This year, there are no festive lights in the birthplace of Christ. Access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been virtually halted since October, with long lines at military checkpoints and restrictions on Palestinians exiting the territory for work. The Irish DFA among others has warned against any travel to Palestinian Authority.
So far 20,000 Palestinians and 1,140 Israelis have died in the latest round of conflict.
While Christmas festivities have been cancelled, religious ceremonies, including a gathering of church leaders and Midnight Mass, will still take place.
Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations have historically reflected the state of Israeli-Palestinian relations, with grim festivities during the intifadas and Israeli army snipers overseeing events during an earlier.
The postponement impacts the Christian communities in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza.
In Jerusalem, the Christian Quarter’s normally bustling passageways are quiet, with shops boarded up and tourists staying away. The 70 hotels in Bethlehem have closed and leaving 6,000 employees in the tourism sector unemployed.
The heads of major churches in Jerusalem announced in November that holiday celebrations would be cancelled. They wrote: “We call upon our congregations to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities.”
City mayor Hana Haniyeh says joyous revelry is untenable at a time of immense suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. “Bethlehem is an essential part of the Palestinian community, So, at Midnight Mass this year, we will pray for peace.”
Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran church pastor, Munther Isaa sats: “While the world is celebrating, our families are displaced and their homes are destroyed. This is Christmas to us in Palestine.”
