JERUSALEM — A whole lot of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession via the limestone partitions of Jerusalem‘s Outdated Metropolis, commemorating one of many religion’s most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the continuing Israel-Hamas struggle.
The day’s processions, which usually draw hundreds of overseas guests, had been unusually native. Most observers had been Palestinian Christians, joined by some foreigners dwelling in Jerusalem and some undeterred vacationers.
The standard Good Friday procession passes alongside the Method of the Cross, or By way of Dolorosa, the route believed to have been walked by Jesus to his crucifixion. Squads of Israeli police arrange barricades alongside the trail, rerouting consumers within the Outdated Metropolis’s bustling Muslim quarter to make approach for tons of of pilgrims.
A younger group of Palestinian Arab scouts led the day’s procession, previous the 14 stations alongside the route, every marking an occasion that befell Jesus on his ultimate journey. A whole lot of Palestinian Christians walked of their wake. Behind them was a small parade of the Franciscan non secular order, composed primarily of foreigners who stay in Jerusalem.
“We watch for this yearly,” mentioned Munira Kamar, a Palestinian Christian from the Outdated Metropolis, who watched the parade cross, waving howdy to cross-bearers, who stopped to provide her younger daughter a kiss on the cheek. “In fact, this 12 months we’re sad due to the state of affairs with the continuing struggle.”
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7 killings and hostage-taking in Israel.
PHOTOS: In Jerusalem, Palestinian Christians observe scaled-down Good Friday rituals
The procession’s ultimate stations are contained in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the place Jesus is believed to have been crucified and laid to relaxation earlier than his resurrection on Easter. There, the influence of the struggle was clear: as a substitute of the crowds who usually queue for hours within the church courtyard, entrance to the positioning was simple.
Town’s streets had been noticeably devoid of Palestinian Christians from the West Financial institution, who usually flock to the Holy Metropolis for the Easter festivities. Since Oct. 7, Palestinian worshippers have wanted particular permission to cross checkpoints into Jerusalem.
Regardless of the thinned crowds, shopkeepers, whose heavy steel doorways are normally closed on Fridays, threw them open in for vacationers in search of Catholic memorabilia. However consumers had been few and much between.
“Evaluating final 12 months’s Easter festivities with this 12 months is like mild and day. No one’s right here. The general public are locals,” mentioned Fayaz Dakkak, a Palestinian storeowner whose household first opened the store in 1942. His store stood empty. “Normally individuals are joyful at present and youngsters are excited. However while you examine kids right here who’ve water and meals and a household to what’s taking place in Gaza, how will you be blissful?”
An estimated 50,000 Christian Palestinians stay within the West Financial institution and Jerusalem, based on the U.S. State Division’s worldwide non secular freedom report for 2022. Roughly 1,300 Christians lived in Gaza, it mentioned. Some Christians are additionally residents of Israel. Many Palestinian Christians stay in diaspora communities.
A number of vacationers braved the day. Carmen Ros, a lawyer who lives in Jerusalem, had managed to corral a bunch of pilgrims from Spain to go to the nation for a non secular tour. The group rested within the shade exterior the church.
“They had been afraid of the state of affairs at first,” she mentioned, “however I informed them right here in Jerusalem, it’s secure, we don’t have violence. We’re near Gaza, however the Christian individuals are not the goal of terrorism.”
The celebrations coincided with the third Friday within the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with worshippers as soon as once more flocking to the revered Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer. Regardless of fears the continuing struggle would spark clashes on the revered Al-Aqsa mosque, the month has up to now handed peacefully beneath tight Israeli safety.
Sister Harriet Kabaije, a pilgrim from Uganda who moved to Jerusalem three weeks in the past to stay in a monastery, mentioned she was holding the individuals of Gaza in her prayers. She mentioned she believed that peace could possibly be achieved within the area.
“Many individuals suppose that the struggle right here is pure,” she mentioned. “However when Jesus was in Bethlehem, it was peaceable. We all know that individuals are struggling in Gaza so we supply them in our prayers and pray that peace can return to this land,” she mentioned.
