Church of Holy Sepulchre in danger of structural collapse

(Journey in a Broken World; c.f. BBC (Secular) 11/11/08)

Article by Marc Aupiais

In a treaty spacing hundreds of years- two Islamic families guard the keys to the sacred site- they open and close them. There is no "Protestant" or "Spiritualist" presence at the place Jesus is said to have died- these movements are young creatures as compared the ancient bodies who stand guard over every inch of the treaty. A ladder still remains up after seeing in 2 centuries, as it cannot be decided who has the right to take it down again. The +- 1700 year old church itself is part of a dispute about 900 years old, has seen crusades, and observed battles and history unfold around it. For about 300 years now, the treaty guarding each inch has been in place, and the two Muslim families have guarded the key for nearly a thousand years. Fights break out whenever something seems a threat to the so-called Status Quo treaty created by an Islamic representative centuries ago.

The problem is that as long as the parties fight over a certain section's need of repairs- the Jewish government has refused to fix the church structure, and the structure is estimated to be in grave danger of collapsing. The section involves the roof, where there is a dispute between the Egyptian and Ethiopian church. The Ethiopians were kicked out centuries ago, unable to pay rent, but built a monastery on the roof.