Jerusalem: As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Easter, Palestinians in the land that birthed the religion are facing severe restrictions on entering Jerusalem’s Old City to mark the occasion.
While at least 200 leaders from the occupied West Bank have been given permits to enter the area, their congregations are not being allowed access to participate in the services, said Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem.
The restrictions are “unprecedented”, Khan said as a procession of worshippers, far smaller than the usual Good Friday crowds, walked the Via Dolorosa – the path Jesus is said to have followed on the way to his crucifixion more than 2,000 years ago.
The Old City is unusually empty owing to the war in Gaza, but Palestinian Christians were “desperate” to visit their places of worship, Khan said.
“Palestinian Christians from the occupied West Bank – not the international tourists who are staying away because of the war on Gaza – these are people who actually want to come to the Old City and celebrate Easter, but they’re not being allowed to.”
Christians are usually granted access to East Jerusalem, he said, although Palestinian Muslims routinely face restrictions. Access to Al-Aqsa Mosque has been denied to men under the age of 65 and women under the age of 50 on the third Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Many Palestinian Christians from the occupied West Bank have been deprived of walking the Via Dolorosa this year.
Even before the war, Palestinian Christian had to request permission to visit the Old City well in advance of celebrations. Last year, the Greek Orthodox Church slammed what it called Israel’s “heavy-handed restrictions” on freedom of worship during Easter.
Israeli police had said limits were needed for safety during the “Holy Fire” celebration at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, during which a flame taken from Jesus’s tomb in the church is used to light the candles of worshippers. Christian leaders said there was no need to alter a ceremony that had been held for centuries and they believed it was part of an ongoing Israeli policy to push Palestinians out of their homeland.
Agencies

  Gaza, Palestine, USA

Agencies