De palestinska myndigheterna vägrar registrera baptistkyrkan i Betlehem

ICEJ news rapporterar att de palestinska myndigheterna vägrar låta baptist kyrkan i Betlehem förnya sina registrerings dokument.
Detta händer bara en vecka efter att den palestinske premiärministern Fayyad inför en kristen konferens i Betlehem försäkrade att de palestinska myndigheterna välkomnar alla kristna och att det inte förekommer någon diskriminering.

PA Refusing to Re-register Baptist Church in Bethlehem
The Palestinian Authority is refusing to renew the official registration papers of the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem, apparently due in part to its reluctance to join other Palestinian institutions in unfairly criticizing Israel, but Church sources confirmed to ICEJ News on Thursday that they are still holding their regular weekly prayer and worship services and no PA officials have been to the church facility to shut down their operations, contrary to some media reports this week. Still, the denial of a renewed registration could have serious repercussions for the Evangelical congregation in future. Senior Pastor Naim Khoury had applied recently for a periodic renewal of the church's official registration, but was informed that it had been denied. Such renewals are normally routine, and no official reasons were given for the denial. If left to stand, the result could mean the church cannot register births, marriages and deaths of its congregants. This could prove problematic as the PA requires that residents indicate affiliation with a certain religion on identification papers and other civil documents. No other Evangelical churches or institutions are encountering such problems at present, and thus the suspicion is falling on the way First Baptist Church of Bethlehem has stood for peaceful relations between Israelis and Palestinians over the years. The denial came the week after PA prime minister Salaam Fayyad appeared at a conference hosted by local Evangelical Arab Christians in Bethlehem and assured that the Palestinian Authority welcomes all Christians and does not discriminate against them.