But Muslim activists occupied the land and have erected a large canvas tent where they hold daily prayer services. A crudely constructed minaret with loudspeakers blares the Muslim call to prayer. Green flags of the Islamic Movement flap in the wind. The Muslim activists have created an architectural rendering of an enormous mosque that they propose to build. The battle is now in the Israeli courts.
Christians tell of sporadic incidents.
Muslim teenagers recently threw stones at a Franciscan priest in traditional brown robes leading a tour of pilgrims. The reasons for decades have been economic hardship caused by Israel. But I think increasingly there is a sense of fatigue. These tensions have also surfaced outside Nazareth in the rolling hills of the Galilee, a patchwork of green and brown wheat fields where a young Jesus wandered. Set among these fields is the village of Turan.