On the Mount of Olives, I stand in silence before the old city of Jerusalem and just few meters below me, is a Jewish cemetery dated over 3,000 years which holds more than 100,000 graves.

The similarity of these graves is that all the tomb stones appeared to be facing the wall city of the promised land where the sealed Golden Gate is located on the east (right corner). This gate is regarded as a holy site for all faiths and it leads to the temple mount.

In the bible, the Golden Gate is referred as the Beautiful Gate where Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey and into the temple on Palm Sunday. The Christians believe that Jesus will return and walk through this gate for his final judgement. For the Moslems, the gate is the site of future resurrection and it was sealed in 1541 by Ottomon Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent.

According to Anis our guide, the mass grave is built overlooking the Golden Gate because the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come to Jerusalem. Until today, they do not acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. It is said that when the Messiah comes, the Golden Gate will break. It is also said that Sultan Suleyman sealed the gate and built a cemetery in front of it to prevent Jews’ messiah from passing through and entering the gate.

And as I stand in silence before the Golden Gate on the Mount of Olives, I feel the presence of thousands departed souls waiting for their Messiah to come.

Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. – Ezekiel 44 1-3