Christmas Celebrations Cancelled in Bethlehem
“No one is in a mood to celebrate.”
For those of us who celebrate Christmas, we generally look fondly upon this season, especially if we have people in our lives to celebrate with. The season can bring about other feelings, such as dread or loneliness, depending on one’s life circumstances, but generally, the winter holiday season is a time of comfort.
But for the people in in Bethlehem, Jesus’s birthplace, Christmas will look much different from normal. For them, starvation takes the place of sprawling feasts and gunshots and blasts will light up the sky instead of Christmas lights. As such, in the words of Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian leader who recently met with American lawmakers, “no one is in a mood to celebrate”.
Palestinian Christians have suffered from restrictions on their freedom of movement for decades due to Israeli occupation. While tourists are allowed to visit various holy sites on Palestinian land with few restrictions, Palestinians need to obtain permits to visit these sites. Without the freedom to visit sacred sites or even attend church services, Palestinian Christians’ faith remains steadfast. They have used their faith to call for justice and an end to the relentless destruction.
It is a common misconception that Palestinian Christians’ interests conflict with their Muslim counterparts’ interests, but this isn’t true. Military checkpoints, discrimination, bombing, raids, and other forms of persecution affect all Palestinians regardless of their faith. Not only that, but Palestinian Christians and Muslims generally don’t harbor animosity towards each other. They lived in relative peace for centuries before Israeli occupation.
With the constant bombardment and lack of resources, Gaza’s Christians fear extinction. Diana Tarazi, one of these Christians, fled to the Holy Family Church, the only Roman Catholic church in the Gaza Strip and huddled with her Muslim neighbors saying prayers for the conflict to stop. Many important Christian sites, such as the Church of Saint Porphyrius, Gaza’s oldest church, were bombed as well.
Palestinian Christians, around 800–1000 in number in Gaza and 50,000 in all occupied territories, form the world’s oldest Christian communities. Dating back to the first century, these Christians’ holy sites are being bombed and desecrated. As “living stones”, these Christians are custodians of a faith born on their land. They tend to be “very educated” and dedicated to serving in business and volunteer work to benefit their communities.
Even as Christians in Christ’s homeland can’t celebrate Christmas, many people seem to be unaware that Palestinian Christians even exist. The Christians of Palestine suffer and pray alongside their Muslim and other non-Christian counterparts. The erasure and eradication of Palestinian Christians will end Christian communities that have been around since Biblical times and an era of interfaith solidarity and peace.
