Christians sing hallelujah in Jerusalem - Israel/Easter
24/3/08
Undeterred by recent violence, Christians from around the world sang and prayed to mark Easter Sunday at a Jerusalem church believed to be built on the site where Jesus rose from the dead. Polish men in feathered fur hats, Indian women in saris and Palestinian clergy in white and gold robes found shelter from sweltering heat in the cool cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City. The outgoing Roman Catholic leader in the Holy Land, Patriarch Michel Sabbah, criticised Israelis and Palestinians responsible for recent bloodshed, including Israeli military operations, rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and a fatal shooting attack on a Jewish religious seminary. “Despite this, there are hundreds of thousands in both the Palestinian and Israeli societies who send an outcry: peace peace,” Sabbah, a Palestinian, said in a sermon. “We need leaders who are ready to offer their lives for the sake of peace, not leaders who issue orders to kill and assassinate and send others to kill or to get killed.”