JERUSALEM — Days after Christian leaders in the Holy Land bolted close the doors to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in protest of attempts by the Jerusalem municipality to impose taxation on church properties, Israeli authorities backtracked on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wading into the dispute.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that in coordination with Jerusalem’s mayor, Nir Barkat, a professional team would be established, led by a senior government minister and representatives of the foreign and finance ministries, to “formulate a solution to the issue of municipal taxes on buildings belonging to the churches that are not houses of worship.”
But the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which draws thousands of pilgrims daily to the place where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and later resurrected, remained shuttered Tuesday. Church leaders said they had received Netanyahu’s statement and were still contemplating reopening the church.
In a news conference Sunday, the leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian churches, which jointly manage the site, said they had received “collection notices and orders of seizure of Church assets, properties and bank accounts for alleged debts of punitive municipal taxes.”
Later, in a joint statement, the churches said Israel was waging a “systematic campaign against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land, in flagrant violation of the existing status quo.”
Barkat, Jerusalem’s mayor, said the churches owed the city more than $185 million on certain properties used for commercial purposes. He said houses of worship would not be taxed, but properties used as hotels and offices by the church should no longer be exempt.
Barkat has been locked in a dispute with the government over increasing the annual budget for the city, where a high number of residents and international institutions are exempt from taxes for various reasons.
Earlier this month, an announcement from the municipality said it would start collecting back taxes worth more than $188 million from some 887 properties in Jerusalem belonging to churches and United Nations agencies. This appeared to be a tactic to pressure the government to increase city’s budget.
The dispute between the churches and the Israeli authorities also involves proposed legislation aimed at repossessing large tracts of land leased by the Greek Orthodox Church to the Israeli government nearly 70 years ago. The land in question, which now houses hundreds of apartment buildings and national institutions, was sold several years ago by the church to private commercial developers.
The Israeli parliament is considering a bill that would prevent similar transactions in the future and allow the government to use eminent domain on lands sold by churches in private deals.
Rachel Azaria, the Israeli lawmaker behind the legislation, said her bill was not designed to take away property belonging to religious institutions but focuses on the land the church sold off to third parties contractors.
“We have no intentions of infringing on the Church's land in any way,” said Azaria, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem. “My bill deals with the rights on land that the Church has sold to third parties.”
Azaria agreed to delay deliberations on her bill following this week’s protest at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, saying her law would be reworded to ensure “the church is exempt from municipal taxes like all other religious institutions.”
She said Barkat was “creating an unnecessary diplomatic crisis.”
The closure of the church comes at a highly sensitive time following the decision of President Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his plans to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv. On Friday, the U.S. Embassy said that could happen as soon as May, when Israel celebrates its 70th anniversary.
Local Muslims and Christians have said that such a move could upset the religious balance in Jerusalem, a city holy to all three Abrahamic religions. And Palestinians have said that formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and transferring the embassy there makes it impossible for the United States to be a fair broker in any future peace process between them and Israel.
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