Israeli occupation blocks West Bank Christians from accessing Jerusalem on Palm Sunday

JERUSALEM: The Israeli occupation has prevented thousands of Christians from the West Bank from accessing the occupied city of Jerusalem to participate in the celebration of Palm Sunday according to the Western calendar. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the Palm Sunday Mass this morning at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Mass was attended by a group of bishops and priests, in the presence of monks, nuns, and a limited number of worshipers, mostly from Jerusalem and the 1948 territories, after the Israeli occupation deprived thousands of Christians from the West Bank governorates of access to the holy city. Simultaneously, Israeli forces imposed strict military measures at checkpoints surrounding the city of Jerusalem and in the vicinity of the Old City. Israeli authorities require Palestinians, both Muslims and Christians, to obtain special permits to cross their military checkpoints surrounding the holy city and access pl aces of worship, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA