Eleven monks were treated in hospital after a fight broke out for control of the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection. It is not the first time monks have come to blows at Christendom's most holy place, but it is one of the most serious in recent times. As black-clad monks threw stones and iron bars at each other, the Israeli police were called to restore order.

Mounting tension between Ethiopian and Coptic priests, monks and nuns over the strict rules defining control over parts of the Holy Sepulchre's roof, yesterday broke out into an all-out fistfight as Coptic and Ethiopian priests argued that each side had violated the sensitive status quo governing the division of the roof between them.



The fight, which included stone throwing, ended with injuries for about a dozen of the priests from both sides who needed medical treatment.



The church is controlled by six different orders "The church is a cockpit of rivalry between Christian sects and, in the words of one historian, the "most unchristian place in the world". It is shared among six denominations, with the more powerful ones taking ruthless advantage of any weakness by their rivals."



The church, traditional scene of the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, has long been a source of disputes among various churches over who controls the various parts of it. A deal worked out in 1757 gave specific control to each church over specific parts of the church and violations -whether accidental or deliberate and sometimes over the most petty questions of who cleans where inside the ancient chambers of the church - can result in flare-ups of violence as occurred yesterday.

The specific dispute between the Copts and the Ethiopians is over the roof, and goes back to a 19th century epidemic that killed off the Ethiopians, who had control over the entire roof. That enabled the the Egyptian Copts to take over the roof, says Hagai Siton, the attorney for the Ethiopians. But the British Mandatory authorities resurrected the 1757 division, giving the roof and its buildings to the Ethiopians, but the small monastery on the roof to the Copts.



An Ethiopian monk nurses his bruises after the clash

