JERUSALEM: Jerusalem's mayor has suspended a plan to collect taxes from churches, easing a crisis that had led to a three-day closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
In an announcement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he and Mayor Nir Barkat had formed a team to "formulate a solution" to the matter. The team will negotiate with church officials.
There was no immediate response from church officials.
Barkat says his tax plan applies only to commercial properties owned by churches, not houses of worship. But the churches say the plan violates longstanding understandings.
In protest, major Christian denominations on Sunday closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.
Israel suspends tax actions that led to closure of Christian holy site
Israel suspends tax actions that led to closure of Christian holy site
Israel holds 9,500 Palestinian prisoners as of March
- Administrative detainees represent 36 percent of all Palestinians in Israeli prisons
LONDON: Israeli prison authorities held 9,500 prisoners and detainees as of the first week of March, indicating a 2.15 percent increase from February, according to reports from Palestinian prisoners’ organizations.
Currently, there are 73 female prisoners and 350 individuals under the age of 18 detained in the notorious prisons of Megiddo and Ofer.
The number of administrative detainees is 3,442, the highest percentage among those sentenced, arrested, or classified as “unlawful combatants.” They represent 36 percent of all Palestinians in Israeli prisons, where individuals can be indefinitely detained without charge in military detention centers.
There are also 1,249 “unlawful combatants” detained from inside the Gaza Strip after Oct. 7, 2023, as well as those who were detained from Lebanon and Syria.
