim, maintaining that the MP is the true owner of this
compound. The PSO security forces seized the church without first
conducting legal proceedings to determine the question of ownership. Two
nuns affiliated with the ROCOR held a vigil inside the compound to protest
the PSO seizure of the property; PSO personnel allegedly harassed the nuns.
Following negotiations, the PSO allowed the MP and ROCOR temporarily to
divide the compound between them until legal ownership can be determined in
the courts.
There were no reports of religious prisoners or
detainees in the occupied territories.
There was no change in the status of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
Forced Religious Conversion of Minor U.S. Citizens
There were no reports of the forced religious conversion
of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the refusal by any authorities to allow such citizens
to be returned to the United States.
Section II. Societal Attitudes
Generally, there are amicable relations between
Christians and Muslims. Both Christians and Muslims state that when
tensions do surface, it is because of provocative actions by one side or
the other aimed at undermining current social arrangements. Palestinians
say that if Christians try to demand a change in status quo arrangements,
tensions may result. Likewise, Muslims who disregard Christian
sensitivities may trigger social tension. Relations between Jews and
non-Jews, as well as among the different branches of Judaism, often are
strained. Tensions between Jews and non-Jews exist primarily as a result of
the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as Israel's control of access to sites
holy to Christians and Muslims. Animosity between secular and religious
Jews increased during the period covered by this report.
Non-Orthodox Jews have complained of discrimination and
intolerance. On June 24, 2000, unidentified persons set fire to a
conservative synagogue in Jerusalem; eyewitnesses reportedly stated that
the perpetrators were Orthodox Jews. On June 25, 2000, unidentified persons
attempted arson and looted Torah scrolls at the Messianic Shepherd of
Israel congregation in Jerusalem; police personnel arrested two Orthodox
Jewish youth for this incident.
Periodically, there are incidents of Christian-Muslim
tension in the occupied territories. Tensions have arisen over
Christian-Muslim romantic relationships or when Christians have erected
large crosses in the public domain. Christians in the Bethlehem area also
have complained about Muslims settling there and constructing homes
illegally on land not zoned for building.
During the period covered by this report, there were
periodic reports that some Christian converts from Islam who publicize
their religious beliefs have been harassed. Converts complained that they
were mistreated and threatened. The draft Palestinian Basic Law
specifically forbids discrimination against individuals based on their
religion; however, the PA did not take any action against persons accused
of harassment.
Instances of ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups verbally or
physically harassing Jewish citizens for "immodest dress" or
other violations of their interpretation of religious law occurred during
the period covered by this report.
Section III. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem maintains an ongoing,
high-level dialog with PA officials, including Chairman Arafat, on human
rights issues, including issues of religious freedom and the circumstances
of Christians in the West Bank and Gaza. PA officials worked cooperatively
with the U.S. Consulate on a number of issues, including PA treatment of
Christian converts from Islam; how religious minorities are to be
represented in the new school curriculums; and how the draft Basic Law
addresses Shari'a and the issue of a national religion.
The U.S. Consulate plays a reinforcing role in the PA's
dialog with local Christian groups on minority religion representation in
the new curriculums.
The Consulate also maintains contacts with the
representatives of both the Islamic Waqf--an Islamic trust and charitable
organization that owns and manages large amounts of Muslim land including
the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem--and the various Christian churches in
Jerusalem. In January 2000, the Consulate intervened in a dispute involving
the ROCOR, the MP, and the Palestinian Security Organization. U.S.
Consulate officials stated numerous times to PA officials that competent
legal authorities should resolve the issue of ownership of the Jericho
church compound seized by the PSO.
The Consulate continues to investigate allegations of
unequal treatment of religious minorities. It made inquiries to try to
ascertain the facts of a land dispute case in which the PA allegedly
acquiesced to the confiscation of Christian-owned land by Muslims; there
was no basis found for these allegations during the period covered by this
report.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |