Palestinian safety forces deployed across the Church of the Nativity within the West Financial institution holy metropolis of Bethlehem on Tuesday, because the trustworthy ready for one more solemn Christmas overshadowed by the struggle in Gaza.
An uncommon calm enveloped Manger Sq., the guts of the Palestinian metropolis dominated by the revered church that marks the positioning the place Christians imagine Jesus Christ was born.
The white-walled compound and its surrounding plaza have been empty, save for just a few distributors promoting espresso and corn and a big contingent of journalists, an AFP reporter noticed.
Lacking for a second consecutive yr have been the decorations, bustling vacationers and crowds of pilgrims that have been staples of Christmases previous, reflecting the sombre temper because the struggle between Israel and Palestinian militants within the Gaza Strip drags on.
The preventing in Gaza — which is separated from the occupied West Financial institution by a swath of Israeli territory — erupted after Hamas’s lethal assault on Israel on October 7 final yr.
Historically, a grand Christmas tree would mild up Manger Sq., however native authorities opted in opposition to elaborate celebrations for a second yr.
“This yr we restricted our pleasure,” Bethlehem mayor Anton Salman informed AFP.
“We wish to deal with the Palestinian actuality and present the world that Palestine remains to be affected by the Israeli occupation, nonetheless affected by the injustice.”
Prayers, together with the church’s famed midnight mass, will nonetheless be held within the presence of the Catholic Church’s Latin Patriarch, however the festivities might be of a extra strictly spiritual nature than the festive celebrations the town as soon as held.
Regardless of the gloomy temper, some Christians within the Holy Land — who quantity about 185,000 in Israel and 47,000 within the Palestinian territories — are discovering refuge in prayer.
“Christmas is a feast of religion… We’ll pray and ask God to finish our struggling,” Salman mentioned.
– No vacationers, no enterprise –
Distributors in entrance of the native municipality constructing, the Bethlehem Peace Middle, waited for purchasers in useless behind pots filled with steaming espresso.
Mohammad Awad, 57, has been promoting espresso for greater than 25 years on the foot of the Mosque of Omar, whose elegant minaret stands immediately reverse the Church of the Nativity.
“Enterprise was good earlier than the struggle, however now there isn’t any one,” the seller lamented. “I hope the struggle in Gaza will finish quickly and that vacationers will return.”
Whereas most streets have been quiet, a handful of tourists may nonetheless be seen within the space.
“On one hand, it is unhappy that there are so few individuals,” mentioned Christiana von der Tann, a German who got here along with her husband to spend the vacations along with her daughter, a journalist in Tel Aviv.
“However then you possibly can entry the Church of the Nativity as you possibly can freely go inside… That is the benefit.
“But it surely’s very unhappy for the individuals right here, it is very unhappy they can not promote their items. They have a extremely exhausting time.”
Violence throughout the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution has surged because the struggle in Gaza broke out, however Bethlehem has remained largely quiet, despite the fact that the preventing has taken a toll on the now predominantly Muslim metropolis.
International vacationers, on whom Bethlehem’s financial system virtually completely depends, stopped coming because of the struggle. And a rise in restrictions on motion within the type of Israeli checkpoints can also be stopping many Palestinians from visiting.
“Final night time, there was a rocket assault in Tel Aviv and it was somewhat scary,” mentioned Tann.
“We needed to go to a shelter room. That was a particular expertise. You do not neglect that you’re in a rustic at struggle.”
