Christmas celebrations canceled in Bethlehem this year

December 23, 2023 11:33 AM

Christmas celebrations have been put on hold in Bethlehem this year as the war between Israel and Hamas carries on.

Bethlehem, located in the West Bank, approximately six miles south of Jerusalem, is typically adorned with great spectacle at Christmas, but the joy of the season has been overshadowed by the war in the region.

HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN EXPECT TO HAVE A CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE US THIS CHRISTMAS

“As Christmas approaches, Bethlehem remains sad, just like all other Palestinian cities,” Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Hanania said in his Nov. 30 annual Christmas message.

Palestinian Christians Somber Christmas — Latin clergies pray at the Grotto, under the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023. World-famous Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem have been put on hold due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Hanania announced that the Bethlehem municipality collectively “decided to limit Christmas celebrations to prayers and worship” without the annual spectacle as a “rejection and condemnation of Israeli aggression and the targeting of civilians, women, and children in the Gaza Strip.”

Christian leaders in Bethlehem have condemned the surprise attack by Hamas on Israeli communities on Oct. 7, but officials are also concerned with the current activities of the Israel Defense Forces.

Approximately 120,000 tourists were expected to visit Bethlehem for Christmas in 2022, slightly lower than the 150,000 in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the region is home mostly to Jews and Muslims, approximately 2% of the Palestinian population in the West Bank is Christian. Less than a thousand Christians are also in Gaza.

Some Christian leaders in Bethlehem see the somberness of this year’s celebration as a reminder of the spiritual meaning of the holiday.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Rev. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem staged his church’s nativity with the infant Jesus in the center of a pile of rubble, inspired by the scenes of devastation caused by the war.

“I always say we need to de-romanticize Christmas,” Isaac told NPR. “In reality, it’s a story of a baby who was born in the most difficult circumstances and the Roman Empire under occupation, who survived the massacre of children himself when he was born. So the connection was natural to us.”