Much of this land was donated to it by Orthodox Christian Palestinians in the late 1800s. Over the last few decades the church has increased land sales to the Israeli authorities or leased land to them for a period of 999 years.
RAMALLAH (IPS/GIN) - A simmering crisis within the Palestinian Greek Orthodox Church burst into the open January 6, the Orthodox Christmas Eve, when the patriarch of the church, Theophilos, had to be escorted into Bethlehem's Manger Square by Palestinian riot police to attend celebrations.
Several hundred Palestinian protestors from the Council of Arab Orthodox Institutions and Organizations in Palestine, representing 19 groups, booed his arrival and waved placards that read: "The Holy Land is not for Sale or Lease". They accused church leaders of selling land sacred to Christians to Israeli companies.
A private car belonging to Theophilos' entourage blared out Christmas music to try and drown out the protestors. Earlier, bands had welcomed the arrival of the Coptic Christian and the Syrian Patriarchs with band music but packed up and left in protest at Theophilos' arrival.
Elias Isaid, leader of the Greek Orthodox Club of Beit Sahour, stated: "Today's demonstration is the start of our action against the patriarch." He warned that the patriarch could be declared persona non-grata in Bethlehem if legitimate grievances were not taken into consideration.
The Greek Orthodox Church is the biggest private owner of land in Jerusalem and owns most of the land in the West Bank on which the Christian religious sites, including the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, are built.
Much of this land was donated to it by Orthodox Christian Palestinians in the late 1800s. Over the last few decades the church has increased land sales to the Israeli authorities or leased land to them for a period of 999 years.
This has enabled Israel to build a number of large Israeli settlements in the East Jerusalem area, creating a corridor with other West Bank settlements and effectively cutting off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
But the church's land sales have come against a background of corruption allegations. Nicholas Papadimas, a previous church treasurer in Jerusalem, was behind some of the sales before he fled the country and was charged in Greece with stealing church funds in a separate case.
Theophilos, on being appointed the patriarch in 2005, replacing his discredited predecessor Patriarch Ireneos, had promised to stop selling Palestinian land.
Ireneos was accused of being behind secret land deals with two international Jewish investor groups. An Israeli court ruled that his 2001 election was illegal as it was helped by a convicted drug trafficker who discredited his rivals by using homoerotic pictures.
But Israeli authorities have used the church's corruption and financial difficulties to their political advantage and applied additional political pressure to ensure that the choice of patriarchs is beneficial to Israel's land acquisition policies.
According to the Israeli daily 'Haaretz,' several years ago when Theophilos was awaiting Israeli recognition the state demanded that the Greek Orthodox patriarchy conduct a census of all church property in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and give Israel the first right of refusal on property up for sale or lease.
Israel also demanded that some properties in the area of Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate "remain in the hands of the Israeli lessees." Theophilos' lawyers were told Israel's recognition of the patriarch was dependent on those clauses being met.
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