WEST BANK (Dispatches) –
Zionist troops on Saturday restricted Christian worshippers from entering the Old City of Al-Quds to celebrate the Easter ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The police tightened restrictions at the gates of the Old City, setting up checkpoints around the area and metal barricades to close off the alleys leading to the Christian Quarters.
Clergy and worshippers, including Palestinians from across the occupied West Bank and foreign tourists, gathered at the gates, with many jostling to get through as police forces struggled to push them back.
Only a small number of pilgrims with permits and local residents were allowed entry to the Christian Quarter. Meanwhile, worshippers from the Gaza Strip were prevented from even entering the city itself.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the occupied Al-Quds says anti-Christian attacks by Zionist extremists have increased in the Palestinian territories since the occupying regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet has assumed office.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch of Al-Quds, said in an interview with The Associated Press published on Friday that life for Christians in the birthplace of Christianity has worsened since the inauguration of the far-right Israeli cabinet, with extremists being emboldened to harass clergy and vandalize religious property at an alarming rate.
“The frequency of these attacks, the aggressions, has become something new,” Pizzaballa said, adding, “These people feel they are protected… that the cultural and political atmosphere now can justify, or tolerate, actions against Christians.”
Anti-Christian attacks by Zionists in the occupied West Bank, East Al-Quds and the occupying regime have increased in recent months, deepening the fears of Palestinian Christians for their safety, according to church leaders.
In January, settlers vandalized a Christian cemetery in Al-Quds over the New Year holidays, smashing crosses and knocking down headstones on more than 30 graves.