the criteria apparentlyapplied in determining who is allowed access to their places of worship. This is in violation of international law, which states that laws imposing limitations on the freedom of religion or belief should not be either arbitrary or unreasonable, but should be necessary and based on objective considerations.236 However, even if the access restriction becomes less arbitrary, the permit regime would still be in contradiction to the right of Palestinians to religious freedom since, as stated by the Special Rapporteur, the permit regime itself is discriminatory and has a severe, negative impact on Palestinian worshippers.237 Threat to the Islamic and Christian Existence238 “The permit regime threatens the Islamic and Christian existence in Jerusalem, because it is temperamental and the occupation forces use it to blackmail Palestinians. For instance, they stop issuing permits when there is any resistance and they would only issue permits again on the condition of a truce, which actually means to stop resisting the violations of the occupation” Denial of Access to Jerusalem239 “I hope that we can reach a point where we could have a united, national decision to boycott the Israeli permits even if the price would be not to visit Jerusalem at all. I believe that to stop visiting Jerusalem because we don’t have permits is actually much better than visiting the city using these permits, because we give legitimacy to the occupation when we use these permits. Israel is an occupying force which means that it does not have the legitimate national or humanitarian right to give or withhold permits. Jerusalem is a holy city that should be open for all people.” 236 Asma Jahangir, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir. Addendum: Mission to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory”, UN Human Rights Council, 12 January 2009, page 2. Available at: http://www.refworld.org/publisher,UNHRC,MISSION,ISR,4978 8a742,0.html 237 Ibid. Page 12 238 BADIL’s interview with Dr. Ekrima Sabri, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, “Threat to the Islamic and Christian Existence”, Jerusalem, August 2015 239 BADIL’s interview with Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Archbishop of Sebastia. Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. “Denial of Access to Jerusalem”, Jerusalem, August 2015 63