The normally bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus looks like a ghost town on Christmas Eve, with celebrations in Bethlehem, located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, called off as the war in Gaza continues.
The festive lights and Christmas tree that normally decorate Manger Square are missing, as are the throngs of foreign tourists who normally gather each year for the holiday.
“It’s a very sad Christmas. People are watching the news, they have friends and family members in Gaza,” Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian Christian theologian and former pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, told CBC’s Day 6.
“When they look and see the genocide taking place there, they are not up for celebrations and also they are angry that the world cannot even agree on a ceasefire.”
This year, the usual nativity scene in Manger Square — featuring baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and farm animals — is placed amid rubble and razor wire. This scene, Raheb said, is inspired by images and videos of people being pulled from the rubble in Gaza.
A population in mourning
Most years Bethlehem basks in the central place it holds in the Christian story of Jesus’ life, born there in a stable because there was no room for his parents at the inn, and placed in an animal’s manger, the humblest of all possible beds.
Some 2,000 years later, pilgrims usually flock to the reputed location of that stable in Bethlehem’s Byzantine-era Church of the Nativity, where most Christmases there are joyful displays of lights and trees in Manger Square.
But with Israel’s campaign in Gaza having killed more than 20,000 people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave, the mostly Palestinian population of Bethlehem in the Occupied West Bank are in mourning too.
Day 69:16Palestinian Christians prepare for a subdued Christmas in Bethlehem
The city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is said to be the birthplace of Christ and typically draws worshipers from around the world at Christmas but Mitri Raheb, a Christian Palestinian theologian who was born and raised in Bethlehem, says many of the festivities have been canceled this year because of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Christians make up around two per cent of the population across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories and have a smaller proportion in Gaza, according to Protecting Holy Land Christians, a campaign organized by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the war, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israeli towns on Oct. 7 that Israel says killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, has kept away the majority of expected foreign tourists hoping to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem.
Pope condemns ‘terrorism’ tactics
In the lead-up to Christmas, Pope Francis condemned the ongoing killing in Gaza and suggested Israel was using “terrorism” tactics in the region.
According to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “sniper” killed two women earlier this month, whom the pope named as Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar, as they walked to a convent of nuns in the compound of the Holy Family Parish.
The Patriarchate statement said seven other people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others.
“I continue to receive very grave and painful news from Gaza,” Pope Francis said on Dec. 17. “Unarmed civilians are the objects of bombings and shootings. And this happened even inside the Holy Family parish complex, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick or disabled, nuns.”
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the incident was still under review and had no immediate comment on the Pope’s words, the Reuters news agency reported.
“The IDF only targets terrorists and terror infrastructure and does not target civilians, no matter their religion,” the Israeli military said.
‘This is what happened to the Holy Family’
While celebrations are muted in Bethlehem, former pastor Raheb said “the story of Christmas itself is of great importance and essence” this year.
He drew similarities between the once pregnant Mary being on the run from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and 50,000 pregnant Palestinian women in Gaza having nowhere safe to turn today.
Raheb also pointed to Herod, the King of Judea, ordering the murder of children in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill baby Jesus, as similar to the thousands of children killed in Gaza.
Christmas in Bethlehem will not have its usual joy and will be without tourists in the wake of ongoing violence in Gaza, says Palestinian Minister of Tourism Rula Maayah. ‘Unfortunately this year, we’re receiving Christmas without tourists from the world and without Palestinians from other governorates because of the war on Gaza,’ she said.
“Their homes are destroyed. They are delivering [babies] in tents on the streets,” Raheb said. “This is what happened to the Holy Family 2,000 years ago.”
As Canadians prepare for the holiday weekend, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shared a message on Christmas Eve highlighting the values of Christmas.
“For Christians, it’s also a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and the values he embodied. Values like compassion, kindness, and hope,” he said. “That’s not just the true spirit of Christmas, it’s also the true spirit of Canada.”