Palestinian Christians held a “somber” Christmas vigil in Bethlehem this Saturday, singing and praying, with lit candles, for peace in the Gaza Strip, instead of festive celebrations in the place where they believe Jesus was born.
Bethlehem is central because of its role as the place where Jesus was born, in a stable, because there was no more space for his parents in the house. There he was placed in a manger, the humblest of possible cradles.
Some 2,000 years later, pilgrims usually travel to the site where they believe the stable was, at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, with most Christmases being merry, with lights on trees in Manger Square.
But due to Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 20,000 people, according to authorities in the Hamas-ruled enclave, most Palestinians in Bethlehem and the occupied West Bank are in mourning.
This year, they decided not to have the large tree, the centerpiece of Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, due to the carnage taking place 50 kilometers away.
In place of the usual nativity scene, the churches in Bethlehem this year placed the representations amid rubble and barbed wire, in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip.
“Bethlehem is a message. It’s not a city, it’s a message of peace for the whole world. From this sacred place, we send a message of peace… stop the war, stop the blood, death and revenge”, said Father Ibrahim Faltas, a friar present at the vigil.
Christians make up up to 2% of the population of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Protecting the Holy Christian Lands, a campaign organized by church heads in Jerusalem. The proportion of Christians in the Gaza Strip is smaller.
The war, started by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th — with 1,200 dead, most of them civilians — kept most of the foreign tourists expected for Christmas in Bethlehem away.
When Church leaders gathered in Bethlehem earlier this month for the start of Advent, as Christians call the weeks before Christmas, few people were in the usually crowded streets and squares.
“Christmas comes to Belém in a different way. Today Bethlehem, like any Palestinian city, is in mourning. We are sad,” said the city’s mayor, Hanna Hanania, as he lit a candle in Manger Square.
Por Sinan Abu Mayzer