Two years ago, a crush at a packed Jewish holy site in the country’s north killed 45 people. Israel says it’s committed to ensuring freedom of worship for Jews, Christians and Muslims and portrays itself as an island of tolerance in the Middle East. The friction over Saturday’s Orthodox Easter ritual has been fueled in part by a rare convergence of holidays in Jerusalem’s bustling Old City. Israel captured the Old City, along with the rest of the city’s eastern half, in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it in a move not internationally recognized. “It’s the light of Christ,” she said, standing between an ice cream parlor and a dumpster in the Old City.

Source: Ethiopian News April 13, 2023 20:48 UTC