A GREAT Harwood councillor has written about his experiences in Jerusalem during a recent trip to the conflict-hit area.

Coun Noordad Aziz visited the Holy Land and recounted his adventures on his online blog – including the time he bumped into the ‘messiah himself’. After going through security at an airport in Tel Aviv, Coun Aziz met a fellow traveller, Syvain from France, and even gave him a sandwich.

“He had walked and hitchhiked from Turkey to France and somebody had kindly given him a ticket to the Holy Lane,” he said. “And the reason, he was about to reveal to me, was ‘I am the last king of France, the last pope and I am the messiah brought to bring peace between the three faiths in Jerusalem.”

Coun Aziz also visited Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity which is sited on the spot where Jesus is said to have been born, as well as one of the oldest and largest refugee camp in Palestine.

“How sad that these people are refugees on their own land,” he added.

Coun Aziz’s blog can be read by visiting www.noordadaziz.blogspot.co.uk.