Jerusalem enjoys busiest Easter for years
Thousands of Christians from around the world attended church services in 
Jerusalem on Easter, in the busiest Easter weekend since the start of the Palestinian uprising five years ago. Many pilgrims retraced the final steps of Jesus Christ on the Via Dolorosa through the narrow streets of the walled Old City to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, said to be the site of his burial.
About 90,000 tourists were visiting the country for Easter and Passover this year, up 20 percent from last year. 
“For all the inhabitants of this land — Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Druze — we ask God that the grace of the Resurrection may become a blessing and a source of peace, of protection against all oppression, and of courage to face all the challenges of our difficult life here in this Holy Land,” said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the Vatican’s chief representative in the Holy Land, during a mass attended by several thousand worshippers.
