Interreligious strife erupted in the Old City on the eve of Easter, further aggravating tension over the settlement of Jews in East Jerusalem.
Police fired tear gas to disperse some 200 Christian clergymen, who were joined by Palestinian activists in a demonstration Thursday.
The march was to protest the occupation by 150 Jews on Wednesday of a large housing complex in the heart of the Christian Quarter known as St. John’s Hospice.
It was the first time Jews have moved into the Christian Quarter of the walled city since Israel captured it from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Their new home is located near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and a major tourist attraction, particularly at Easter time.
The Jewish settlers consist of about 20 families and 60 single men, many of them students at the Ateret Cohanim and Mercaz Harav yeshivot.
A spokesman, David Ben-Ami, said they were simply restoring a Jewish presence to property that belonged to Jews forced to flee the Arab uprisings in 1929 and 1936.
The settlers claim they purchased the property, consisting of four joined buildings with 50 rooms, from the legal owners.
But the Greek Orthodox Church insists the buildings belong to the church and the sellers, Armenian brothers, were only tenants who had no right to sell.
“I feel indignation and condemnation and I denounce all these acts,” the ranking Greek Orthodox clergyman, Patriarch Diodoros, told reporters.
“This is the most sacred week for Christians, and the Jews have desecrated our holy festivals,” he added.
Later on Thursday, Jerusalem Police Chief Arye Bibi met with the Greek and Latin patriarchs to try to calm tempers. He said the dispute would be settled in court, not by religious rioting.
But Jewish-Christian relations have suffered.
Diodoros was reported to have sustained slight injuries when he fell during the police melee. One of his aides was allegedly clubbed by police officers.
Jews claim the protest was actually led by prominent Palestinian nationalists, Faisal Husseini, Dr. Sari Nusseibeh and Sheik Muhammad al-Jamal, deputy head of the Higher Islamic Council.
JTA will not publish the Daily News Bulletin on Tuesday, April 17, the eighth day of Passover.
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