Easter Celebrated in Palestine amid Holy Land Turmoil

Local Editor

Palestinian Christians ushered in Easter Sunday with traditional celebrations in occupied East al-Quds' Old City, although the holiday was marred by ongoing turmoil in the Holy Land and severe "Israeli" restrictions on Palestinian movement.

Wadi Abu Nasser, a senior advisor to the Catholic Church, told media that several thousand religious pilgrims descended on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City.

However, he said the turnout was significantly lower than in previous years. "It's highly unusual," he said.
The occupied Palestinian territories have been marked by a popular uprising of young Palestinians since last October.

Relatively, this year's Easter celebrations were also marred by severe restrictions on Palestinian movement. Prior to this year's celebrations, Rector of the Latin Patriarchate of al-Quds, Jamal Khader, criticized the Zionist entity for historically preventing Palestinian access to the holy site.

"To have all those restrictions preventing Christians from celebrating in the holy city is not only against the freedom of worship, it's against the identity of the city itself," Khader noted.

A number of Christians, including 850 from Gaza, were in fact given permits to attend this year's celebrations.

Access to the city was also denied to nearly all Palestinian Muslims in the occupied West Bank through the recent Easter celebrations due to a full military closure of the area imposed by the "Israeli" occupation military during the Jewish holiday.

Khader further considered that the al-Quds ought to be open to people of all backgrounds. "It is a holy city that has holy places for Jews, Christians and Muslims," he said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team