Travel restrictions in Jaffa: Freedom of movement and religion is questioned

Twice a week buses leave from the Gazans' Garden (Gan HaShnayim) in Jaffa for Jerusalem: people go there in order to pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque. Most of them, the very large majority in fact , are elderly devout women. After the prayers they take a walk through the Old City and return to Jaffa.

Today the police waited at the traditional bus stop and prevented the pilgrims from boarding the Jerusalem  bound bus and leaving Jaffa. So much for the freedom of religion in "the only democracy in the Middle East".

Jerusalem in Jaffa - the patriarch and the mufti

Yesterday the Jaffa based "AlRabita" organization hosted a panel of people who don't often sit together: the patriarch of the orthodox church and the mufti of Jerusalem's Al Aqsa.
The panel met to discuss the religious, cultural and political context of Jerusalem.