Egypt's Coptic Christians celebrated Palm Sunday today, the first day of the Easter Holy Week, attending mass and reciting hymns at Coptic churches throughout the country. Decked out with flowers, palm fronds and wheat stalks, churches held masses from 5:00 AM to 6:30 AM. Bishop Korolos of the Naga Hammadi church in Upper Egypt, however, declined to receive well-wishers or meet with government officials on the occasion. "We will only hold mass since we are still mourning the six Copts that were killed in front of the church on Coptic Christmas Day," he said. On 6 January, the eve of Coptic Christmas, six Christians and one Muslim security guard were gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside of a church in Naga Hammadi. Three suspected assailants are currently standing trial for their roles in the incident. In the occupied Palestinian territories, meanwhile, Palestinian Christians celebrating Palm Sunday--bearing palm fronds and waiving Palestinian flags--managed to march cross Israel's separation wall from Bethlehem to East Jerusalem without being noticed by security services. They were soon ordered to return, however, by Israeli occupation authorities. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
