Israel Refuses to Recognize Greek Orthodox Patriarch
The Israeli government has once again refused to recognize the new Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, the custodian of most of the Christian religious sites in the region.

The patriarch, Irineos, was elected by the bishops of the Jerusalem patriarchate in August and enthroned on Sept. 15 as the leader of the oldest and largest church in the Holy Land.

Since then, however, the Israeli government has refused to grant him formal recognition, a decision the cabinet restated on Sunday. It did so even though Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recently said he was prepared to go ahead and recognize the patriarch.

The situation prevents Patriarch Irineos from carrying out many normal functions, including holding a bank account or obtaining a visa for travel.

The reason most often stated by Israeli officials is a suspicion that Patriarch Irineos is sympathetic to the Palestinian Authority, though no concrete evidence has been offered. Before his election, Patriarch Irineos was for 20 years the Jerusalem patriarchate's representative to Greece.

Various Israeli officials and experts said the real issue was the vast real estate holdings of the patriarchate, including land on which the Parliament stands and many other important properties in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Under the last patriarch, Diodoros I, who died in 2000, many questions were raised about the leases of land to Israeli property developers and the multimillion-dollar income from them. Many of the leases are due for renewal over the next decade.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/international/middleeast/26RELI.html