Christian pilgrims hold crosses during the Good Friday procession in the Old City of Jerusalem<\/p>\n
As the bells rang out across the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the priests began to sing a deep, low prayer. Heads bowed over candles, and escorted by people bearing aloft large gold crosses, they made their way to a platform at the heart of the ancient square.<\/p>\n
The ceremony on Holy Thursday, in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem washes the feet of 12 monastic priests to commemorate the Last Supper, is one of many Easter<\/a> rituals that have taken place in the Old City of Jerusalem for hundreds of years. For Christians, there is no holier place to commemorate Easter than here, the site where they believe Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected.<\/p>\n Yet the crowd that assembled outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Thursday morning was small and muted. International pilgrims jostled with dark-robed Greek Orthodox monks, but one group of native worshippers was noticeably absent.<\/p>\n For generations, the tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians living in Israeli-occupied West Bank villages and cities such as Ramallah, Bethlehem and Taybeh would travel to Jerusalem\u2019s Old City at Easter to take part in the prayers, processions and rituals such as the Holy Fire ceremony. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre itself is in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel<\/a> from Jordan in the six-day war of 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1980.<\/p>\n Yet centuries of tradition have been ruptured by Israel\u2019s increasingly draconian control over Palestinian movement \u2013 which means any Palestinian in the West Bank living outside Jerusalem, must obtain a military permit if they want to enter the city. For years, Christians in Palestinian territories<\/a> were regularly granted permits to visit Jerusalem around Easter but since the war with Hamas broke out on 7 October 2023, they have become almost impossible to obtain.<\/p>\n This Easter, the government announced it had issued 6,000 permits, though there are 50,000 Christians \u2013 mostly Catholic or Greek Orthodox \u2013 living in the West Bank beyond East Jerusalem. However, in reality, just 4,000 were given, according to Christian leaders, and often only to a few members of each family who applied.<\/p>\n These permits are valid for just one week and do not allow the Palestinian pilgrims to stay in Jerusalem overnight, meaning they have to make the gruelling journey back to the West Bank by bus or taxi \u2013 crossing a multitude of army checkpoints \u2013 every evening, limiting the festivities they can take part in. A group from the village of Taybeh said the Israeli military still did not allow them to cross over to Jerusalem for Palm Sunday even though they had valid permits.<\/p>\n The few who do make it to the Old City have been met with increased police brutality in recent years. In April 2023, Palestinian Christian worshipers and international pilgrims were beaten by Israeli police and armed forces as they attempted to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are very afraid and many will not risk attending the Easter processions any more,\u201d said Omar Haramy, who runs Sabeel, a Christian organisation based in Jerusalem. He said several staff were beaten last year as they tried to attend Easter festivities in the Old City, and Christians in the Old City regularly faced hostility outside churches or as they went about their daily lives.<\/p>\n One of the greatest sources of distress among the Christian community is the introduction of blockades and aggressive policing that prevented thousands of Christians being able to take part in the Holy Fire festivities that mark the resurrection on Easter Saturday afternoon, as they have done for hundreds of years in the Old City.<\/p>\n While the restrictions have been justified in the name of safety, many Christians view them as another way for the Israeli state to exert dominance over the community.<\/p>\n \u201cI will go to the celebrations on Holy Saturday because my family has been part of this tradition for thousands of years, but I\u2019m not going to bring my kids, it\u2019s too dangerous now, with the police violence,\u201d Haramy said.<\/p>\n