Christmas celebrations... absent for the second year from the land of birth

Yes, in the land of Christmas, for the second year, Christmas celebrations are forcibly absent. There is no Christmas tree decorated, no celebrations held, and no manifestations of the holiday. Not in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, peace be upon him, nor in Jerusalem, the Via Dolorosa. This absence and the limitation of celebrations to rituals, rites, and religious prayers is due to the massacres and genocide committed against our people, not only in the steadfast Gaza Strip, but extending to the entire geography of the homeland. Our people, like all peoples, want to participate in the Christmas celebrations. In fact, they are the main arena and center in the world for these celebrations, as delegations, visitors, and pilgrims come to Bethlehem from abroad to participate in these celebrations and light the Christmas tree. But there are those who confiscate the joy of our people, and do not want children to have joy and smiles on their faces on this holiday. How will the children of Palestine rejoice and be happy, when more than 16,000 Palestinian children have been killed by the continuous Israeli raids and bombardment, some of whom have been killed by hunger, malnutrition, and lack of milk?

Yes, while the eyes of the world are directed during Christmas to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, the city, its streets and alleys appear almost empty of tourists for the second year in a row, and the Christmas tree, decorations and lights are absent from Manger Square in Bethlehem, while the genocidal war perpetrated by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip continues.

In the press conference held in the Bethlehem Municipality, Saturday 12-21-2024, for the glorious Christmas holidays, the Mayor of Bethlehem, Anton Salman, said, “Bethlehem is the capital of Christmas, and in this glorious Christmas season, the candle of hope is lit again, calling on the peoples of the world to adopt the values of Christmas; peace, justice and love. Our message is clear and evident: despite the pain and injustice, we remain a living people who love peace, adore life and cling to their roots in this holy land, so that we may remain witnesses to Christmas and salvation, carrying a message of hope and peace, believing in the justice of heaven that will inevitably come, despite the hatred, injustice and persecution that beset our time.”

The two cities that were most clearly and significantly affected after the aggressive war launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip, since October 7, 2023, especially in the tourism sector and its associated commercial and economic movement, hotels, restaurants, and oriental antiques shops, are Jerusalem and Bethlehem, as the two cities suffered from isolation, and tourism stopped completely, and no pilgrims, visitors, or tourists came to them. In addition, these two cities were besieged, and Jerusalem turned into a military barracks. Fixed and mobile military checkpoints, and an unprecedented security and police presence. Bethlehem had checkpoints placed at its entrances, and its villages were separated from each other, and it was separated from the city of Bethlehem by more checkpoints and gates. Anyone who wants to reach Bethlehem thinks a hundred times before coming to it, as the occupation checkpoints and gates are subject to the moods of its soldiers, so the Palestinian citizen does not know when those checkpoints will open and when they will close, as well as those gates that are controlled by the moods of the soldiers.

The tourism sector in these two cities received a severe blow from which it has not recovered, as the "Corona" pandemic, from March 2020 until mid-2022, paralyzed the tourism movement in particular, and the commercial and economic movement in a very large way, and now came the battle of October 7, which has been ongoing for 443 days, and the two cities are in a state of almost complete commercial and economic paralysis.

In this regard, the Palestinian Minister of Tourism, Mr. Hani Al-Hayek, said, “Since the aggression of October 7, 2023, the tourism sector has suffered huge losses estimated at more than one billion dollars, of which about 600 million dollars were lost by Bethlehem alone, in addition to indirect losses. The unemployment rate has also risen to more than 36%, and the poverty rate has increased, as about 30% of Bethlehem’s population has no source of income.

What applies to Bethlehem applies to the city of Jerusalem. Commercial and economic activity there is almost paralyzed, and many merchants are closing their shops, as they have come to feel that closing their shops saves them the expenses incurred by opening them, such as electricity, water, services, taxes, maintenance, and various expenses.

We do not know whether the upcoming holidays for our Palestinian people, Islamic and Christian, will be able to enjoy security, peace, freedom and independence, in light of an unjust international community that is complicit in our people, as it has not moved a finger in the face of the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing committed against this people. Even the leaders and officers of the occupying state, headed by Moshe Ya’alon, the former Minister of War and Chief of Staff, said that there are acts of ethnic cleansing being practiced in the northern Gaza Strip, and that the Israeli army is not the most moral of the world’s armies. Meanwhile, the commander of the 252nd Division said that on the Netzarim axis, there is what is known as the corpse line, where the bodies of Palestinians are thrown and left to be devoured by dogs. A reserve officer said that the soldiers and commanders are acting like armed militias, and are killing civilians on their own, without referring to any laws or instructions.

We ask all countries of the world, especially those that always talk about freedom, democracy, justice, human rights, children's rights, women's rights, and the right of peoples to self-determination: Where is Palestine and its people in all these statements and values that you promote, and we discover that they are nothing but a set of lies, deception, and misleading? The war of extermination that is being waged against our people in the Gaza Strip, targeting children, women, buildings, centers, and civil institutions, and the bodies of Palestinians that are being devoured by dogs, have not convinced you to take action to stop these crimes, destruction, and starvation. Is this because you consider our Arab and Islamic peoples, according to your racist and supremacist theories of what is known as the "end of history" or the "clash of civilizations", to be barbaric, uncivilized peoples, and therefore we do not deserve to live, but rather we must be eliminated, so that what you call peace and stability may prevail in the world?

Finally, I say: How many Christmas, Easter, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha will our Palestinian people experience while they are under the last occupation in the world that is robbing them of their land and their right to live in security and stability in a free homeland where their children enjoy the freedom to play, move and celebrate holidays with joy and without fear?!

No Christmas tree is decorated, no Ramadan decorations are hung in the place of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey, peace be upon him, and no Christmas tree is decorated and lit in the cradle of the Arab Christ, peace be upon him. The children of Gaza are in a state of constant terror and fear, as the bullets and bombing of the occupation’s aircraft sow terror, fear and death among them.