BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem celebrated another somber Christmas Eve under the shade Tuesday at the traditional birthplace of Jesus. war in gaza.
The excitement and cheer that typically occurs in Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank at Christmas was nowhere to be seen. The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were gone. crowd of foreign tourists It usually fills the square.
The Palestinian scouts marched quietly through the city, a departure from the usual noisy brass marching bands. Some held placards that read: “We want life, not death.”
“Peace to Gaza and its people” was proclaimed Tuesday during a Christmas Eve celebration at the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, traditionally recognized as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Palestinian scouts are marching holding posters with the words: , December 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Scouts stand in a traditional Christian procession on Christmas Eve to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Meanwhile, Palestinian security forces erected a fence near the Church of the Nativity, built over the site where Jesus is believed to have been born, and workers cleared out trash cans.
“Bethlehem’s message has always been one of peace and hope,” Mayor Anton Salman said. “And these days, we send a message to the world of peace and hope, but we also insist that the world must work to end our suffering as Palestinians.”
of Cancellation of Christmas events This is causing a serious blow to the town’s economy. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70 percent of Bethlehem’s revenue, nearly all of which comes from the Christmas season. Salman said the unemployment rate hovers around 50%, higher than the 30% unemployment rate in the rest of the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Finance.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, expressed hope that next year would be better, pointing to shuttered shops and empty streets. .
“This must be the last Christmas so sad,” he told a few hundred people gathered at Manger Square, where tens of thousands of people would normally gather. “We send our greetings and prayers to our brothers and sisters in Gaza.”
Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Roman Catholic Church’s top cleric in the Holy Land, will be in attendance for Christmas Eve celebrations at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally recognized by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ. , is welcomed by the local community while passing through an Israeli military checkpoint from Jerusalem. Tuesday, December 24, 2024, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
Pizza Balla held a special pre-Christmas mass Sunday at Holy Family Church in Gaza City. “I saw everything destroyed, poverty, disaster, but I also saw life. Just as they don’t give up, we won’t give up either,” he said.
The number of tourists visiting the town is expected to reach 100,000 by 2024, up from a pre-COVID-19 high of about 2 million a year in 2019, said Jirees Kumshieh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism. It is said that the number has drastically decreased to below.
Although Bethlehem is an important center in the history of Christianity, Christians make up a small percentage of the Holy Land’s approximately 14 million people. According to the US State Department, there are about 182,000 people in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and 1,300 in Gaza.
Nigerian worshipers pray at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Delacroix)
The war in Gaza has deterred tourists and pilgrims alike; Violence spikes in the West Bankmore than 800 Palestinians died in Israeli shelling and dozens of Israelis died in militant attacks.
Since then Attack triggered on October 7, 2023 The war has made it difficult for Palestinians to enter and exit Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the West Bank, with long lines of cars waiting to pass through Israeli military checkpoints. Restrictions also prevent around 150,000 Palestinians from leaving the territory to work in Israel, causing the country’s economy to shrink by 25%.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, and about 90% of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee, according to Gaza health officials. Officials said more than half of the dead were women and children, but did not specify how many were civilians and how many were combatants.
in October 7th attack In southern Israel, Hamas-led militants have killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taken more than 250 hostages.
Elsewhere, Christmas celebrations were also suppressed.
A Syrian Christian man holds a cross and shouts slogans during a protest march after a Christmas tree was torched in the city of Hama on Sunday, Tuesday, December 24, 2024, in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Mara)
Syrians protest after Christmas tree burnt
Scores of Syrian Christians protested in Damascus on Tuesday, demanding protection after a Christmas tree was torched in Hama the previous day.
Videos and images shared on social media showed a large tree emblazoned with a roundabout in Scarabiya, a town in Hama’s countryside, on fire. It remains unclear who set the tree on fire.
A video circulating on social media shows Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a representative of Syria’s new leadership, visiting the site and addressing the community. “This act was committed by non-Syrian people, and they will be punished beyond your expectations,” he said.
Syrian Christians march while carrying crosses and shouting slogans during a protest demonstration after a Christmas tree was torched in the city of Hama on Sunday, Tuesday, December 24, 2024, in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/Hussein Mara)
Germans mourn after Christmas market attack
Germany’s celebrations took a turn for the worse. Car attack at Christmas market Five people were killed and 200 injured on Friday.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his annual Christmas Day recorded speech to mention the attack.
He will acknowledge “sadness, pain, fear and incomprehension about what happened in Magdeburg” but will call on Germans to “stand together”, according to an early copy of his speech.
