Bethlehem’s main square is bereft its usual festive splendour and twinkling red, green and white lights. Usually bustling this time of year with thousands of global visitors and with Christians visiting from across the Holy Land—including Gaza—the square is now desolate.
There are no tourists or pilgrims. The abrupt halting of access for Christians from Gaza to Bethlehem, usually facilitated annually by Israeli authorities, has exacerbated the disconnect felt by Gaza’s Christians from their sacred traditions.
Bethlehem is encircled and seemingly under siege in the West Bank, with only one access point, El Nashash, permitted to remain open, while tightly controlled. The tensions, restrictions and accompanying mood are reflected in the very heart of the town that witnessed the Nativity of Jesus Christ and is the birthplace of King David.
This year in the middle of Manger Square stands sombre grey statues depicting the Holy Family. But instead of cheerful Christmas gifts laid in front of them, there are chunks of concrete masonry. The Christmas Star appears as the impact of a missile that had torn through the wall behind a sorrowful-looking Mary; her countenance the same as what is felt by mothers in Gaza.
Speaking to Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Hanania, I asked him how the Christian community in Bethlehem is coping this year in the midst of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. But he replied that he didn’t want to single out the feelings of his community, explaining that the pain is the same for all Palestinian communities in the Holy Land, regardless of religion. Children in Bethlehem have been writing letters of love and support to send to Gaza, I was told.
The war’s profound impact in Bethlehem is illustrated by its empty hotels, once bustling with 150,000 tourists. Tourism employs 20 per cent of the city’s workforce and generates 70 per cent of Bethlehem’s economy.
Mayor Hanania told me about the dire realities and pressures on Bethlehem’s residents: he lamented the acute water scarcity, describing how locals receive less than a third of the water allocated to Israeli settlers nearby. Despite these hardships, though, the mayor underscores the overshadowing tragedy in Gaza as the primary concern that demands attention.
“My children said: ‘No gifts’,” Mayor Hanania said. “They only want to pray for the children in Gaza. They’ve seen kids their age burned and killed, and it’s heartbreaking. It’s not just Bethlehem; other Palestinian cities feel it too—no Christmas decorations, even at home. I spoke with other Christian families, and we all agree—this year, Palestine can’t celebrate.”
Usually each Christmas around 5,000 Scout members travel to Bethlehem from 30 different districts to perform instrumental shows. But this year, only about 250 Scout members showed up. There was no music or singing, only the waving of Palestine flags and banners condemning what is happening in Gaza.
“Cubs this year couldn’t be happy [as] they are witnessing a genocide,” says George Canawati, a Palestinian journalist, lecturer and scout leader. “There is no place for celebration. Adults and children are feeling the same; every person living in Palestine is in grief.”
Pastor Mitri Raheb, who ministers at the evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem and also heads the Diyar Consortium, an ecumenically-oriented organisation, expressed a sense of detachment from this year’s Christmas celebrations happening elsewhere, especially the likes of reindeer and Western-themed festivities that don’t reflect the true essence of Christmas as depicted in the gospel
He underscored how Gaza’s ongoing evacuation reflects the Christmas story—a tale of forced relocation akin to that experienced by the Holy Family amid conflict more than 2,000 years ago. He notes the challenges faced by Gaza’s pregnant women during travel, echoing the hardships of Mary’s journey. The stark absence of space, symbolised by Jesus in a manger hemmed in by a small stable, parallels the struggles of women and children in Gaza who lack safe places, especially to give birth.
“It had become routine in the shopping centre to see children in Bethlehem refusing to buy gifts or Santa toys,” Raheb says, adding how he was reduced to tears when he saw a child who told his mother to send something to Gaza children instead of buying him a Santa toy.
He described to me Gaza’s pivotal role in the Christian narrative and how the Christian origins in Gaza parallel Palestine’s heritage. He highlights significant figures such as St. Hilarion, who emerged in Gaza in the third century. In subsequent centuries, Gaza contributed two bishops to the First Council of Nicaea and nurtured renowned Palestinian Christian artists during the Middle Ages.
He says that Palestinian ties and a sense of citizenship between the Christian community in Bethlehem and Gaza are undeniably strengthened by historical connections that bind the relationship between “the Church of the Nativity and Gaza”.
Christian losses in Gaza are a poignant reminder of the devastation there, Rahab said. Not only are Christians being lost through Israeli air strikes, but additional members of the Christmas community have been lost through tragic indirect consequences such as inadequate medical access. Rahab says there are severe concerns about patients with chronic diseases who can no longer get the medical assistance and equipment they need.
He points out that a number of prominent Christian institutions in Gaza have been impacted by the destruction, including the Arab Orthodox Cultural and Sports Centre, the Al-Ahli hospital (one of the oldest in the city and managed by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem), and educational facilities such as the Rosary Sisters School and a rehabilitation centre for disabled children. Unfortunately, he notes, the religious community in Bethlehem has lost connection with many workers and students at these instituions and can no longer confirm their situation or condition.
Mayor Hanania says he fears that Gaza’s current Christian community of around 1,000 people could be halved by the conflict, both through deaths and those who decide to leave.
Photo: A girl stands next to ‘Nativity under the Rubble’ by Palestinian artist Tariq Salsa in Manger Square near the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, the West Bank, 24 December 2023. (Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images.)
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