RAMALLAH, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat condemned Wednesday the attack of Israeli forces against the Coptic priests and members of the community.
The blatant violation at the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied East Jerusalem comes only a week after Israel claimed that Israel protects Christians, Erekat said in a statement.
"The attack is not an isolated case, yet it clearly shows the world the real status of Christianity under the Israeli occupation," the statement said.
Erekat said that it is a continuation of Israeli interference in the status-quo of the sites as well as an aggression against the people of Egypt and Palestine.
He accused U.S. President Donald Trump's administration of continuing "to provide full support to the Israeli occupation and annexation of the city as well as to the continued attacks against the Palestinian people in Jerusalem."
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli police reportedly in Jerusalem oppressed a sit-in by Coptic church, and attacked priests and members of the community. Footage of a priest being put to the ground and handcuffed by a policeman went viral on social media.
The sit-in came in protest of the Israeli government's rejection to allow the church to carry out renovations.
Israeli radio reported that the Israeli police exhausted all peaceful means to disperse the demonstrators before it had to use force.
Palestinian presidential church affairs committee criticized the attack, saying that such action "reveals that Israel is a racist state toward non-Jews and seeks to evacuate Christians from their homeland, particularly Jerusalem."
