Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, did not set up its huge the tree in Manger Square, the traditional Christmas market in Estrella Street was not open either; nor filled its streets with lights and decorations: the Christmas celebrations were canceled this year in the Palestinian city, mourning the war in the Gaza Strip, where more than 18,000 Palestinians have died.
“We cannot celebrate when our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land suffer hunger and death,” he told EFE Catholic priest Rami Asakriehfrom the Church of St. Catherine, next to the Orthodox Basilica of the Nativity of Jesus, the main pilgrimage center for Christians from all over the world to Bethlehem.
No lights, no music, no songs, no festive atmosphere. It’s a sad Christmas in Bethlehem, A Palestinian city that lives mainly on tourism and pilgrims that the war has reduced to zero, when they have not yet fully recovered from the impact of the pandemic.
The traditional marching band parade on the same day, December 24, which accompanies the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, on his journey on foot to Bethlehem to celebrate Mass, will be dull this year without instruments and colors. “It will be a solemn journey for prayer,” explains Asakrieh.
This Jordanian priest, who has been in Bethlehem for more than 20 years, hopes that Israel will at least open checkpoints and allow Christians from Jerusalem, Jaffa or Ramallah, and other points in the surrounding area, to go to Bethlehem on December 24 and 25. Since the beginning of the war against Hamas in Gaza stripIsrael has cut off access to the main cities of the West Bank, and entering Bethlehem by car is practically impossible.
The heads and patriarchs of the Church of the Holy Land – which includes, among others, Catholics, Orthodox, Armenians, Lutherans, Syrians, Ethiopians, Copts or Melkites – took the first step by announcing already in November that this year’s Christmas will be “solemn, prayerful and fasting” and asked are their communities to refrain from “any unnecessary holiday activities”.
“Since the beginning of the war, there has been an atmosphere of sadness and pain. Thousands of innocent civilians, including women and children, have been killed or seriously wounded,” they said in a joint letter.
But both the municipality and the government of Bethlehem – home to about 30,000 Christians – joined the call and canceled all Christmas activities in the city, where craft and religious souvenir shops, popular restaurants with local food, cafes and hotels are firmly closed.
“Today there are zero tourists because of the war in Gaza”he tells EFE Khouloud Daibes, director of the Bethlehem Development Foundation and former minister of tourism of the Palestinian Authority, which governs small areas of the West Bank.
Daibes regrets that, due to the closure of all access to Bethlehem, Christians from other parts of Israel and Palestine, who have also contributed to economic development, do not go either.
“We are in mourning. We cannot celebrate while the Palestinian people suffer massacres every day. Not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. In Bethlehem, many days we wake up with young people injured or imprisoned by Israel,” Daibes says of the daily attacks. of Israeli troops to the West Bank, which have further escalated since the war in the enclave began.
More than 480 Palestinians have died this year in the West Bank in violent episodes with Israel, most in armed clashes with its troops, the highest number since 2002, at the height of the Second Intifada. More than half, 275 of them, have died since October 7 in Israeli raids in which more than 2,000 Palestinians have been detained.
The Dheisheh refugee camp, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, has suffered several such operations in recent days, leaving more than a dozen people injured and detained.
With the siege of the city, the increased Israeli military presence and the mourning of what is happening in Gaza, the Palestinians of Bethlehem see their economic existence in danger, which is mostly tourism, on which 90 directly or indirectly depends. % of its inhabitants.
This is the case of the Giacaman brothers, who have a family business, founded by their grandfather in 1925, of religious figures carved in olive wood. The shop closed its shutters a few weeks ago and the workshop is kept at half throttle thanks to online orders.
“Now Belén is very tired. I have never seen her like this. The second intifada It was difficult, it also affected our work, but not like this. Nothing looks like Christmas now,” says Nabil Giacaman.
Outside the Old City of Jerusalem – in the eastern half occupied and controlled by Israel – Bethlehem is the jewel of Palestinian tourism, receiving around 2 million visitors a year, including tourists and pilgrims. Half a million of them arrived during the season, from October to December, and more than 100,000 of them during the Christmas week.
Last year, 120,000 tourists went to Bethlehem during the Christmas week, which is close to the record of 150,000 in 2019, before the pandemic. But this year they are “zero”, in the midst of mourning for the war.
Source: Panama America
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
