Good Friday reveals some harmony in safer Israel

CHRISTIAN pilgrims, their numbers swollen by improved Israeli-Palestinian relations, retraced Jesus’s path toward crucifixion along the cobblestone alleys of Jerusalem’s walled Old City in the annual Good Friday procession.

Some wore crowns of thorns and carried massive crosses as they wended their way along the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, under an Israeli security presence that visitors said was thinner than in recent years.

One woman, dressed as the Virgin Mary, and a younger man, portraying the bloodied Jesus, re-enacted Jesus’s Passion among a crowd that Israeli police estimated at 3,500 people.

The pair were followed by dozens of people who wailed and sang The Divine Mercy, a Christian song about the Passion.

Connor McCabe, 38, from Dublin, came to Israel with his parents to take part in the Easter festivities and to see today’s Israel v Ireland world cup qualifier.

McCabe said he felt safe, in part crediting the improved political atmosphere that has taken hold since the death of long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the truce Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared last month.

“With the ceasefire and Arafat’s successor, there’s even less reason to worry,” McCabe said.

The number of participants was lower than before Palestinian-Israeli bloodshed broke out in September 2000, but Hashim Melki, 27, a Muslim shopkeeper in the Old City, said he was pleased to see more tourists.

“In the last 15 days, we’ve seen hundreds more visitors,” Melki said outside the shop where he sells carpets, jewellery and other goods. “I like having people in my shop again after four years.”

Israel sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip from Wednesday through to tonight, citing fears of terror attacks over the Jewish Purim holiday, which began on Thursday night.

The travel ban prevented many Palestinian Christians from reaching Jerusalem.

Filipinos also marked Good Friday by retracing Jesus’s last steps and reliving his crucifixion.

A threat from small but deadly terror group, Abu Sayyaf, that it would avenge 22 comrades killed during a recent jail siege, did nothing to deter the pilgrims.

In the farming village of Cutud, 90 minutes north of Manila, 11 men had themselves nailed to crosses in imitation of Christ’s suffering. The gory ritual is not sanctioned by the Church as part of Easter but has become a magnet for the curious and devout in the heavily Catholic country.