Mitri Raheb, Palestinian pastor and theologian and founder and president of Dar Al-Kalama University in Bethlehem, says Israel’s restrictions were perhaps the toughest this year.
“As a pastor, I myself have no permission to go to Holy Week, the most important week for Christians, as Jesus was crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The Palestinian and Christian communities that have been there for two thousand years can’t go there to celebrate and mark the place where it all happened.”
Meanwhile, Laheb said that instigation against Palestinian Christians, particularly clergy members, has been on the rise, with Israeli settlers attacking Christians and even within Jerusalem spitting clergy. This year alone, 43 such incidents have occurred, the pastor said.
“One of the first things you read about Jesus in the church was that he seemed to have been led by the Lamb. But when you heard this today as a Palestinian Christian, I think that our people were led by the Massacre, considering what was going on in Gaza.”