A heavy winter storm descended on parts of the Middle East on Friday, with snow forcing the closure of all roads leading in and out of Jerusalem and sprinkling Israel’s desert with a rare layer of white.
Snow also fell in parts of the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria as a cold front swept through the region.The Holy Land’s ancient sites were picture-postcard pretty. Snow capped the golden Dome of the Rock, a Muslim site in Jerusalem, dusted the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site, and blanketed the Nativity Church in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born.
“It’s a magic wonderland,” said Miriam Leibowitz, a Jerusalem resident, as she reached a snow-filled city park with her family. “In the middle of Jerusalem we felt like we’re in Switzerland.”
–
A Jewish man prays at the Western Wall as snow falls in the old city of Jerusalem on February 20, 2015. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
__
Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.
