PM Netanyahu, Jerusalem Mayor Barkat agree to create team to solve church crisis
Special team, to be headed by Regional Cooperation Minister Hanegbi, to be created to examine solution to property tax collection on church lands; legislation on matter shelved until issue is resolved; Church of the Holy Sepulchre to reopen Wednesday; PM Netanyahu: 'Israel is home to thriving Christian community.'
Netanyahu and Barkat agreed to appoint Minister for Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi to head the team, along with representatives from the Finance, Foreign Affairs and Interior Ministries as well as municipality personnel.
"As a result, the Jerusalem municipality is suspending the collection actions it has taken in recent weeks," it said. In addition to suspending tax collection, Netanyahu's office said that proposed legislation governing the sale of church lands in Jerusalem was also being suspended.
The Israeli team is set to negotiate with church representatives in an attempt to regulate payments, whereas municipal collection of property taxes will be halted until a final decision is reached.
The crisis began as part of a struggle between the municipality and the Finance Ministry over budgets to the capital, prompting the Jerusalem municipality to announce that it had started collecting property tax debts of more than NIS 650 million from some 887 properties across the city, which belong to churches and United Nations institutions.
Municipality officials said these properties did not include houses of worship, which are exempt from paying property taxes by law, but rather properties used for non-prayer activities, including commercial activities.
Churches are exempt from paying property taxes as part of an agreement with the state, but the Jerusalem municipality says it is not being compensated by the state for the money it is losing by not collecting these taxes.
PM Netanyahu: 'Israel welcomes Christian friends from around the world'
The Prime Minister's Office said that following the church heads' requests to participate in negotiations over the sale of land in the city, any legislation on the matter will be shelved for the time being.
Netanyahu's office further said that, "Israel is proud to be the only country in the Middle East that affords complete freedom of religion and of worship to Christians and people of all faiths. Israel is home to a thriving Christian community and welcomes Christian friends from around the world."
MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu), who submitted a bill to nationalize grounds the church has sold in the past, said that her bill was intended to "assist thousands of the city's residents living on lands the church has sold. In the past few years, entrepreneurs who have purchased land on the cheap from churches go door to door and demand 200-500 million shekels for the right to live there."
Azaria, a former member of Jerusalem's city council, stressed she harbored no intentions of harming the church since her bill had nothing to do with lands it owned, but rather ones it had already sold.
"Nir Barkat harmed dozens of residents when he decided to collect property taxes and place liens on church accounts just now," she added.
Barkat, however, said his decision affected only commercial properties, such as hotels, restaurants and offices, and not houses of worship. He said other cities followed similar practices worldwide.
"As the mayor of the city of Jerusalem, my goal and role is to make sure people pay their taxes," he said in an interview earlier Tuesday. "We have no negative or bad intentions here."
Church leaders said Sunday that, "These actions breach existing agreements and international obligations which guarantee the rights and the privileges of Churches, in what seems as an attempt to weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem.
"This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe.
"This systematic and unprecedented attack against Christians in the Holy Land severely violates the most basic, antique and sovereign rights, trampling on the delicate fabric of relations between the Christian community and the authorities for decades."
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin criticized the church's conduct throughout the crisis. In a Ynet studio interview, he said that the crisis "should be solved through dialogue. I am completely against the church's move of unilaterally shutting the place down.
"Except for hurting the Christian faithful who wish to visit the church, it helps no one. I certainly don't think it's right to conduct negotiations under such pressures."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
