Celebration and tragedy mark Easter in Jerusalem
-18/04/06
It was the busiest Easter in
Celebration and tragedy mark Easter in Jerusalem
-18/04/06
It was the busiest Easter in many years in Jerusalem, with tens of thousands participating in traditional Christian rites over the vacation period in the holy city where the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus took place.
But, says the Geneva-based Ecumenical News International, the celebrations were marred when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed nine people and injured dozens of others on 17 April 2006 at a Tel Aviv takeaway restaurant.
The failure of the new Hamas administration to condemn the terror act committed by another group, Islamic Jihad, means that the prospects of peace in Israel and Palestine remains as difficult as ever.
In recent months there has been a lull in violence. That undoubtedly contributed to the presence of the largest number of Christians in years coming to the Holy Land to take part in Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic Easter services.
This year Easter also coincided with the Jewish feast of the Passover, the seven-day holiday which marks the biblical flight from bondage in Egypt ñ thus bringing together two great religious festivals in a city shared by three faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam).
The mainstream faith leaders would like to see Jerusalem becoming a truly ëholy cityí, a living sacrament of peace and cooperation among the religions. But that too looks a distant vision at the moment.
Franciscan monks, German tourists and Filipino foreign workers were among those who crowded the Old City and its ancient churches on Easter Sunday. Thousands of pilgrims packed the narrow alleyways to mark Jesus’ resurrection.
ìIt’s special to be here now, where the Jews are celebrating Passover and the Christians are celebrating Easter,” said Maria Andreucci, 72, from Rome, near a long line of tourist buses outside the New Gate entrance to Jerusalem.
She told Associated Press: “Everything is so modern now, but in our hearts we can imagine how it all happened here so long ago.”
But the celebrations remain tinged with the tragedy of the continuing enmity between Palestinians and Israelis.
Among the retaliatory measures authorised by the Israeli government today was the revocation of the Israeli residency status of Hamas officials living in east Jerusalem and a police crackdown on the smuggling of Palestinians without permits, who could be militants.
Fr Elias Chacour, a Melkite priest and Christian peacemaker who is both a citizen of Israel and a Palestinian Arab says that in order to bring justice and shalom it is necessary for the two peoples ìto recognise each other in their woundedness, rather than seeing each other as enemies.î
It is an alternative vision which goes to the very heart of the Easter message that Christ, in his broken and restored body, has ìbroken down the dividing walls between Jew and Gentileî, as St Paul expresses it.
Later this week Orthodox Christians, who follow a different calendar from the Western Church, will flood the Old City once again to celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday according to their own customs.
Celebration and tragedy mark Easter in Jerusalem
-18/04/06
It was the busiest Easter in many years in Jerusalem, with tens of thousands participating in traditional Christian rites over the vacation period in the holy city where the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus took place.
But, says the Geneva-based Ecumenical News International, the celebrations were marred when a Palestinian suicide bomber killed nine people and injured dozens of others on 17 April 2006 at a Tel Aviv takeaway restaurant.
The failure of the new Hamas administration to condemn the terror act committed by another group, Islamic Jihad, means that the prospects of peace in Israel and Palestine remains as difficult as ever.
In recent months there has been a lull in violence. That undoubtedly contributed to the presence of the largest number of Christians in years coming to the Holy Land to take part in Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic Easter services.
This year Easter also coincided with the Jewish feast of the Passover, the seven-day holiday which marks the biblical flight from bondage in Egypt ñ thus bringing together two great religious festivals in a city shared by three faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam).
The mainstream faith leaders would like to see Jerusalem becoming a truly ëholy cityí, a living sacrament of peace and cooperation among the religions. But that too looks a distant vision at the moment.
Franciscan monks, German tourists and Filipino foreign workers were among those who crowded the Old City and its ancient churches on Easter Sunday. Thousands of pilgrims packed the narrow alleyways to mark Jesus’ resurrection.
ìIt’s special to be here now, where the Jews are celebrating Passover and the Christians are celebrating Easter,” said Maria Andreucci, 72, from Rome, near a long line of tourist buses outside the New Gate entrance to Jerusalem.
She told Associated Press: “Everything is so modern now, but in our hearts we can imagine how it all happened here so long ago.”
But the celebrations remain tinged with the tragedy of the continuing enmity between Palestinians and Israelis.
Among the retaliatory measures authorised by the Israeli government today was the revocation of the Israeli residency status of Hamas officials living in east Jerusalem and a police crackdown on the smuggling of Palestinians without permits, who could be militants.
Fr Elias Chacour, a Melkite priest and Christian peacemaker who is both a citizen of Israel and a Palestinian Arab says that in order to bring justice and shalom it is necessary for the two peoples ìto recognise each other in their woundedness, rather than seeing each other as enemies.î
It is an alternative vision which goes to the very heart of the Easter message that Christ, in his broken and restored body, has ìbroken down the dividing walls between Jew and Gentileî, as St Paul expresses it.
Later this week Orthodox Christians, who follow a different calendar from the Western Church, will flood the Old City once again to celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday according to their own customs.