NAZARETH — Reports that work on a new mosque in Nazareth, directly adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation, has been blocked by the Israeli government are false, a senior Catholic official in the Holy Land told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides Nov. 16.

Franciscan Father David Jaeger, Holy Land Custody spokesman, also denied that local Christians and Muslims are quarrelling over the issue.

“We are not in conflict with the Muslims; the Israeli government is to blame,” said Father Jaeger, who was responding to news reports following his official statement protesting Israeli approval of work on the mosque, located a few yards from the basilica.

After Christians complained about bulldozing that took place at the site of the proposed mosque, Associated Press reported from Jerusalem said that Israel's Land Authority had blocked further work. But Father Jaeger said that site preparation is continuing at night, and that Israeli authorities have promised that building permits will be granted shortly.

Said Father Jaeger, “These reports are pure inventions. On the contrary, the reliable Jerusalem newspaper Ha'aretz quotes the Home Ministry as saying that it intends to continue and even accelerate all that is necessary for the building of the Nazareth mosque.”

The Holy Land Custody priest said that Israeli authorities have ignored Christian concerns over construction of a mosque on the site.

“They have given no attention to us at all,” he said. “In fact, despite calls from all over the Christian world, from the highest to the lowest, they are determined to allow the building to go ahead. They want the mosque on that site.”

Father Jaeger, who is an Israeli citizen, added that Christians did not see themselves as being in conflict with Israel's Palestinian Muslims, despite the efforts by a militant Islamist group to force construction of the Nazareth mosque on land that Israeli courts have said belongs legally to the state.

“Indeed, we would support all requests from our Muslim co-citizens for respect for their religious rights,” he said. “For example, after the war in 1948 the government confiscated the entire territory of the Muslim religion in Israel. What is more, all over the country there are dozens of mosques in ruins or badly damaged. Muslim movements and associations want to rebuild them, but it possible that the public authorities will deny permission.”

Added Father Jaeger, “There are many ways in which the Israeli government could give justice to the Muslim citizens, and Christians would be only too ready to applaud.”

U.S. Perspective

Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and counselor on interreligious affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Register that the fears of the Christian community were heightened by a recent report in the Hebrew edition of Ha'aretz.

The report, which was dropped from the paper's English edition, stated that, in response to protests from Muslim activists, Israel's Interior Ministry had promised to expedite the mosque's building permits.

Father Christiansen, who has been directly involved in the effort to persuade Israel to halt the mosque's construction, said that he was given conflicting responses last July when he asked officials what the government intended to do. While the head of Israel's office of interreligious affairs assured him the mosque would not be built, Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Malchior said the situation was “much more complicated.”

Said Father Christiansen, “I was left in doubt about the will of the government at higher levels to stop it.”

He added that Israeli embassy officials in the U.S. maintain that it is the responsibility of Catholics to bring pressure on the Muslim community to prevent the mosque's construction, even though several decisions by Israeli courts have ruled that the land on which it is to be built belongs to the state. Despite the court rulings, three successive Israeli governments have allowed militant Islamists to continue to occupy the land.

As well, Father Christiansen said Israeli officials have refused to include compromise elements, such as ensuring the mosque would face away from the basilica's doors and the building of a police station to help defuse Muslim-Christian tensions, in the mosque's building plans. Summed up Father Christiansen, “You have a whole lot of things that create a great deal of suspicion in the Christian community.”

U.S. Catholics can help by contacting members of Congress, Father Christiansen said, along with the White House. He noted that President Bush had already intervened directly in the issue during a private discussion last February with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. Sharon declined to take a public position after the discussion, however.

Concluded Father Christiansen, “Christians need to express their concerns about Christian interests in the Holy Land.”