Christian Shrine Needs Two Exits, Israel Says

JERUSALEM — A controversy is brewing in one of the holiest Christian shrines, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, after the Israeli government found that it violates health and safety rules because it has only one exit.

Israel says an emergency exit must be built even though this risks antagonizing the three mutually suspicious Christian communities who run the church built on the site where Jesus is said to have been crucified and resurrected.

But while the three communities — Greek Orthodox, Franciscans, and Armenian Orthodox — rarely agree among themselves, they are unanimous in their opposition to the building of a second door.

"Such an action would be an unprecedented violation of the status quo," a Franciscan spokesman said.

The Israeli Jerusalem affairs minister, Yaakov Edri, was shocked when he recently joined Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Sepulchre.

"If there was a fire inside the church near the door, people inside would have no way of escaping," he said.

Prime Minister Olmert is backing Mr. Edri's call for an emergency exit to be constructed.

In the mid-1990s, the three Christian communities failed to reach an agreement on an emergency exit to cope with the large surge in pilgrims expected for the millennium.