Three Palestinians have been arrested on suspicion of setting fire to a Christmas tree and damaging part of a Nativity scene in a Catholic Church in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian Authority police said.
Police said late Wednesday that the arrests were made after reviewing surveillance footage. The Police said they seized tools from the suspects they believe were used in the attack, and condemned the apparent attempt to incite sectarian and religious tensions in the West Bank.
The Church of the Holy Redeemer of Jenin posted photos on social media of the burning, showing the skeleton of a synthetic Christmas tree that had been stripped of its green plastic branches, with red and gold ornaments strewn across the yard. The church said that the attack took place around 3 am on Monday and also damaged part of the Nativity scene.
The church quickly cleaned up the burned tree and built a new Christmas tree a day later, in time for the Christmas Mass. The church held a special ceremony with the presence of local Muslim and Christian leaders and politicians. Rev. Amer Jubran, the local priest in the church, said that the turning was an isolated incident and stressed the unity of the city.
“This occasion reaffirmed that attempts to damage religious symbols will never diminish the spirit of the city nor the faith of its people,” said the Church of the Holy Redeemer in a statement. The church did not respond to additional requests for comment.
The tiny Christian community in the West Bank is facing growing threats of extremism from various sides, including both Israeli settlers and Palestinian extremists, leading them to leave the region in droves.
Christians account for between 1% and 2% of the approximately 3 million residents of the West Bank, the vast majority of whom are Muslim. Across the wider Middle East, the Christian population has steadily declined as people have fled conflict and attacks.
Israel, whose founding declaration includes safeguarding freedom of religion and all holy places, sees itself as an island of religious tolerance in a volatile region. But some church authorities and monitoring groups have lamented a recent increase in anti-Christian sentiment and harassment, particularly in Jerusalem’s Old City. Extremist Israeli settlers also vandalized and captured areas around Christian churches and villages.
The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has sparked a sharp increase in violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military targeting militants in large-scale operations that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. That coincided with increased settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Palestinian militants have attacked and killed Israelis in Israel and the West Bank.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in parts of the territory, including Jenin, a northern West Bank city known as a militant stronghold.