JERUSALEM (CWNews.com) - Israel's security services increased security in Jerusalem on Sunday, setting up surveillance cameras near pilgrimage sites throughout the city.
The measures were put in place as millions of pilgrims are expected to descend on the Holy Land during 2000 as part of Jubilee Year celebrations and a visit by Pope John Paul II in March.
The cameras feed into a central monitoring station where police on Sunday sat before rows of video screens scrutinizing visitors to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Garden of Gethsemane.
Israel has stepped up security measures in the country over the past year, as police added fringe apocalyptic groups predicting the end of the world to come in 2000 to the list of possible problem groups which already include extremist Jews and Muslims.
Catholic World News Service Daily News Briefs