Palestinian Christians march in Jerusalem in support of Archimandrite Atallah Hanna

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Date: 09 / 06 / 2007 Time: 18:30

Jerusalem – Ma'an –

More than 800 Palestinian Orthodox Christians demonstrated in Jerusalem on Saturday in support of Archimandrite Atallah Hanna of the Greek Orthodox Church, who they consider the victim of a campaign of suppression from the Greek Orthodoxy in the city, due to his position regarding the land deals of church properties in the city.

The demonstrators carried banners calling for the dismissal of Patriarch Theophilus III and for President Abbas to withdraw his recognition of Theophilus III.

The demonstrators marched through the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Theophilus III took up the position of Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem in 2005 after the former Orthodox patriarch, Patriarch Irenaios, was ousted by the Greek Orthodox community in the Holy Land on the basis of accusations of selling church land in the old city of Jerusalem to Jewish investors.

Hanna has publicly objected to the deals and repeatedly called for Theophilus III to renounce the property deals.