Holy Land procession draws fewer pilgrims in era of intifada

Published: 2004-04-06

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Although the annual Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem attracted a smaller crowd than in the years before the intifada, several thousand pilgrims were able to participate in the annual trek. Israeli police flanked the April 4 procession, while Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah brought up the rear. Several groups of pilgrims from Germany, Italy, France and Hong Kong participated in the procession; their music and song intertwined with the Arabic hymns sung by local Catholics. In past years, the procession attracted some 10,000 people, including many foreign pilgrims. "This is the land of the Bible; it is the land of Jesus," said Ortrua Kniezel, 68, a Catholic from Cologne, Germany. "This is not the first time I have come here, so I am not afraid."

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