The Thirtieth Year... A Beautiful Dream and a Painful Reality

December 21, 1995 was a special and great day for Bethlehem. On this day, a new phase in the life of Bethlehem in particular and Palestine in general began, as it witnessed the entry of the Palestinian National Authority into the city of birth and its capital. It was a great challenge for us in terms of religious ceremonies and Christmas celebration arrangements. We only had about two days to prepare for Christmas from a religious, spiritual and organizational perspective, and to welcome the immortal President Yasser Arafat with all the challenges, meanings and messages it entailed. That day marked the beginning of the embodiment of a long-awaited Palestinian dream, after years of sacrifices and challenges. And here we are today, preparing for Christmas after thirty consecutive years, characterized by increasing challenges year after year, from the peak of spiritual, social and national joy and happiness, to the peak of sadness and pain. Will we allow hope to fade in the face of this torrent of children’s blood, destruction and displacement? Christmas arrangements carry two dimensions, a spiritual dimension and a rights dimension, just like the entry of the Palestinian Authority, which also carried two dimensions: national and rights.

Over the course of those thirty years, preparing for Christmas arrangements, we have faced many problems and challenges, which increased every year, bringing with them joy mixed with hope, along with sadness mixed with hope. This is the land of hope and will not be the land of despair. Anyone who follows the content of these arrangements will find that they document historical rights that must be cooperated to preserve. From the departure of the procession of His Beatitude the Patriarch from Jerusalem to Mar Elias, where the Mayor of Beit Jala, the parish priest, and the dignitaries of the city and the parish are waiting to welcome and greet him, considering it the historical borders of the city of Beit Jala, to accompanying him to the area of Rachel’s Tomb, where he is received by the priest of the Bethlehem parish, the deputy mayor, and the parish institutions, in addition to the president, members, and priest of the Beit Sahour parish, to confirm the warm welcome and that Bethlehem begins from there, everyone sets off, accompanied by the Palestinian police, to Manger Square, passing by the scouts and the huge local and international crowds. It has been customary for years now for the Patriarch to get off his vehicle and walk on foot to Manger Square, where he is received there by the Mayor of Bethlehem, the governor, the police chief, and the commander of the region, in a symbolic and essential image that bears the confirmation of very important rights. His Beatitude will then walk with them, followed by dignitaries, notables, believers and attendees to the church courtyard where the monks will receive him with prayers that begin their rituals from there, passing through the Church of the Nativity and arriving at the Church of Saint Catherine. Based on the great importance that His Holiness Pope Francis attaches to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the Holy Land, he bestowed upon its Patriarch the rank of Cardinal, which is one of the highest ecclesiastical and administrative ranks in the Catholic Church, to tell the whole world that Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Palestine and the Holy Land are the mother of churches.

Over the course of those thirty years, during which Bethlehem began a new life under the Palestinian National Authority, which constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian state that the people, all believers, and free people of the world aspire to on the path to achieving just and comprehensive peace, President Yasser Arafat came to Bethlehem among a human flow that the governorate had never witnessed before, and began the annual tradition of his attendance at the Christmas Mass. His words still ring in my ears when he used to say to me: You pray Christmas once, but I pray Christmas three times, referring to his participation in the holiday with the three sister churches: the Latin, the Orthodox, and the Armenian. President Mahmoud Abbas continues on this path in word and deed, and participates in Christmas prayers three times.

Words and gestures that some may find simple, but on the contrary, they are profound and very important on the Christian, national and international levels. Unfortunately, in the thirtieth year of that launch, we find Bethlehem under siege, groaning under the economic burden and the absence of tourism. Groaning in sadness over the killing and displacement taking place in Gaza, groaning over the killing, siege and suffering taking place in the West Bank and Jerusalem in all areas of life. This year’s birth is the saddest of those thirty years. The streets are empty, hearts are extinguished, minds are wandering, hopes are fading, rights are lost, and the life of the Palestinian people is absent from the agenda of decision-makers and influencers in this world. A year that witnesses the most dangerous challenge in the history of this land, as many forces have begun to spread corruption, trying to undermine rights, sow plots and sedition, and sow the seeds of division, as if the Palestinian people lack that.

The year 1995 witnessed the beginning of the embodiment of the Palestinian dream and right, this embodiment that was supposed to grant peace to the region and all its inhabitants, but that step did not please the enemies of peace, who worked hard and with great malice to destroy it, so that today, in the thirtieth year, we have reached a stage where the dream and right are almost fading away. However, with one hand and with the blessings of the birth of the Prince of Peace, let us transform the sacrifices and challenges into a new starting point towards a better future. Let us be careful, let us be gentle like doves but wise like serpents, for the danger is great, and a right that is lost is difficult to restore. What has been achieved must be preserved and not lost.

The year 2025 is the Jubilee Year, when Pope Francis will open the Jubilee Year door in the Vatican on the occasion of Christmas, announcing the start of the Jubilee Year, sending hope, peace and love to a world filled with wars, killing and destruction. Let the war stop, let the killing stop, let people return to their homes and children to their parents who remain, for these are the most basic human rights. Let the pilgrims and pilgrims return to Bethlehem and Jerusalem, praying, supporting and backing them, so that hope remains in life, brought by the birth of the Prince of Peace to this land two thousand and twenty-five years ago.