Amid a latest Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement and after a two-year hiatus as a result of coronavirus pandemic, Copts at the moment are allowed once more to journey to Jerusalem to go to the holy websites for Easter.
On Feb. 11, the Egyptian Federation of Vacationer Chambers announced it might situation visas for Coptic pilgrims to Jerusalem.
Wajeeh Rizkallah, a member of the Basic Meeting of the Chamber of Tourism Corporations, told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan that tourism corporations are engaged on paperwork for Coptic pilgrimage journeys to Jerusalem. The minimal age this 12 months is 41, he stated, which was decided by the Egyptian safety authorities. Air journey would be the solely technique of transportation.
Rizkallah additional stated, “The variety of tourism corporations organizing Copts’ journeys to Jerusalem is 30, and the ticket costs are set at a minimal of 30,000 Egyptian kilos [$1,900] for the one-week program.”
Measures imposed in Jerusalem in January to stem the unfold of the coronavirus embody two PCR exams: one 48 hours earlier than leaving Egypt and one other upon arrival in Jerusalem. Non secular visits ought to solely start as soon as the second take a look at comes again unfavourable. Pilgrims who take a look at optimistic might be booked in a Jerusalem lodge for isolation and remedy.
The primary group of Copts is scheduled to travel on April 10, and different teams will comply with on April 14 and April 20. Copts’ journeys to the Holy Land embody websites which, in line with Christian perception, witnessed phases of Jesus’ life and crucifixion, akin to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, Jericho, the Mount of Temptation, the Useless Sea and the Mount of Olives.
It appears extra Copts are planning journeys to Jerusalem to rejoice Easter this 12 months, after a two-year hiatus. The Coptic Orthodox Church formally bannned pilgrimage journeys in 1980, however on Jan. 8, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II said in statements to Egyptian TV that “there isn’t any longer any justification for stopping Copts from visiting Jerusalem, as there’s a need that all of us reside in peace.”
The return of Coptic flights to Jerusalem coincides with a rapprochement between Israel and Egypt, particularly in tourism and aviation. On Oct. 3, 2021, an EgyptAir aircraft landed for the primary time at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The direct flight got here after EgyptAir Holding Firm announced in March 2021 that it might begin working flights from Cairo to Tel Aviv as a substitute of Air Sinai. The latter, which is a subsidiary of EgyptAir, had operated flights in unmarked planes to Israel for many years.
Israeli airways submitted in March 2021 a request to the Egyptian authorities to function direct industrial flights to Sharm el-Sheikh in South Sinai, in line with the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
“The pandemic affected tourism basically, not to mention the Copts’ journey to Jerusalem to go to the holy websites for Easter,” Youssef Ragheb, the proprietor of a tourism firm that organizes journeys to Jerusalem, informed Al-Monitor. “The choice to renew Coptic journeys to Jerusalem got here after the world realized that border closures wouldn’t resolve [the pandemic].”
He pressured that “the Copts have the appropriate to go to their holy locations and historic church buildings in Jerusalem away from any political concerns. It’s a non secular matter, and even the Palestinian facet encourages Copts to journey to Jerusalem.”
In 2012, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Arabs, be they Christians or Muslims, to go to Jerusalem.
