CHRISTIANS RETRACE JESUS’ STEPS
By Ben Winograd

Associated Press Writer
Wednesday April 4, 2007 9:01 PM

JERUSALEM (AP) – Thousands of pilgrims retraced Jesus’ footsteps
Wednesday as they celebrated Holy Week at the sites where Christians
mark his crucifixion, death and resurrection.

A decrease in Palestinian-Israeli violence and the overlap of Christian
calendars brought a wave of visitors to the Old City.

Herlind Vermeulen of Belgium, who timed her wedding to her husband,
Wim, for the early spring so they could spend Holy Week honeymooning
in Jerusalem.

"This is the high point," she said.

Tourists had virtually disappeared from Jerusalem when Palestinian
suicide bombers began targeting the city after fighting between
Israel and the Palestinians broke out in September 2000. In recent
years, however, their has been a marked drop in attacks here, and
tourists have slowly returned to the Old City, which holds most of
the holy sites.

Thousands of pilgrims began the celebrations with a Palm Sunday
procession from the Mount of Olives to the Old City, retracing Jesus’
triumphant return to the city. On Good Friday, they will mark his
crucifixion and death. On Sunday, they will celebrate Easter, the
holiest day of the Christian calendar, marking Jesus’ resurrection.

The crowds were also larger than usual as five different Christian
sects – wi th their different calendars – celebrated the Holy Week
festivities on the same days for the first time in four years.

Taking a rest in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where
most Christians believe Jesus was buried, Parisians Giullame and
Anne-Marie Blaise said the Old City seemed more crowded than on any
of their five visits since 1963.

Due to the influx, officials established a strict schedules for each
denomination to conduct religious ceremonies inside the Old City,
said the Rev.

Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan priest based in Jerusalem. There
have occasionally been scuffles during disagreements over access to
holy sites.

Among the beneficiaries of the calendar was Said Samakiyan, 49,
of Jerusalem, whose family typically cannot celebrate Easter on
the same day. He and his mother are members of the Assyrian Church,
while his father is an Armenian Catholic, his wife is Greek Orthodox
and his children are Roman Catholics, he said.

Thousands of Palestinian Christians from nearly Bethlehem also come
to Jerusalem during Holy Week.

Inaam Qumseyh, visiting with her daughter-in-law, said she was
lucky to receive one of the visitor permits the Israeli government
distributed to Bethlehem churches. Two of her sons, aged 30 and 32,
were not so fortunate, she said.

Meanwhile, shopkeepers – known as a pessimistic lot – insisted they
had the fewest customers in years and said only a turn in political
fortunes would bring the crowds back.

"When there is peace, the tourists will come," shopkeeper John
Attieh said.