Since the early morning hours, occupied Jerusalem headed towards the Old City of Jerusalem, hoping to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where one of the greatest rituals of the Christian religion takes place during Easter, which is "the brightness of the holy light from the tomb of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him," according to their belief.

As the holy light comes out of the tomb after the patriarch enters it to perform prayers and wait for its brightness, the throats of Christians resound, and the worshipers are blessed by lighting the candles they carry before the journey of light begins to Palestinian cities and the world through the representatives of the sects.

Christians around the world pay huge sums to reach Jerusalem to participate in these religious rites that take place on Holy Saturday, but the occupation authorities decided this year, as in previous years, to reduce the joy of the Christian Easter by announcing measures restricting celebrations and preventing Christians from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and its square, and limiting the number of those who will be allowed to do so to only 1800,<> people.

Anyone belonging to the Eastern sects arrived to celebrate the "Sabbath of Light" but was forcibly prevented from doing so (Al Jazeera)

Qibla of Christian pilgrims

Many languages are heard by everyone who arrives in the Old City on this day, in addition to many Palestinian dialects, as everyone belonging to the eastern sects arrived to celebrate the "Sabbath of Light" but was forcibly prevented from doing so.

The occupation police have deployed dozens of checkpoints inside the Old City and its surroundings, and assaulted Christian worshipers and prevented them from passing them to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and in front of a checkpoint erected at the New Gate (one of the gates of the Old City) met Al Jazeera Net Balqdisi Rami Saleh, who tried to reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from there after failing his attempt to reach it in the early morning hours from the side of the Jaffa Gate.

The young man said angrily that he had inquired with the Israeli police why he had been denied entry to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre while allowing settlers to reach the Western Wall to pray, to which he replied that they were going to the "Western Wall and not the church" and that he should go to the new gate.

Saleh's attempts to reach the church were unsuccessful, and in his commentary on this, he said, "The Christians of Jerusalem are the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and preventing them from reaching the church is unfair and contrary to the principle of freedom of worship, and the police's claim that the church cannot accommodate thousands of worshipers is false and untrue."

Christian worshippers are blessed by lighting candles before the journey of light begins to Palestinian cities and the world through the representatives of the denominations (Al Jazeera)

Chairman of the Higher Presidential Committee for the follow-up of church affairs in Palestine, Dr. Ramzi Khoury, began his speech to Al Jazeera Net by saying that the repeated restrictions imposed by the occupation on worshipers participating in the Sabbath of Light will drag the region to more violence, adding that it is absolutely unacceptable that the Israelis determine the number of Christians celebrating their holiday because this restricts the freedom of worship and the practice of religious rites, a right guaranteed by international and humanitarian law.

When asked about the restriction on the number of people celebrating Holy Saturday and whether it was due to the occupation's fear of Christian or Muslim numerical power inside the Old City of Jerusalem, Khoury said that these measures are only aimed at imposing more control over the city and insisting on Judaizing it by rejecting diversity.

"These measures are just flimsy arguments, and the occupation knows that the churches of Jerusalem have their youth and scout groups, and they are responsible for organizing celebrations on all holidays, and Holy Saturday arrangements inside and outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have an exclusive role played by the churches, and the Israeli police have no right to interfere in our internal affairs and arrangements," he said.

Israeli occupation forces erect checkpoints and prevent Holy Saturday celebrants from reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Al-Jazeera)

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Dr. Ramzi Khoury refuted the occupation's claims that the measures imposed aim to provide "safe worship", saying that this applies only to worshipers coming to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, while the settlers harness all the possibilities for the occupation, no matter how large their numbers.

Khoury believes that these occupation practices in the holy city aim to displace the largest possible number of residents, especially Christians, calling on the city's Christians, Muslims and Christians, not to submit to measures aimed at changing the historical, geographical and demographic situation of the city.

In terms of action against repeated attempts to thwart one of the greatest Christian celebrations in Jerusalem, Khoury said that the Higher Presidential Committee for the Follow-up of Church Affairs in Palestine addressed all the churches of the world and put them in the picture of developments that he described as dangerous, which affect the Christian presence in the Holy Land, especially in the city of Jerusalem.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement that the restrictions that the Israeli police are trying to impose on Holy Light Saturday ceremonies based on the recommendations of a "security engineer belonging to the Church" are erroneous and misleading and are rejected by the Patriarchate, which "looks forward to celebrating the Holy Light and Resurrection Sabbath ceremonies of Christ with the faithful and pilgrims from near and far, as it has done safely for nearly two thousand years."

The scenes of Christians being detained behind occupation checkpoints inside and around the Old City are reminiscent of the restrictions on Muslim worshipers coming to Al-Aqsa during the past days, and preventing them from reaching this sanctuary, especially during the settlers' celebration of the Jewish Passover by carrying out mass raids on the mosque.

The scene inside the first of the two qiblas was no less bleak, as the occupation forces stormed the mosque in large numbers for two consecutive nights in order to empty it of the protesters, and more than 450 Palestinians were arrested and injured during the raid in order to provide a safe incursion into the extremists.