Israel and You Spaces and Places in Israel
No one can deny the importance of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth to the Christian world. The church was established at the site where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, the Annunciation took place.
Nazareth used to be a quiet Christian Arab city, but now the majority of the population is Moslem, with growing anxiety on the part of the Christian Arabs that remained in the city.
Shihab al-Din Square
This cute columned square in Nazareth is adjacent to the Arab Market and the Church of the Annunciation in downtown Nazareth. There is a small Moslem chapel, Makam Shihab a-Din, at the grave of Shihab a-Din, one of Saladin’s nephews, killed in the Battle of Hattin. For several years local Nazareth Moslems lobbied the city and the Ministry of the Interior to permit construction of a mammoth mosque, even higher than the existing Church of the Annunciation. For good reasons this project was blocked in the Israeli courts. As a result, every Friday, local Sunni Moslems roll out their prayer blankets in and around the square, the grave and the Makam to demonstrate their demands. On the roof of the column rotunda you can see two faded ellipses. These are the “Sacred Seal of Muhammad” which, by no coincidence, just happens to be the ISIL flag. So as tourist go from their buses to the Church of the Annunciation they must pass by the ISIL flag. Go and check that in Google. In addition the walls of the adjacent buildings are plastered with anti-Christian and anti-Jewish posters.
See also:
The Catholic Church of the Annunciation
