Egyptian, Ethiopian churches clash over Deir al-Sultan in Jerusalem
A crisis between the Egyptian and Ethiopian churches erupted over the ownership of Deir al-Sultan in Jerusalem.
CAIRO — Two deputies in the Egyptian parliament — Amr Darwish and Imad Khalil — made urgent statements May 4 addressed to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in regard to what they described as “ongoing provocations by the Ethiopian monks toward the Egyptian monks in Jerusalem.”
In their statements, the parliamentarians demanded Shoukry to “inform them of the measures taken by his ministry to defend the rights of Egypt, and the rights of the Egyptian monks in Deir al-Sultan in Jerusalem.”
This comes in the wake of the renewed crisis at the Deir al-Sultan monastery in the Old City of Jerusalem after Ethiopian monks erected a tent and raised the flag of their country inside, Sky News Arabia reported April 30. They noted that the monastery is owned by the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, so this action has greatly angered the Egyptian monks.
As a result, the Egyptian monks gathered in the monastery to remove the tent and the Ethiopian flag, which caused light clashes with the Ethiopian monks. The security forces rushed in to calm the situation.
