Palestinian Christians barred from Jerusalem for Easter

Israeli authorities prevented thousands of Palestinian Christians from entering Jerusalem and accessing Christianity's most holy sites over Easter in an unprecedented clampdown on religious freedom. "Easter is one of the most significant holy periods for Christians and we as Palestinian Christians were not allowed to worship freely," Ramzi Zaniniri from The Near East Council of Churches in Jerusalem told IPS. During the Easter period thousands of Christian pilgrims from all around the world descended on Jerusalem's old city where many of the religious sites are situated. They retraced the Via Delarosa, the route Christ is alleged to have taken on his way to his crucifixion, and paid homage at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the spot where they believe Christ was buried. However, few seemed aware that their fellow Christians from East Jerusalem and the West Bank were denied the same freedom. Easter this year coincided with the Jewish Passover. For over a week a closure was imposed on the West Bank by Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak on alleged security grounds. With the exception of humanitarian emergencies all Palestinians were barred from Jerusalem. Hundreds of Israeli riot and civilian police and soldiers enforced the closure on the Palestinian territory and sealed off the entrances to the old city.