RAMALLAH - (Xinhua) - Palestinian officials in Bethlehem announced today, Saturday, the start of preparations for this year's Christmas celebrations, with a message entitled "The spirit of Christmas brings us together," amid a complaint about the occupation measures in the city.

It is scheduled to light the Christmas tree, which was erected in the middle of the Church of the Nativity square in Bethlehem, with a height of more than 15 meters, and includes dozens of decorated light ropes and various forms of drawings, next Saturday, with the participation of Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh and other officials.

Hanna Hanania, Mayor of Bethlehem, said during a press conference held at the municipality headquarters to mark the start of the activities for this year that Christmas is a new beginning filled with joy, hope and hope for a better tomorrow, stressing that Bethlehem, the cradle of Christ and the Holy Land, is in dire need of peace based on justice, love of people and living freely. And dignity.

Hanania added that Christmas is passing and the city of the Nativity is still "besieged by the separation wall that Israel is building, 2 km away from the Church of the Nativity, which restricts freedom, impedes movement, and affects all aspects of life."

He added that the Israeli measures make the reality more painful in Bethlehem, but "our hope is always alive with the Christmas star and its sparkling message, and it makes us look to the future with hope and optimism and for a better life that guarantees us to live in freedom, dignity and independence, like the rest of the peoples of the world."

Hanania called on the faithful and peace-loving peoples of the world to visit Bethlehem and make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in order to achieve support for the Palestinian presence on this land and to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people to continue as they have always been witnesses to the birth of Christ.

It is expected that the number of participants in the Christmas tree lighting ceremony will reach tens of thousands, including diplomats and consuls in the State of Palestine and European personalities represented by cities that are sister to it, in addition to artistic teams from Malta, South Africa and France, according to the municipality.

For his part, the Governor of Bethlehem in the Palestinian Authority, Kamel Hamid, said in a speech on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas during the conference that Christmas is "a national day that has been celebrated by the Palestinian people for decades."

Hamid added that Christmas is a global message that renews its importance and historical role and bears the suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of the Israeli occupation, calling for support for the Palestinians' right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state on the 1967 borders.

More than 3.5 million tourists visited the Palestinian territories in 2019, most of them to Bethlehem, before the city was closed following the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in March 2020, according to official statistics.

According to a joint report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Tourism, the losses of the inbound tourism sector to the Palestinian Territories during the year 2020 amounted to about $1.021 billion, after its spending decreased by 68 percent compared to 2019 due to Corona.

In the context, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Rola Maayah said during the conference that the celebration of Christmas this year will be different from the past two years due to Corona disease and the accompanying halt to tourism.

Maayah stated that the current year witnessed a remarkable increase in the number of tourists, which reached 600,000 visitors after the Corona crisis, noting that expectations for the month of December will reach more than 100,000 tourists, with 80% of hotel occupancy.

There are 70 hotels with 4,700 hotel rooms in Bethlehem, while more than 33,000 Palestinian workers are active in the field of tourism in the West Bank governorates, the largest percentage of whom are concentrated in Bethlehem, according to official Palestinian statistics.

Christmas celebrations are usually accompanied by the deployment of Palestinian security forces and the closure of main streets in Bethlehem to facilitate the movement of tourists and pilgrims from various countries and to protect the religious figures present.

Brigadier General Thabet al-Saadi, Director General of Bethlehem Police, confirmed during the conference the police's readiness to maintain security and safety, noting that about 700 officers, 46 vehicles and 17 bicycles will participate in securing the Christmas celebrations, along with other elements from the various security services.

In addition, the convoy of the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, arrived today in Bethlehem, coming from the city of Jerusalem, marking the start of the Christmas celebrations and the feast of St. Catherine the Pastoral, which falls on Sunday.

An official reception for the Custodian of the Holy Land took place at the court of the Church of the Nativity, with the participation of Palestinian officials and a number of Christian clergy, and scout teams played, while Patton later presided over a private prayer in the Church of "St. Katrina".

Ramzi Khoury, head of the Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs in Palestine, told reporters that the message of Christmas and the Palestinian people is "to arm themselves with hope towards achieving national goals by ending the Israeli occupation and establishing a Palestinian state."

In turn, Patton, Custodian of the Holy Land, assured reporters upon his arrival that the Christmas message is always "a message of peace to all peoples of the world," expressing his hope that peace and stability will prevail in the Palestinian territories.

The city of Bethlehem is considered a destination for Christians of the world because it includes the Church of the Nativity, which was built by Constantine the Great in the year 330 AD over a cave or cave in which Jesus was born.

It is believed that the Church of the Nativity is the oldest churches in the world, and there is another basement nearby. It is believed that St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus, Bishop of Rome in the year 383 AD, to translate the Bible from Aramaic and Hebrew into Latin, has spent thirty years of his life translating the Bible.