(RNS) — By any measure, the Holy Week in Jerusalem was eerily quiet as a result of restrictions imposed by Israel against large gatherings due to the U.S.-Israel war in Iran. 

On Palm Sunday, the Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, was barred by Israeli police from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the church where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. And on Easter Sunday (April 5), the cardinal and other Catholic leaders performed Easter rites to empty pews at the Holy Sepulchre, which remained closed to the public. Holy Thursday and Good Friday celebrations were also held without the public. 

As Orthodox Christians prepare to celebrate Pascha, the Orthodox Easter, on Sunday (April 12), Palestinian Christian communities are concerned about how Israel’s control over Jerusalem’s sacred sites and restrictions on Palestinians’ ability to leave the West Bank will impact their ability to live out their faith.

“It’s such an important event in the life of the community. It’s degrading our ability to live our Christian life and to provide a Christian witness,” said Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, a Russian Orthodox nun involved in Holy Land ministries since the 1990s.

The traditional Palm Sunday procession of thousands of Christians who march from Beit Fajr near Bethlehem to the church was canceled for the first time in years due to the church’s closure and Palestinian Christians’ difficulties in reaching Jerusalem. The procession, during which pilgrims sing and wave palm leaves along the 12-mile path, commemorates Jesus’ triumphal return to Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

George Rishmawi, the vice president of the Arab Orthodox Cultural Club of Beit Sahour, a Christian village in the West Bank, said the journey was strewn with obstacles. Palestinians have to demand a permit to visit Jerusalem on the Al-Munasiq app, introduced by Israeli authorities in 2020, and go through numerous Israeli checkpoints before reaching the holy city, he said. 

“Palestinian Christians used to go to Jerusalem to celebrate Palm Sunday, and now there is no way you can get there,” he said. “I can see Jerusalem from my home, but I didn’t go there for a long time.”

Next week, a day before Pascha, leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Church, one of the largest denominations among Palestinian Christians, will hold the Descent of the Holy Fire ceremony, in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch enters Jesus’ tomb and emerges with a lit candle, which Christians believe is a miraculous manifestation of Jesus’ presence. The flame is then passed to the faithful. Though previous ceremonies have drawn thousands of pilgrims, who gather in the church’s tabernacles and on its balconies, only 50 people will be allowed. “It’s absurd to think that only five (50)  people will be allowed in the church,” said Stephanopoulos, who frequently attended the ceremony.

Restricted access to the Holy Sepulchre highlighted the degree to which Israeli authorities control Palestinians’ freedom of worship and other aspects of their lives, said Xavier Abu Eid, a Palestinian Christian and political scientist based in Ramallah in the West Bank.

According to a report that Abu Eid helped draft of the Balasan Initiative for Human Rights, a Palestinian human rights group, Israel has sought to undermine the status quo on Christian sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem through coercive financial measures, the confiscation of religious property and changes to the use of religious sites.

In recent years, during Ramadan especially, Israel has also tightened control over access to the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third-holiest site, where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. Israel has restricted access to the compound to men over 55, women over 50 and children under 12 accompanied by an adult. Nearly 10,000 were allowed to pray at the mosque for this year’s Eid al-Fitr.  

The Israeli government cited security concerns due to past violent incidents at the compound to justify the restrictions. Palestinian advocates say they’re part of a broader effort to gain control over the site, which sits right next to the Temple Mount, one of Judaism’s holiest sites. 

“Israel wants to change the facts on the ground, and who is the authority over the holy sites,” Stephanopoulos said. “They want to change the status quo so that the Israeli government is calling the shots at the holy sites.” 

The erosion of the status quo poses an existential threat to Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land, Abu Eid warns. Palestinian Christians, who represent nearly 1% of the West Bank population, have migrated out of Palestine at a higher rate than Palestinian Muslims, bringing the community to nearly 50,000. Since Israel began its military campaign in the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, the number of Palestinian Christians in the territory has sharply decreased. Israeli strikes killed nearly 72,000 Palestinians and caused damage to two of Gaza’s most important churches, the Holy Family Church and the Church of Saint Porphyrius. 

In the West Bank, the growing number of attacks perpetrated by Jewish settlers, whose presence in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank is deemed illegal under international law, has also pushed Palestinian communities to curtail religious celebrations, Rishmawi, of the Arab Orthodox Cultural Club, said. 

In 2025, attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians and Israeli forces rose by 27% compared to the previous year, according to the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency. 

“Now, with these conditions, we have no appetite to go out and do much more,” said Rishmawi, who noted that, for safety reasons, most Eastern Orthodox celebrations for Easter will be held in churches. “We don’t make big celebrations.”

In January, Jewish settlers established the Yatziv community around Beit Sahour, further threatening the Palestinian Christian presence in the area, said Fares Abraham, a Palestinian-American who leads Levant Ministries, a nonprofit advocating for Palestinian Christians. 

The construction brought road closures and new checkpoints and put pressure on already scarce water resources, effectively isolating Beit Sahour, a majority-Christian village, he said. “From a Palestinian Christian point of view, it feels like a broader system of restrictions … not just limiting movement, but slowly eroding the ability of a community to live, to thrive, to worship, to teach and to remain rooted in the land,” said Abraham.

In such conditions, Palestinian Christians are worried about their ability to maintain their presence in the West Bank in the years to come, Rishmawi said. 

“We are the mother church of all churches. We are the guardians of the faith on the ground in Palestine. And we are also the bridge between Palestine and the world.”