Gaza War: Jesus바카라� Traditional Birthplace Prepares For A Subdued Christmas

BETHLEHEM, West Bank 바카라� Bethlehem is gearing up for a subdued Christmas, without the festive lights and customary Christmas tree towering over Manger Square, after officials in Jesus바카라� traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.

The cancellation of Christmas festivities, which typically draw thousands of visitors, is a severe blow to the town바카라�s tourism-dependent economy. But joyous revelry is untenable at a time of immense suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, said Mayor Hana Haniyeh.

바카라�The economy is crashing,바카라� Haniyeh told The Associated Press on Friday. 바카라�But if we compare it with what바카라�s happening to our people and Gaza, it바카라�s nothing.바카라�

More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50,000 wounded during Israel바카라�s blistering air and ground offensive against Gaza바카라�s Hamas rulers, according to health officials there, while some 85% of the territory바카라�s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. The war was triggered by Hamas바카라� deadly assault Oct. 7 on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostages.

Since Oct. 7, access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been difficult, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass military checkpoints. The restrictions have also prevented many Palestinians from exiting the territory to work in Israel.

City leaders fret about the impact the closures have on the small Palestinian economy in the West Bank, already struggling with a dramatic fall in tourism since the start of the war. The Palestinian tourism sector has incurred losses of $2.5 million a day, amounting to $200 million by the end of the year, the Palestinian minister of tourism said Wednesday.

The yearly Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem 바카라� shared among Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox denominations 바카라� are major boons for the city, where tourism accounts for 70% of its yearly income. But the streets are empty this season.

With most major airlines canceling flights to Israel, over 70 hotels in Bethlehem have been forced to close, leaving some 6,000 employees in the tourism sector unemployed, according to Sami Thaljieh, manager of the Sancta Maria Hotel.

바카라�I spend my days drinking tea and coffee, waiting for customers who never come. Today, there is no tourism,바카라� said Ahmed Danna, a Bethlehem shop owner.

Haniyeh said that while Christmas festivities have been cancelled, religious ceremonies will take place, including a traditional gathering of church leaders and a Midnight Mass.

바카라�Bethlehem is an essential part of the Palestinian community,바카라� the mayor said. 바카라�So at Midnight Mass this year, we will pray for peace, the message of peace that was founded in Bethlehem when Jesus Christ was born.바카라�

George Carlos Canawati, a Palestinian journalist, lecturer, and scout leader, called his city 바카라�sad and heartbroken.바카라� He said his Boy Scout troop will conduct a silent march across the city, in mourning of those killed in Gaza.

바카라�We receive the Christmas message by rejecting injustice and aggression, and we will pray for peace to come to the land of peace,바카라� said Canawati.

The enthusiasm of Bethlehem바카라�s Christmas festivities have long been a barometer of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Celebrations were grim in 2000 at the start of the second intifada, or uprising, when Israeli forces locked down parts of the West Bank in response to Palestinians carrying out scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed Israeli civilians.

Times were also tense during an earlier Palestinian uprising, which lasted from 1987-1993, when annual festivities in Manger Square were overseen by Israeli army snipers on the rooftops.

The sober mood this year isn바카라�t confined to Bethlehem.

Across the Holy Land, Christmas festivities have been put on hold. There are 182,000 Christians in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department. The vast majority are Palestinians.

In Jerusalem, the normally bustling passageways of the Old City바카라�s Christian Quarter have fallen quiet since the war began. Shops are boarded up, with their owners saying they are too frightened to open 바카라� and even if they did, they say they wouldn바카라�t have much business.

The heads of major churches in Jerusalem announced in November that holiday celebrations would be canceled. 바카라�We call upon our congregations to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities,바카라� they wrote.

At the altar of Bethlehem바카라�s Evangelical Lutheran church, a revised nativity scene is on display. A figure of baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh is perched atop a pile of rubble. The doll lies underneath an olive tree 바카라� for Palestinians, a symbol of steadfastness.

바카라�While the world is celebrating, our children are under the rubble. While the world is celebrating, our families are displaced and their homes are destroyed,바카라� said the church바카라�s Pastor, Munther Isaac. 바카라�This is Christmas to us in Palestine.바카라�