Ninety-nine Christian pilgrims returned to Egypt from Jeruslaem on Monday on an Aarsena flight after celebrating Easter.
Dozens of Egyptian Christians traveled to Jerusalem but were not received by the Coptic Orthodox Church there, which said it respects instructions given by the late Pope Shenouda III, who ordered Egyptian Copts not to visit Jerusalem while it remained under Israeli occupation.
Father Misael of the Saint Helena Chapel, which represents the Egyptian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, had barred the Egyptian visitors from attending the Easter celebrations, saying that the directives made by Egypt’s late pope must be respected.
Visiting religious landmarks in the occupied Palestinian territories has long been a controversial issue among religious scholars and activists.
While some believe such visits would grant the Israeli occupation legitimacy by seeking Israeli visa approvals, others deem them necessary as a form of defiance to the occupation and an attempt to emphasize Arab presence in the occupied lands.
