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A young boy climbs on the wall separating men from the women's section at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. (AP)
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04/21
Haaretz |
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04/21
Jerusalem Post |
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| By Ellis Shuman April 21, 2003 |
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An estimated 20,000 people crowded the Western Wall Plaza on Sunday to witness the Birkat Kohanim (priestly blessing), a ritual dating back to the time of the Temple. But police turned back Jewish activists when they tried to enter the Temple Mount complex and the High Court of Justice deferred a ruling allowing Jewish prayer there. Christian celebrations of Easter in the Old City were somber.
"The experience of watching the priestly blessings is just simply indescribable," Hizkiyahu Ben-Tzur told the Jerusalem Post. Ben-Tzur, born in Texas and now a resident of the West Bank town of Shiloh, said participating in the event at the Wall allowed him to "relive what our ancestors did thousands of years ago."
Yediot Aharonot featured a photograph of one religious man, surrounded by a sea of kohanim (priestly descendents) wrapped in prayer shawls, holding aloft a cellular phone so that his relatives and friends could hear a live transmission of the blessing.
Border Policemen ensured security for the thousands of visitors who wandered through the streets of the Old City, enjoyed street performances and visited tourist sites in the Jewish Quarter.
About twenty members of the Temple Mount Faithful, bearing a model of the Holy Temple, gathered at the Western Wall plaza and attempted to enter the Temple Mount complex through the Mugrabi Gate. Police blocked them from proceeding and the group held an impromptu demonstration outside the gate.
The Temple Mount Faithful had petitioned the High Court demanding that Jews be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount, site of the First and Second Temples. Since the outbreak of Palestinian violence at the onset of the Intifada in September 2000, the Temple Mount has been off limits to Jews and Christians.
In its petition, the group argued that it was racist to only allow Muslims to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque and near the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.
The High Court deferred ruling on the Temple Mount Faithful's petition on Sunday, and decided to discuss the issue at a later date after further study. The court did hear security considerations suggesting that opening the Temple Mount to non-Muslims could lead to a renewed outbreak of Arab rioting.
Meanwhile, a small crowd of worshippers gathered in the Old City's Church of the Holy Sepulcher to mark Easter. Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah conducted the mass in front of the ornate stone structure that represents the tomb of Jesus.
At the same time, several hundred Protestants gathered at the Garden Tomb outside the Old City walls, an area revered by some as the site of the resurrection. "Thank you for coming to celebrate the best news of the world, that the tomb is empty and Jesus is alive," said minister Peter Wells, general secretary of the Garden Tomb Association, which manages the site.
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