David Sharrock in Jerusalem
Nine hundred years after the first crusaders reached Jerusalem on a mission to free the Holy City from Islamic control, massacring thousands of Jews and Muslims, a second wave of Western Christians arrived this week with a very different purpose – to apologise for the actions of their bloodthirsty forebears.
The next few weeks may be rather disorientating for the locals, likely to be accosted in the streets by people wanting to express their contrition.
The first party of about 50 “apologisers” entered Jerusalem on Monday, June 28, having walked from Cologne. By July 15 – the day in 1099 on which the walls of the city were breached after a four-year journey by a rag- tag army of fanatics and mercenaries – there should be 2 000 participants.
The Israel co-ordinator of the Reconciliation Walk, Mike Neibur, said the participants had reflected on the violent events of 1099, in which looting and pillage continued for almost three days, and concluded “it was a good idea to go and apologise to the chief rabbinate, the Higher Islamic Council and the Eastern Orthodox community on the anniversary”.
The participants are mostly Protestants from the United States, Britain and Germany.