The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today condemned restrictions placed by the Israeli government barring Palestinian Christians from entering Jerusalem on Easter.
Israeli authorities have provided permits for only 200 leaders from the occupied West Bank to enter Jerusalem for Easter, but, in an unprecedented move, have banned their congregations from access to participate in the services. Israeli authorities have also been banning Muslims from accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
SEE: Palestinian Christians barred from Jerusalem’s Old City at Easter
Israel restricts Palestinians’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque for 3rd Friday of Muslim holy month
In a statement, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“This is a holy time for both Muslims and Christian Palestinians, and both are being forced to spend what should be times of peace, prayer and goodwill to humankind under bombs, artillery fire, and famine. The United States and the international community can no longer watch these crimes against humanity unfold in a land held sacred by the majority of the world’s faithful.”
Awad quoted the Holy Quran, Islam’s revealed text, which states:
“(Remember) when the angels proclaimed, ‘O Mary! God gives you good news of a Word from Him, his name will be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary; honored in this world and the Hereafter, and he will be one of those nearest (to God). And he will speak to people in (his) infancy and adulthood and will be one of the righteous.’” The Holy Quran, 3:45-46
He also quoted a hadith, or saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), stating: “Both in this world and in the hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.” Sahih Bukhari
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com