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BETHLEHEM, West Financial institution — The sometimes bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembled a ghost city Sunday after Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem had been known as off as a result of Israel-Hamas struggle.
The festive lights and Christmas tree that usually enhance Manger Sq. had been lacking, as had been the throngs of overseas vacationers and jubilant youth marching bands that collect within the West Financial institution city every year to mark the vacation. Dozens of Palestinian safety forces patrolled the empty sq..
“This 12 months, with out the Christmas tree and with out lights, there’s simply darkness,” mentioned Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who has lived in Jerusalem for six years.
Vinh mentioned he all the time involves Bethlehem to mark Christmas, however this 12 months was particularly sobering. He gazed at a nativity scene in Manger Sq. with a child Jesus wrapped in a white shroud, harking back to the 1000’s of youngsters killed within the preventing in Gaza.
Barbed wire surrounded the scene, the gray rubble reflecting not one of the joyous lights and bursts of shade that usually fill the sq. through the Christmas season. Chilly, wet climate added to the grim temper.
The cancellation of Christmas festivities was a extreme blow to the city’s financial system. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s revenue — virtually all of that through the Christmas season.
With many main airways canceling flights to Israel, few foreigners are visiting. Native officers say over 70 resorts in Bethlehem had been pressured to shut, leaving 1000’s of individuals unemployed.
Reward retailers had been gradual to open on Christmas Eve, though a couple of did as soon as the rain had stopped pouring down. There have been few guests, nonetheless.
“We will’t justify placing out a tree and celebrating as regular, when some folks (in Gaza) don’t even have homes to go to,” mentioned Ala’a Salameh, one of many homeowners of Afteem Restaurant, a family-owned falafel restaurant simply steps from the sq..
Salameh mentioned Christmas Eve is normally the busiest day of the 12 months. “Usually, you possibly can’t discover a single chair to take a seat, we’re full from morning until midnight,” mentioned Salameh. On Sunday morning, only one desk was taken, by journalists taking a break from the rain.
Beneath a banner that learn “Bethlehem’s Christmas bells ring for a cease-fire in Gaza,” a couple of youngsters provided small inflatable Santas, however nobody was shopping for.
As an alternative of their conventional march by the streets of Bethlehem, younger scouts stood silently with flags. A bunch of native college students unfurled a large Palestinian flag as they stood in silence.
An organist with the Church of the Nativity choir, Shukry Mubarak, mentioned the group modified a lot of the normal Christmas musical repertoire from joyful vacation songs to extra solemn hymns in minor keys.
“Our message yearly on Christmas is one in every of peace and love, however this 12 months it is a message of disappointment, grief and anger in entrance of the worldwide neighborhood with what is occurring and happening within the Gaza Strip,” Bethlehem’s mayor, Hana Haniyeh, mentioned in an handle to the gang.
Dr. Joseph Mugasa, a pediatrician, was one of many few worldwide guests. He mentioned his tour group of 15 folks from Tanzania was “decided” to return to the area regardless of the state of affairs.
“I’ve been right here a number of instances, and it’s fairly a novel Christmas, as normally there’s lots of people and lots of celebrations,” he mentioned. “However you possibly can’t rejoice whereas persons are struggling, so we’re unhappy for them and praying for peace.”
Greater than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed and greater than 50,000 wounded throughout Israel’s air and floor offensive in opposition to Gaza’s Hamas rulers, in accordance with well being officers there, whereas some 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced.
The struggle was triggered by Hamas’ lethal assault Oct. 7 on southern Israel wherein militants killed about 1,200 folks, most of them civilians, and took greater than 240 hostages.
The Gaza struggle has been accompanied by a surge in West Financial institution violence, with some 300 Palestinians killed by Israeli hearth.
The preventing has affected life throughout the Israeli-occupied territory. Since Oct. 7, entry to Bethlehem and different Palestinian cities within the West Financial institution has been troublesome, with lengthy traces of motorists ready to move navy checkpoints. The restrictions have additionally prevented tens of 1000’s of Palestinians from exiting the territory to work in Israel.
Amir Michael Giacaman opened his retailer, “Il Bambino,” which sells olive wooden carvings and different souvenirs, for the primary time since Oct. 7. There have been no vacationers, and few native residents have cash to spare as a result of those that labored in Israel have been caught at dwelling.
“When folks have extra cash, they go purchase meals,” mentioned his spouse, Safa Giacaman. “This 12 months, we’re telling the Christmas story. We’re celebrating Jesus, not the tree, not Santa Claus, she mentioned, as their daughter Mikaella ran across the abandoned retailer.
The preventing in Gaza was on the minds of the small Christian neighborhood in Syria, which is dealing with a civil struggle now in its thirteenth 12 months. Christians mentioned they had been looking for pleasure, regardless of the continued strife of their homeland and in Gaza.
“The place is the love? What have we completed with love?” mentioned the Rev. Elias Zahlawi, a priest in Yabroud, a metropolis about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Damascus. “We’ve thrown God outdoors the realm of humanity and sadly, the church has remained silent within the face of this painful actuality.”
Some tried to seek out inspiration within the spirit of Christmas.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arriving from Jerusalem for the normal procession to the Church of the Nativity, advised the sparse crowd that Christmas was a “purpose to hope” regardless of the struggle and violence.
The pared-down Christmas was consistent with the unique message of the vacation and illustrated the numerous methods the neighborhood is coming collectively, mentioned Stephanie Saldaña, who’s initially from San Antonio, Texas, and has lived in Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the previous 15 years along with her husband, a parish priest on the St Joseph Syriac Catholic Church.
“We really feel Christmas as extra actual than ever, as a result of we’re ready for the prince of peace to return. We’re ready for a miracle to cease this struggle,” Saldaña mentioned.
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