Archbishop Atallah: “Israel” targets mosque today, church tomorrow

Archbishop Atallah Hanna, one of the highest-ranking Christian clergymen in Al Quds (Jerusalem), declared Sunday's violence near the Al-Aqsa Mosque a dark premonition of "Israel's" plans for the city.

"What is being planned for Al Quds (Jerusalem) is very dangerous," the archbishop said in a statement. "What happened today at the Al-Aqsa yard is a dangerous indicator of what "Israeli" authorities intend to work toward on Al-Aqsa, in particular, and in Al Quds (Jerusalem), in general."

"We, as Christian Palestinians and Jerusalemites, cannot keep watching with our hands folded in the face of what happened today," Hanna continued. "Today it is Al-Aqsa; tomorrow it will be the Church of the Holy Sepulcher." "The "Israeli" occupation and its racism do not exclude anyone."

"We are not strangers in our city. We are not guests. The stranger is the one who came and colonized this country," Hanna added. "We are the owners of this land and we will stay on it because this is our homeland, this is our Al Quds (Jerusalem), and these are our holy sites."