Christian pilgrims mark Good Friday in Jerusalem

Thousands of Christians are walking the stone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City to mark Good Friday, retracing the route Jesus took to his crucifixion.

Some pilgrims carry wooden crosses as they walk the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, stopping at stations that mark events that befell Jesus as he was led to his death. In all there are 14 stops along the route, the final five stations are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where many Christians believe Jesus was stripped, crucified, and finally laid to rest before being resurrected on Easter Sunday. 

Some chanted hymns, while others prostrated themselves on a smooth stone slab marking the spot where Jesus' body was placed after being removed from the cross.

The crowd in one of the Old City's streets included two dozen members of an American church group from Ohio, dressed in white. Eileen Joiner, 43, from Akron, Ohio, said she was moved to be in Jerusalem. ''You see a picture and it looks impressive. You see it in person and it's always so much more,'' she said.

The group's pastor, Janice Skeen, said a recent shooting attack in Jerusalem hadn't deterred them. ''You can't escape the feeling and the presence of God here. This is his special land,'' she said.

The March 6 attack by a Palestinian gunman killed eight young students at a Jewish rabbinical seminary in the city, mostly teenagers.

Police said thousands of security personnel were deployed around Jerusalem because of Good Friday and the Jewish festival of Purim, which also falls this weekend. 

'God doesn't have time for us'

Security forces are also on high alert because of fears of a revenge attack for the February assassination of a high-ranking commander in the Lebanese militant group Hizbullah. Israel denied involvement, but Hizbullah threatened to avenge his death with an attack on Israeli targets. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the alert level Friday was one below the maximum.

Israel banned West Bank residents from entering Israel for fear militants might carry out attacks, but the closure also meant many Palestinian Christians couldn't make it to Jerusalem.

Samir Helou, an engineering lecturer from east Jerusalem, said there were markedly fewer local Christians in the Old City this year. ''We pray every year for a better situation, and then every year becomes worse,'' he said.

''We pray, but God doesn't have time for us,'' Helou said.

Other visitors in evidence in Jerusalem hailed from Spain, Poland, the Philippines, Brazil, and several African nations, some wearing traditional costumes.

Anita Ekka, a Catholic nun from Madhya Pradesh, India, said she appealed for an end to conflict. ''We pray here for the peace of the world, of the heart and of the mind,'' she said.

One American visitor, Linda Edwards of Perry, Georgia, said she loved the mix of nationalities but was somewhat put off by the countless vendors hawking postcards and religious trinkets.

If Jesus were here, she said, he would be ''turning all the tables over and would get arrested by the police.''