Israel Seeks to Restore Christian Access to Holy Sepulchre After Palm Sunday Incident

On the morning of March 29, 2026 — Palm Sunday, the start of Christianity's holiest week — Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, walked toward the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Mass. He was traveling privately, without a procession or ceremonial display. Israeli police stopped him and turned him away [1][2].

For the first time in centuries, the senior Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land was physically prevented from entering the church built over the site where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected [3]. The Latin Patriarchate called it "a grave precedent" that "disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world" [4]. Within hours, governments from Rome to Washington were issuing formal protests. By nightfall, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reversed course [5].

The episode lasted less than a day. Its consequences will last much longer.

The Sequence of Events

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre had been closed since late February, when the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on February 28, 2026, beginning a conflict that has now stretched past its fifth week [6]. Iranian retaliatory missile strikes hit Israeli territory, and debris from intercepted missiles fell on Jerusalem's Old City, including fragments that landed near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on the Temple Mount near Al-Aqsa Mosque, inside the Jewish Quarter, and on the Armenian Patriarchate [7][8].

Israeli police cited the closures as a blanket security measure. All holy sites in the Old City were "closed to worshippers, particularly locations that do not have standard protected spaces, in order to safeguard public safety and security," according to a police statement [9]. Authorities pointed to the narrow alleys of the Old City, which prevent access for large emergency and rescue vehicles, as compounding the risk [4].

On Saturday, March 28, police informed church authorities that no Mass could take place on Palm Sunday [1]. Cardinal Pizzaballa and Father Francesco Ielpo, the official Guardian (Custos) of the Holy Sepulchre, attempted to reach the church the next morning regardless. They were stopped at a police checkpoint [2][3].

Issa Kassissieh, a Palestinian Christian resident of the Old City, was found at the locked church doors holding a cross and palm frond, unable to enter [10].

The Backlash

The international reaction was swift and broad.

United States: Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee — himself an evangelical Christian — called it "an unfortunate overreach" and said that "for the Patriarch to be barred from entry to the Church on Palm Sunday for a private ceremony is difficult to understand or justify," warning of "major repercussions around the world" [4][5].

Italy: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called it "an offence not only to the faithful, but to any community that respects religious freedom." Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani summoned Israel's ambassador to Rome and instructed Italy's ambassador in Tel Aviv to file a formal protest [11][10].

France: President Emmanuel Macron condemned the decision, stating it joined "a disturbing sequence of violations of the status quo of the holy places in Jerusalem" and that worship "for all religions" must be guaranteed [4][10].

The Vatican: Pope Leo XIV prayed for Christians in the Middle East "who are suffering the consequences of a brutal conflict and, in many cases, are unable to observe fully the liturgies of these holy days." The Vatican summoned Israel's ambassador and described the incident as a violation of freedom of worship [12][13].

European Union: Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it a "violation of religious freedom and long-standing protections governing holy sites" [10].

Spain: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez labeled it an "unjustified attack on religious freedom" [10].

Israel: President Isaac Herzog expressed "great sorrow" and reaffirmed Israel's commitment to religious freedom [14]. Netanyahu's office stated there was "no malicious intent whatsoever" and that the cardinal was blocked "out of special concern for his safety" [5].

The Reversal — and Its Limits

By Monday morning, Netanyahu had directed "relevant authorities" to allow Pizzaballa access and to "hold services as he wishes" [5]. His office added that "Israel's security arms are putting together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days," given the approach of Easter [9].

Israeli police subsequently approved a "limited prayer framework" at the church, coordinated with a representative of the Latin Patriarchate [5][9]. The framework reportedly mirrors pandemic-era restrictions: reduced capacity, limited attendance, and security coordination.

But key questions remain unanswered. The government has spoken of "active dialogue with religious leaders" and "solutions that balance freedom of worship with public safety" [9], without specifying whether these solutions are operational (security corridors, designated access routes), diplomatic (bilateral agreements with church bodies), or legislative. No timeline has been given for restoring full access.

Sami el-Yousef, chief executive of the Latin Patriarchate, said church leaders planned to meet police authorities "to impress on them the need to allow Easter celebrations, even if at a reduced capacity, similar to the pandemic restrictions" [15].

The Status Quo at Stake

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre operates under a governance framework known as the Status Quo, a set of customary rules governing six Christian denominations' shared custody of the site. The arrangement dates to an Ottoman decree by Sultan Osman III in 1757, was affirmed by further firmans in 1852 and 1853, and received international legal recognition in Article 9 of the Treaty of Paris (1856) and Article 62 of the Treaty of Berlin (1878), which stipulated that "no alterations can be made to the status quo in the Holy Places" [16][17].

The six denominations sharing custodianship are the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic (via the Franciscan Custos), Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Syriac Orthodox churches [16]. A distinctive feature of the arrangement: the keys to the church are held by two Muslim families — the Nusseibeh and Joudeh families — who have served as neutral doorkeepers since the time of Saladin in the 12th century, a solution that avoided giving any single Christian group control over access [17].

Every successive sovereign power — Ottoman, British Mandate, Jordanian, and Israeli — has committed to maintaining the Status Quo. Israel assumed this obligation upon capturing the Old City in 1967. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan also retains a custodianship role over Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, recognized in the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty [16].

Macron's reference to "a disturbing sequence of violations" pointed to a pattern predating the current war. In 2022, Israeli police restricted the number of worshippers permitted at the Holy Fire ceremony on Holy Saturday, citing security [18]. In 2023, Jewish settlers stormed the Church of the Condemnation on the Via Dolorosa, with one smashing an olive wood statue of Jesus with a hammer and attempting to set fire to the building [19]. In 2024, police checkpoints and permit systems controlled access to key Christian sites during Easter [18].

The Denominations Beyond Rome

While the Palm Sunday incident centered on the Latin Patriarchate, the broader closure affects all six denominations.

The Greek Orthodox face a particularly acute crisis. Orthodox Easter falls on April 12, 2026, and the Holy Fire ceremony — in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch enters the Edicule (the shrine enclosing Jesus's traditional tomb) and emerges with lit candles, from which the flame is carried to Orthodox communities worldwide — is among the most watched religious events on earth [15][20]. Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is "exploring all available options" to ensure the Holy Light reaches Athens in time, including special flights and coordination with third countries [20]. Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Loverdos has stated his "personal goal" is to travel to Jerusalem to receive the flame [20].

No formal diplomatic protests from the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, or Syriac churches' respective governments have been publicly reported, though the Armenian Patriarchate sustained direct physical damage from Iranian missile debris [7].

Israel's Security Case

To assess Israel's justification on its own terms: the security threat to the Old City is not hypothetical. Iran fired over 500 ballistic missiles and nearly 2,000 drones at Israeli and U.S. targets between February 28 and early March, with roughly 40 percent directed at Israel [6][8]. Missile fragments have struck within meters of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, damaged the area around the Temple Mount, and injured nearly 20 people in a residential building near Jerusalem [7][8].

The Old City's medieval street plan genuinely constrains emergency response. Standard emergency vehicles cannot navigate the narrow alleys of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters. The church itself, parts of which date to the 12th century, lacks what Israeli authorities describe as "standard protected spaces" — bomb shelters or reinforced rooms [4][9].

Israeli officials have been careful to frame the restrictions as religion-neutral. Jews praying at the Western Wall have been limited to 50 per day. Muslims have been entirely barred from Al-Aqsa Mosque since the war began in late February, including through the entire month of Ramadan [21][9]. Smaller places of worship remain open only if located near bomb shelters and limited to under 50 people [9].

"These threats do not discriminate between religions," Israeli police stated [9].

A Pattern Beyond Wartime?

Critics argue the Palm Sunday incident cannot be understood in isolation from a longer trajectory of Christian access restrictions.

Source: Rossing Center Annual Reports

Data as of Mar 1, 2025CSV

The Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue, an Israeli-Palestinian interfaith organization, documented 111 anti-Christian attacks in Israel and East Jerusalem in 2024, up from 85 in 2023 and 50 in 2021 [19][22]. In nearly all recorded cases, the perpetrators were identified as young ultra-Orthodox Jews belonging to religious-nationalist circles [19]. Attacks included spitting on clergy, pepper-spraying monks and nuns, vandalizing churches and monasteries, and physical assaults [22].

These incidents accelerated after the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. The Rossing Center reported that Jewish extremists "increased their attacks on Christians in Israel and the West Bank" in the aftermath [19]. In 2024, 35 of the 111 incidents involved vandalism against religious buildings [22].

Palestinian Christians face additional structural barriers. West Bank Christians require special permits to enter Jerusalem; in recent years, only about 6,000 permits have been issued to the community's approximately 50,000 members [18]. For Palm Sunday 2026, West Bank Christians were denied entry entirely [23].

In a Rossing Center survey, 48 percent of Christian youth under 30 said they were considering emigrating, with 77 percent of them citing escalating discrimination and violence as the primary reason [19].

The Demographic and Economic Stakes

The Christian population of Jerusalem has been in steep decline for a century.

Source: Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research / Demographic Data

Data as of Jan 1, 2025CSV

Christians constituted 25 percent of Jerusalem's population in 1922. By 1967, the figure had dropped to 11 percent. Today it stands at roughly 1.7 percent [24][25]. The Old City's Palestinian quarters (Christian, Muslim, and Armenian) lost 8,565 residents between 2011 and 2020, a 24 percent reduction [25].

The economic dimension is equally significant. Christian pilgrims and tourists have historically made up 50 to 60 percent of all visitors to Israel. In 2018, 61 percent of the country's 4 million visitors identified as Christian, generating an estimated $5.8 billion in revenue [26]. The 2025 Catholic Jubilee year had been expected to drive a significant increase in pilgrimage tourism [26].

Source: Israel Ministry of Tourism / CEIC

Data as of Jan 1, 2025CSV

That trajectory has been shattered by successive conflicts. Tourism revenue fell from $5.95 billion in 2023 to $2.22 billion in 2024 — a 62.7 percent decline — following the Gaza war [27]. The current Iran conflict has further devastated the sector. The Old City, typically crowded with pilgrims during Easter, now "resembles a ghost town," according to reporting from Greece [20].

Israel's Ministry of Tourism had approved over 180 million shekels (approximately $50 million) in subsidies for new hotel construction by the end of 2025, anticipating a tourism recovery that has not materialized [26].

Comparing Access Across Faiths

The wartime restrictions at Jerusalem's holy sites are nominally equal across religions: the Western Wall is severely limited, Al-Aqsa is fully closed, and the Holy Sepulchre is closed [9][21]. In that narrow sense, the Palm Sunday incident reflects a universal security posture rather than targeted anti-Christian policy.

But the comparison breaks down over a longer time horizon. Muslim access to Al-Aqsa has been a recurring flashpoint for decades, with age-based restrictions during Ramadan becoming routine — in 2024, Palestinians under 55 were barred, making an estimated 95 percent of the Palestinian population ineligible [21]. Jewish access to the Temple Mount is governed by a longstanding arrangement that permits visits but not prayer, though Israeli police enforcement of this rule has eroded in recent years.

Christian access restrictions have historically been less visible but have intensified since 2021. The Rossing Center data shows a clear escalation in both informal violence and formal checkpoint restrictions during major Christian holidays [18][19][22].

The question is whether the wartime closure represents a temporary emergency measure or whether it will become a new baseline — a ratchet that does not fully release when the security justification recedes.

What Comes Next

Holy Week has begun. Good Friday falls on April 4. Catholic Easter is April 6. Orthodox Easter, and the Holy Fire ceremony, is April 12. Each date carries its own diplomatic pressure.

Netanyahu's intervention stopped the immediate bleeding but did not address the underlying tension between Israel's wartime security posture and its obligations under the Status Quo. The "limited prayer framework" approved by police falls well short of the open access that the Status Quo has guaranteed for over 250 years [5][16].

The Latin Patriarchate is pressing for Easter celebrations at reduced capacity [15]. Greece is mobilizing diplomatic resources to ensure the Holy Fire ceremony proceeds [20]. Italy and France have made clear, through ambassador summons and presidential statements, that they view this as a matter of international obligation, not Israeli domestic discretion [10][11].

If the church remains closed or restricted through Easter, the diplomatic fallout will extend beyond statements. Christian-majority countries in Europe and the Americas represent Israel's most important Western relationships. U.S. evangelical Christians — a significant domestic constituency supporting Israel — are watching closely, as Huckabee's intervention made plain [4].

The Latin Patriarchate's statement captured the stakes: "During this week, billions of people around the world look to Jerusalem" [3]. Whether they will see open doors or police checkpoints will define something larger than one holiday. It will signal whether the centuries-old framework protecting pluralistic worship at Christianity's holiest site can survive a modern Middle Eastern war — or whether it has already begun to erode.