It will be a sad and lonely night in Bethlehem.
The hometown of Jesus has canceled its annual Christmas celebration in honor of the ongoing siege in the Gaza Strip, nearly three months into the war between Israel and Hamas.
Bethlehem – or Beit Lechem, located in what is now the Israeli-occupied West Bank – is usually flooded with pilgrims and other celebrations in late December.
This year, however, the celebration is pared back to a razor-wire-covered nativity scene at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church of a keffiyeh-wrapped baby Jesus, surrounded by rubble, NPR reported.
A similar installation will also be placed in Manger Square before Sunday, which is Christmas Eve.
Meanwhile, the Church of the Nativity – which dates back to the sixth century – is practically empty as the usual 6,000 daily visitors who descend on Bethlehem at Christmas time have dropped to less than 1,000 in a month, the Washington Post reported.
The sadness was the joint decision of several Palestinian Christian leaders, who gathered last month to cancel public celebrations following the war in Gaza.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa greeted worshipers in Manger Square, next to the Church of the Nativity, last year. AP A Christmas grotto installation with a covered statue standing amid rubble surrounded by razor wire, on display outside the Church of the Nativity. REUTERS Installation of the Nativity of Christ scene with a figure representing the baby Jesus lying in the middle of the ruins, referring to Gaza. AP
As a result, the usual procession of 28 Boy Scouts who accompany the Latin Patriarch’s procession into the city will be reduced to one, silent troop holding Bible verses about peace and possibly pictures of Gazan children, the Washington Post added.
The reduced holiday comes just a year after Christmas returns to Bethlehem in full swing in 2022, following two years of reduced festivities due to COVID-19.
Christian leaders in Bethlehem loudly condemned Hamas’ surprise terror attack on Israel on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people and saw at least 240 others taken hostage.
“We condemn the brutal attack by Hamas on October 7 that resulted in the loss of the lives of nearly 1,400 Israelis and other nationals, and we call for the immediate release of all civilians held hostage,” a group of Bethlehem clerics wrote in a letter. to President Joe Biden last month.
A Palestinian changes the candles at the Church of the Nativity on Dec. 23. Reuters
Hamas’ brutality, however, does not justify what the group calls “collective violence” against civilians in Gaza, which has now been under siege by Israeli forces for nearly three months, the letter said.
“It is impossible to celebrate when so many – on both sides – have lost so much,” Rami Asakrieh, a Franciscan friar and priest of the Church of St. Catherine, told the Washington Post this week.
“We canceled the celebration as a sign of solidarity with the war victims,” explained Asakrie, who signed the letter to Biden.
In her annual Christmas speech, Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nanania slammed Israel’s retaliatory bombing of Gaza as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing,” the Washington Post said.
The head of the local chamber of commerce, Samir Hazboun, also criticized what he called the “moral failure of the West” to stop the killing of Gazan civilians, the outlet continued.
A priest walks through the empty Church of the Nativity, which is traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ. AP
“If Jesus was born today, he would be born in Gaza in the middle of the ruins,” said the Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, standing over his church’s scattered nativity scene.
“Who can sing ‘Joy to the World’ today?” he lamented, adding that the story of Jesus’ birth in a stable after his parents – Mary, and her husband Joseph, a Jewish man living under Roman rule – could not find accommodation is “a story we Palestinians can understand.”
Although religious activities and regular celebrations have been scaled back, traditional masses will still be read to mark major Christian holidays, Asakrieh told the Washington Post.
“We need a Christmas message more than ever,” he stressed. “We need peace and love. We need light.”
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
