How Palestinian Christians marked Easter against the backdrop of war

Geoff Bennett:

Today, holy sites in Jerusalem are open once again after being largely closed for 40 days during the war with Iran.

Last night, we reported on Israeli families who marked Passover under threat by Iran and Hezbollah.

Tonight, producer Karl Bostic and our Nick Schifrin visit Palestinian Christians who weren't able to access their holiest sites during their holiest days.

Nick Schifrin:

In Jerusalem's Old City during Holy Week, the streets should have been packed with pilgrims. But stone passageways worn smooth through centuries by the faithful echoed with the silence of absence. And on Good Friday, the path that marks Jesus' final steps, Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross, stood mostly empty, a casualty of war.

Rafi Ghattas, St. James Church:

What a sad day today for Jerusalem. The Israeli authority forbid us to have the Way of the Cross and to pray in the Station of the Cross. Jesus put his hand while he was carrying the cross.

Nick Schifrin:

Rafi Ghattas is an official at the Catholic St. James Church, but also works as a tour guide. The Iran war threatened him and this ancient city's holiest shrines. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile landed right next to the Old City walls, other pieces next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Christ's resurrection, and outside the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site.

And so Israeli police restricted who could access the Old City and capped the number of people who could come to worship.

Rafi Ghattas:

Two thousand years ago, Jesus on this same day was carrying his cross, walking here through these streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Holy City, carrying the cross and walking alone.

And, today, we are doing the same.

Nick Schifrin:

A few of the faithful were allowed carrying crosses, whispering prayers. At the Stations of the Cross, they stopped where Jesus stopped to walk in his footsteps.

Rafi Ghattas:

We can touch the same place where Jesus touched. We can feel the spirit of Jesus that is here. In this place, his blood were mixed with the stones of this city. It's the same Jerusalem that Jesus Christ gave us his salvation. It's the same Jerusalem that Jesus was crucified here.

And, today, our heart is broken and we are feeling sad and emotions because it's our right to pray in this place.

Nick Schifrin:

And so with large groups prohibited from the Old City, Palestinian Christians improvised. In East Jerusalem, Palestinians recreated the Stations of the Cross, where Jesus took his final steps.

This is Beit Hanina, part of Jerusalem captured by Israel in 1967. Many of the residents here are known as Jerusalemites, their multiple identities born from their being from this city, Christian and Palestinian.

Across Israel and the West Bank, there are about 220,000 Palestinian Christians bound on this day by one ritual. Among the youngest faithful, 6-year-old Alexander, the son of Sami Helou.

Sami Helou, Palestinian Christian:

If they close the Old City for us, it doesn't matter. I mean, it hurts, but it will not stop me from living my faith and practicing my faith. I will practice it anyhow, regardless. I will always have my Via Dolorosa. Nobody can take it from me.

Nick Schifrin:

And so, on this day, when the Bible teaches that Jesus was crucified, Helou marked a 2,000-year-old tradition in this Catholic Church, St. James the Apostle, led in part by Rafi Ghattas.

But these Christians accuse Israel of seeing only one side of their identity and restricting their freedom as Palestinians, leading many Palestinian Christians to leave.

Genia Helou-Raad is Sami's sister.

Genia Helou-Raad, Palestinian Christian:

We are constantly pushed out. And when you're a minority, I think this gives you always this feeling of threat, of uncertainties, of -- just of fear, let me say.

Sami Helou:

Christian Palestinians we have persevered throughout many political changes, throughout history, 2,000 years. We have carried our crosses. We have shed our blood happily. However, in these days, you are being treated as Palestinians, so it doesn't matter.

Nick Schifrin:

And yet, during these holy days, their main message echoes Pope Leo's call for peace, including in Iran.

Pope Leo XIV (through interpreter):

Only through a return to negotiation can an end to the war be achieved.

Sami Helou:

War has never came out with any good outcome. Iranian, Gazan, Jewish, everybody has parents and children or families that love them. So, people just die for nothing.

Genia Helou-Raad:

Everybody loses. There's no...

Sami Helou:

Everybody loses in the war.

Genia Helou-Raad:

Nobody wins out of war.

Nick Schifrin:

Holy days during war can be a test of faith. And so they struggle to preserve their traditions, to keep and nurture that faith.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin.