BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — Bethlehem marked one other somber Christmas Eve on Tuesday within the conventional birthplace of Jesus below the shadow of struggle in Gaza.
The pleasure and cheer that usually descends on the Palestinian city within the occupied West Bank on Christmas had been nowhere to be discovered: The festive lights and large tree that usually enhance Manger Square had been lacking, and as had been the throngs of overseas vacationers that often fill the sq..
Palestinian scouts marched silently by means of the streets, a departure from their traditional raucous brass marching band. Some carried an indication that learn, “We need life, not dying.”
Palestinian safety forces, in the meantime, organized limitations close to the Nativity Church, constructed atop the spot the place Jesus is believed to have been born, and a employee cleared rubbish bins.
“Always the message of Bethlehem is a message of peace and hope,” mentioned Mayor Anton Salman. “And nowadays, we’re additionally sending our message to the world: peace and hope, however insisting that the world should work to finish our struggling as Palestinian folks.”
The cancellation of Christmas festivities is a extreme blow to the city’s financial system. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s revenue — virtually all of it from the Christmas season. Salman mentioned unemployment is hovering round 50% — larger than the 30% unemployment throughout the remainder of the West Bank, in line with the Palestinian Finance Ministry.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the highest Roman Catholic cleric within the Holy Land, famous the shuttered outlets and empty streets and expressed hope that subsequent yr could be higher.
“This needs to be the final Christmas that’s so unhappy,” he instructed a whole lot of individuals gathered in Manger Square, the place usually tens of 1000’s would congregate. “I convey you the greetings, the prayers, of our brothers and sisters in Gaza.”
Pizzaballa held a particular pre-Christmas mass in Holy Family Church in Gaza City on Sunday. “I noticed all the things destroyed, poverty, catastrophe, however I additionally noticed life. They don’t quit, so we don’t quit,” he mentioned.
The variety of guests to the city plunged from a pre-COVID excessive of round 2 million guests per yr in 2019 to fewer than 100,000 guests in 2024, mentioned Jiries Qumsiyeh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Tourism Ministry.
Bethlehem is a vital middle within the historical past of Christianity, however Christians make up solely a small proportion of the roughly 14 million folks unfold throughout the Holy Land. There are about 182,000 in Israel, 50,000 within the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, in line with the U.S. State Department.
While the struggle in Gaza has deterred vacationers and pilgrims alike, it has additionally prompted a surge of violence within the West Bank, with greater than 800 Palestinians killed by Israeli fireplace and dozens of Israelis killed in militant assaults.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, assault that sparked the struggle, entry to and from Bethlehem and different Palestinian cities within the West Bank has been troublesome, with lengthy strains of motorists ready to go Israeli army checkpoints. Restrictions have additionally prevented some 150,000 Palestinians from leaving the territory to work in Israel, inflicting the financial system there to contract by 25%.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, in line with well being officers there, whereas some 90% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. Officials say greater than half of the useless are ladies and kids, although they don’t give a breakdown of what number of are civilians and what number of fighters.
In the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 folks, most of them civilians, and took greater than 250 hostages.
Elsewhere, Christmas celebrations had been additionally subdued.
Syrians protest after Christmas tree burned
Scores of Syrian Christians protested Tuesday in Damascus, demanding safety after the burning of a Christmas tree in Hama the day earlier than.
Videos and pictures shared on social media confirmed the massive, embellished tree burning at a roundabout in Suqalabiyah, a city within the Hama countryside. It stays unclear who was answerable for setting the tree on fireplace.
In a video that circulated on social media, a consultant of Syria’s new management, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, could possibly be seen visiting the positioning and addressing the neighborhood. He mentioned: “This act was dedicated by people who find themselves not Syrian, and they are going to be punished past your expectations.”
Germans mourn after Christmas market assault
German celebrations had been darkened by a automobile assault on a Christmas market on Friday that left 5 folks useless and 200 folks injured.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his annual recorded Christmas Day speech to handle the assault.
He plans to acknowledge that “there’s grief, ache, horror and incomprehension over what happened in Magdeburg,” whereas urging Germans to “stand collectively,” in line with an early copy of the speech.
