Churches to Protest Mosque in Nazareth

JERUSALEM — Churches in the Holy Land will close for two days this month to protest plans to build a mosque in Nazareth, the town of Jesus’ boyhood, Christian leaders said Thursday.

Leaders of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian denominations said in a statement that the decision to close the churches Nov. 22-23 is intended to express the “disapprobation of all the churches at the way that their rights have been summarily violated.”

The Israeli government had sided with “a small group of [Muslim] fundamentalists who are intent on building a mosque only a few meters away from the historical church of the Annunciation in Nazareth,” they said.

Christians and Muslims in Nazareth have been quarreling over who owns a plot of land near the Basilica of the Annunciation, believed by many Christians to be the site where the Angel Gabriel first spoke to Mary of Jesus’ birth.

A state-mediated compromise last month allowed Muslims to build a mosque in one corner of the plaza while Christians retained control of the rest.

But the Christians, a minority in Nazareth, have said they wanted to convert the half-acre lot into a piazza to accommodate an expected flood of pilgrims for the new millennium.

Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami expressed deep regret at the intentions to close churches.