(Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men)

The glorious Christmas holiday, celebrated by the Western Christian sects at midnight tonight, with the celebration of the papal feast mass presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem for the Latins, comes at a time filled with hatred, injustice and persecution of our Palestinian people in historic Palestine, as a result of the ongoing sinful aggression against defenceless civilians, whose lives the occupation seeks to destroy and transform their occasions and joys into sorrows, tragedies and disasters, in light of the massacres of genocide committed against the innocent.

Israel, with its extremist entity, did not spare the Palestinians, and did not stop its aggression for a moment since it expanded its scope on October 7, 2023. Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and all Islamic religious occasions came shyly amidst a sea of tears, hope, and supplication to the Almighty to change the situation. Tonight, tomorrow, and until the end of the glorious Christmas holidays and for all Christian sects, it seems that the occupation will maintain its pace of bombing and targeting our people in the various areas of its presence, because this occupation does not realize the truth of the glorious birth that changed humanity, and transformed it from an era of hatred and malice, to an era of bright light and a time that illuminates the future, full of meanings of new life, based on love, justice, and peace, as stated in the Bethlehem statement on the occasion of Christmas.

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, peace be upon him, lit candles of hope in its new Christmas season, calling on the peoples of the world to adopt the values of Christmas with its clear and obvious message, despite the injustice and pain, that the people of Palestine will remain a living people who love peace, clinging to their roots in their holy land, loving life, witnessing the Christmas, and carrying a message of hope, optimism and peace, believing in the justice of heaven.

Bethlehem, like Jerusalem and all the cities of the West Bank, is not far from what is happening in the Gaza Strip. It too suffers from the woes of the siege and restrictions, which have caused its isolation, which has halted tourism and closed doors and windows to pilgrims from around the world who used to flock to the birthplace of Christ to celebrate and revive the holidays. However, this time, for the second year in a row, the holiday will be limited to prayers and religious recitations, based on the national unity that strengthens our unity and social fabric, and a sense of responsibility and duty placed on the shoulders of the Bethlehem Municipality and the city’s institutions, which will commit to a silent holiday with all the Christians of this holy land, in loyalty to the blood of the martyrs, and at the same time in rejection of the unjust occupation measures against our people in the Gaza Strip and all of Palestine.

Christians in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza, Nazareth, Jaffa and all parts of the Palestinian geography, call on the world today to pray with our Palestinian people, who insist on carrying the message of hope and faith in a better tomorrow, hoping that the silence of the world on the night of hymns and ringing of bells will turn into a voice of truth and humanity, and that they will participate with our Palestinian people in creating a future in which noble values will grow and flourish, foremost among which are our freedom, dignity and pride.

We invite the world to sing with us loudly and loudly: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

We pray to Almighty God that our people enjoy security and peace and that joy and happiness spread throughout the world.