Israeli forces Wednesday assaulted Egyptian Coptic monks and arrested at least one, according to the Palestinian Maan news agency, during a demonstration against the restoration of a monastery believed to belong to the Egyptian Coptic Church.
The Coptic Christian clerics were demonstrating against restoration work set to be carried out by the Israeli government at the Sultan Monastery in Jerusalem s Old City without the Coptic Church s consent.
The incident stems from a decades-long dispute over the ownership of the monastery, which is now run by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The church s monks have lived there for over 200 years despite an Israeli high court ruling -- issued in the 1970s -- ordering control over the monastery to be handed back to the Copts.
The incident stems from a decades-long dispute over ownership of the monastery which is now run by Ethiopia despite an Israeli high court ruling in the 1970s saying it belongs to the Egyptian Coptic Church.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces physically assaulted the monks during Wednesday s protest and forcibly pushed them away to allow municipality staff to enter the monastery to carry out restoration work, according to Maan news.
The agency and other social media accounts published photos showing Monk Macarius Orshalemy, who has been arrested, being dragged and pinned to the ground by Israeli security forces.
Sky News Arabic said tens of other protesters have been arrested along with the monk.
Coptic Church leaders are in contact with the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv and the Egyptian foreign ministry to resolve the matter, it added.
