The Hamas Movement rejected and condemned “the Zionist extremist colonial groups’ seizure of the “Small Petra Hotel” located in Omar Ibn Al-Khattab Square and owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
In a statement issued Sunday Hamas considered this act “a new crime to be added to the occupation’s series of crimes aiming to Judaize the occupied city of Jerusalem and change its historical features.”
“This seizure and other Zionist colonial crimes against Jerusalem’s neighborhoods is a serious violation of all heavenly laws and international norms and charters and is a desperate attempt that will not succeed in obliterating the historical Islamic and Christian landmarks of Jerusalem” the statement reads.
Therefore the Movement called on the Palestinian people to unify in confronting the occupation’s crimes and protect Jerusalem from colonialism and Judaization.
Last Sunday Israeli police forces and members of Ateret Cohanim group forced their way into the historic Petra Hotel and seized a part of it.
The hotel is usually used by Christian pilgrims as it falls on their pilgrimage route.
The historic hotel is located at the entrance to Bab Al-Khalil (Gate of Hebron) one of the gates of Jerusalem’s Old City which leads to the Christian and Armenian quarters in the city and to Christian holy sites including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is considered one of the most sacred religious sites for Christians around the world.
