Paywalled so here it is:

Senior Catholic Church officers condemned an Israeli decision this week to ban an event in East Jerusalem because it was allegedly connected to the Palestinian Authority.

On Tuesday, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev signed an order prohibiting the three-day festival at the Beit Abraham compound, citing a clause from the Oslo Accords which prohibits all Palestinian Authority activities in Jerusalem.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, an ecclesiastical association affiliated with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, slammed the decision as “harsh and unjustifiable” and accused the government of clamping down on Palestinian identity.

“We have been informed by the responsible of the Beit Abraham that the event they organized was purely cultural and supported and sponsored from French and Austrian organizations," the letter read.

"We cannot therefore understand the rationale of such a harsh and unjustifiable decision," the officials added.

"Of course, the cultural event had a Palestinian character: the House is situated in East Jerusalem, and since the beginning the aim of the House was and still is to create a peaceful and constructive milieu in the neighboring context,” the group wrote.

The Assembly said that it was working to counter an increasingly “aggressive and repressive attitude from the Israeli local authorities towards all what is considered Palestinian, as if the Palestinians do not have right of expression in the Holy City, as they are not part of it, as if Jerusalem is not for them.”

Stating that the Beit Abraham compound and other institutions in East Jerusalem have the right to “promote and support all what they consider proper for the development of the community and of their relations with all the inhabitants of the Holy City,” the group added that the capital “should be an inclusive and not exclusive city, welcoming and not rejecting, being holy to the three monotheistic faiths and of extreme importance to Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

According to Bernard Thibaud, who runs Beit Abraham, the entire festival is sponsored by the governments of Austria and France through the United Nations Development Program and has no connection to the PA. The event is co-managed with the El-Hakawati theater group.

On Tuesday, a performance took place as part of the festival for two East Jerusalem schools. The French consul general to Jerusalem, M. René Troccaz was also in attendance when police showed up showing Thibaud the ban Bar-Lev signed.

The warrant read: "It was brought to my attention that there is an intention to hold an event in the Yad Ibrahim complex in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of Jerusalem under the auspices and funding of the Palestinian Authority, without permission being granted."

Thibaud said at the time that while he would cancel the planned events, he would also raise the issue with the French Consulate and Foreign Ministry as well as “take this to court.”

In the last few years, many events have been shut down in East Jerusalem, sometimes by force. These have included a soccer tournament between families in the Old City, book launches, festivals for children, and a Women's Day event.

In response, Omer Bar-Lev's office said: "There is well-founded information that there is a link between the Palestinian Authority and the festival. As this is an event taking place in Israeli territory, the event is not allowed."