This Christmas life of jesus returns as a reality for many of his descendants in Holy Land. As soon as he was born, the little son of God had to flee from your land. Since October 7, hundreds of thousands of Gazans have also had to leave their homes, and other shelters found along the way, to preserve their lives. This year, in that same cave where he met the world to save it, according to Christianity, no one comes to remember the deeds of Jesus Christ. In Belenthere is no christmas celebrations. The silence thunders. The emptiness, too. Nothing indicates that the busiest days of this Palestinian city are about to fall: there are no trees or lights on, and almost no shops open. There is not a soul in the church of the nativity. Like all of Palestine, Bethlehem, a holy city if there ever was one, is in mourning. A mourning that shakes.
“Bethlehem is empty, there are no tourists, there are no people, there is nothing,” he explains. Ishmael, a bored shopkeeper. “Bethlehem is dying”, he tells EL PERIÓDICO, before confessing that, in the more than two months of war, he has only managed to sell one handkerchief to a Norwegian journalist. The despair can be touched with your hands in a city that lives on tourism. Nothing is sold, nothing is bought. There is no life. This year, Christian leaders and municipal authorities in the southern West Bank city, nine kilometers from Jerusalem, have decided cancel public Christmas celebrations in solidarity with the suffering in Gaza. For the first time since modern celebrations began, Jesus’ birthplace will not decorate the tree in Manger Square. Thousands of people, completely dependent on the tourism industry, understand this, but they confirm that, for their fragile economiesrepresents a setback that is difficult to overcome after two months without income and aid.
While the Israeli army advances with its offensive on Gaza, oblivious to international pressure, the agony of its Palestinian brothers is transferred to the deserted alleys of Bethlehem. “It’s not fair “That we celebrate Christmas here with the huge tree and the famous lighting of lights when those people are dying,” he says. Rhyme running a Christian bookstore. The tables are empty. The coffee machine, turned off. The books, well organized. She passes the time following the latest news, with ‘Al Jazeera’ blaring. “Before the war, at this point, Bethlehem was very active and many people came from the north [en referencia a la ciudad de Natzaret] and from abroad to visit the Church of the Nativity but now we can’t”, he confesses to this newspaper. “Christmas is not the tree, It’s Jesus”, he defends.
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Jesus, accompanied by his parents Maria and Jose, had to flee due to Herod’s threats to execute all the children born in Bethlehem. This divine family managed to escape to Egypt. But now, centuries after that fruitful escape, the fellow citizens of the son of God They can’t leave their city. “All the access control posts to Belén are closed,” denounces Ismael. And Bethlehem is located in the Palestinian West Bank, where for more than half a century the israeli military occupation controls the roads and the hundreds of checkpoints that it has installed around the cities. Subjected to the absolute mercy of the Israeli military authorities, and surrounded by a concrete wallthe Palestinians of Bethlehem depend on criteria that they do not know to know if today will be the day when, after almost three months, they will be able to leave their city.
“As Palestinians, it is very difficult for us to travel through the West Bank because it is dangerous”, recognizes Ismael, in reference to thethe radical settlers armed groups who act with total impunity from all parts of the occupied territories. “Not being able to go out to trade, my business is completely destroyed; “Nobody buys anything from me and there is no income,” he laments to this newspaper. Furthermore, exceptionally, the previously calm Bethlehem is being subjected to daily military raids and constant arrests. “When night falls, it is not safe to leave the house because you may encounter soldiers who are not willing to talk to you, They are ready to shoot you”, adds this merchant.
This situation of insecurity has a serious impact on a population that was beginning to raise our heads after the blow of the pandemic. Tourism is Bethlehem’s main industry with more than 25% of its active population working directly or indirectly in this sector. For the city’s economy, it represents 65% and for that of the Palestinian Authority (PA), 11%. Just before the pandemic, Belén received 3.5 million visitors in the winter of 2019. Before the war, it seemed that these figures could be recovered but that tragic October 7 changed everything again. “Nobody has a job now“There is nothing, nothing,” explains Rima, exalted, from her empty bookstore. Unemployment, prior to the war, had already reached 20% in this city of 30,000 inhabitants. Almost three months later, it may have gone off.
Only masses and prayers
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“Everything has stopped, I am against the war, against the murders, but I pray for both sides“, for the Jews and the Arabs,” she adds, shocked. “They both need a savior,” says Rima. The few tourists who cross the threshold of his door are part of the 1% of Christian Palestinians that they do not come to Bethlehem for the first time. For this reason, they do not participate as much in the trade dedicated to foreigners, hiring tourist guides, hotels or buying souvenirs. Although the celebrations have been cancelled, the local population of Bethlehem, and those who manage to reach the holy city, will be able to participate in the typical masses and prayers. But nothing will be like the others December 24 and 25in which the Church of the Nativity, built on the grotto that marks the precise place where Jesus was born, was the meeting place for thousands of Christians coming from all places in the world to celebrate this birth.
At the Lutheran Church of Bethlehem, this year’s manger has surprised. He baby Jesus was born among rubble. Just as thousands of children have done in the Gaza Strip. Amid the sadness that dominates Bethlehem, ecclesiastical leaders remember that December 25 not only commemorates the birth of Christ, but also the message of justice, peace and dignity for the humanity he brought with him. “I pray for Jews and Arabs because they need Jesus,” Rima acknowledges. With no end in sight to the open war on Gaza, which has already killed almost 20,000 Palestinians, including dozens of Christians, the Palestinians of Bethlehem also see no end to their agony. And the life of Jesus, of his savior, is repeated in the Holy Land.