Christians in Jerusalem resist turning Mount of Olives into national park

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – According to The Guardian moves are underway to make a national park in the area around the Mount of Olives, which has met resistance from churches in Jerusalem.

The location is significant in Jewish history as a place of prayer and burial of kings, and in Christianity, it figures in the story of Jesus, the place where he is said to have prayed the day before he was crucified and where he “ascended into heaven”.

Shrines and chapels have been built to remember these stories.

Armenian, Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches have accused the Israel Nature and Parks Authority of promoting a project “whose apparent sole purpose is to confiscate and nationalise one of the holiest sites for Christianity … under the guise of protecting green spaces”.