Unfortunately the people in Jerusalem were not privileged to be on the streets to welcome Pope Francis . The Israeli Police closed all the roads that led to the areas which he was going to visit, and turned the city into a ghost town.
Jerusalem Christians were 24,000 before Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. Today, we are less than 9,000! This is due to displacement, house confiscation and demolitions, revocation and denial of residency rights and restrictions of movement. We have become an isolated community, economically and socially as a result of Israeli laws against family re-unification, and torn apart by the separation wall. This is the truth of Jerusalem Christians today.
