Wartime Christmas in the Holy Land: more duty than joy Banksy stop sign stolen: London police arrest second man

These words from the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke may be difficult for many Christians in the Middle East and beyond, given the horrific images of the Islamist Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip. For some, Christmas this year is more of a chore than a celebration.

«The atmosphere is very sad. No one wants to celebrate in light of the Gaza war,” Anton Siniora, a Christian from Jerusalem, told the German news agency on Sunday. “This year we didn’t even put up a Christmas tree. Only a few families did this to give their children at least a little joy,” he added.

Bethlehem, with the world-famous Church of the Nativity south of Jerusalem, is also a sad, desolate place this Christmas. In the church, under whose altar there is the cave in which, according to tradition, Jesus Christ was born more than 2,000 years ago, midnight mass will also be celebrated this Christmas.

The city, where tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world usually gather at Christmas, has been deserted due to Israel’s war and lockdown. The large Christmas tree that stood in front of the Church of the Nativity during Advent is missing. The heads of the churches in Jerusalem had already decided in November that Christmas decorations would not be allowed in the Holy Land because of the war.

‘It’s not just a sad Christmas, it’s also an economic catastrophe’ said George Rishmawi, a resident of Bethlehem. “The Israeli occupation has suppressed the economy. Due to the lockdown in the city, no one can enter or leave the city without a pass,” he said. Bethlehem is under siege. In addition, civil servants would no longer receive salaries because the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, has run out of money.

No one can go to work in Israel anymore, there are no tourists and sales of the famous olive wood Christmas souvenirs are virtually nil. “It’s sad, and instead of going to Mangerplein in front of the Church of the Nativity like every Christmas, I’m staying at home.”said Rishmawi. “Everyone here thinks the same about the killings in the Gaza Strip,” he added. He has never seen Bethlehem so gloomy, not even during the corona pandemic. And no one wants to meet the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbatista Pizzaballa, because everyone is annoyed that he met Israeli President Izchak Herzog.

Pizzaballa completed the traditional Christmas procession from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Sunday morning as the highest representative of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land. However, on the car journey he was only accompanied by a few faithful and a few Franciscans. As every year, the procession started at the Jaffa Gate in the historic Old City of Jerusalem and ended at the Church of the Nativity.

In the Holy Land, Christians form only a very small minority: About 1,000 Christians live in the Gaza Strip, out of a total population of about 2.2 million. In Israel, Christians make up almost two percent of the approximately 10 million citizens. In the West Bank this concerns about 1.5 percent of the approximately 3.2 million Palestinians.

French President Emmanuel Macron called Pizzaballa and assured him of France’s continued solidarity. Macron expressed deep concern about the dramatic situation of the Latin Church in Gaza, where hundreds of citizens of all denominations have taken refuge and have been under fire for months.

Despite the generally subdued mood, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope in a Christmas message that the Christian festival would put an end to the deaths in the Gaza Strip. However, there were no signs of this. Abbas emphasized that Palestinians continue to fight for their right to their own sovereign state. (saw/sda/dpa)