Leaders of major churches say that Israeli authorities are launching a "coordinated attack" on the Christian presence in the Holy Land by introducing tax measures against them.

The churches say the action upsets a centuries-old status quo and reflects mounting intolerance for the tiny Christian presence in the Holy Land, although Israeli officials have dismissed the disagreement as a routine financial matter, The Associated Press reports.

The dispute over taxes is a fresh standoff between churches and Jerusalem city authorities - with Christian leaders warning their charitable work could be at risk, Aid to the Church in Need reported.

The controversy centers on Israel's Arnona property tax and it has prompted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to appeal to Pope Leo XIV and other international leaders over fears centuries-old exemptions could be at risk.

The heads of the major Christian churches addressed the matter in a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.

They stated that four municipalities across Israel have recently submitted warning letters to church officials cautioning them of legal action if they did not pay taxes.

"We believe these efforts represent a coordinated attack on the Christian presence in the Holy Land," write the heads of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches.

"In this time, when the whole world, and the Christian world in particular, are constantly following the events in Israel, we find ourselves, once again, dealing with an attempt by authorities to drive the Christian presence out of the Holy Land."

The churches are major landowners in the Holy Land and explain that they do not pay property taxes under an established tradition.

The churches assert that their funds go to services that help the state, such as schools, hospitals and homes for the elderly.

Municipalities in Tel Aviv, Ramla, Nazareth and Jerusalem in recent months have all either sent warning letters or launched legal action for alleged tax debts.

In Israel and the Palestinian areas, Christians make up a tiny minority, constituting less than 2 percent of the population.

There are, according to the AP, 182,000 Christians in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, citing the U.S. State Department. Most of those Christians are Palestinians.

"We follow with concern this campaign against the churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land, which has reached an unprecedented level, dragging the Churches into legal proceedings from north to south.

"In response we assert our historical and legal rights, which Municipal actors are now trying to violate," the church leaders said in their letter to Netanyahu.

The Christian leaders included Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, and Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, the custos, or guardian, of the holy places, according to OSV News, a Catholic outlet.

It noted that "for centuries" since Ottoman times, church properties have been exempted from municipal taxes according to the established status quo.

They have used this right to invest in services to benefit their communities including schools, hospitals, convents, churches and houses for the elderly among others.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, Armenian Apostoli Orthodox Patriarchate Nourhan Manougian and Anglican Episcopal Diocese Archbishop Hosam Naoum also signed the letter.

"It is an outrage that, specifically at these sensitive and complicated times when patience, compassion, unity in prayer and hope should prevail, municipalities are opening cases against Churches in courts and making threats," they said in the letter.

"This constitutes contempt of our customs and that which is dear to us, while trampling the mutual respect, which existed between us until this time."

In 2018 a similar dispute with municipal tax authorities in Jerusalem led to the closing of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for three days before the Israeli government set up a negotiating team to resolve the property tax disagreement after the intervention of Netanyahu, who was also prime minister at the time, according to OSV.