No Christmas lights or tree in Bethlehem as festivities are cancelled

“We can’t justify putting out a tree and celebrating as normal when some people [in Gaza] don’t even have houses to go to,” said Ala’a Salameh, one of the owners of Afteem Restaurant, a family owned falafel restaurant just steps from the square.

Salameh said Christmas Eve is usually the busiest day of the year.

“Normally, you can’t find a single chair to sit – we’re full from morning until midnight,” said Salameh. This year, just one table was taken – by journalists taking a break from the rain.

Under a banner that read “Bethlehem’s Christmas bells ring for a ceasefire in Gaza,” teenagers offered small inflatable Santas, but no one was buying.

Instead of their traditional musical march through the streets of Bethlehem, young scouts stood silently with flags. Nearby, a group of local students unfurled a massive Palestinian flag as they stood in silence.

“Our message every year on Christmas is one of peace and love, but this year it’s a message of sadness, grief and anger in front of the international community with what is happening and going on in the Gaza Strip,” Bethlehem Mayor Hana Haniyeh said in an address to the crowd.

The flag of Palestine is unfurled on Manger Square near the Nativity Church in Bethlehem. The church is said to be the birthplace of Jesus.Credit: AP

Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50,000 wounded during Israel’s air and ground offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, according to health officials there, while an estimated 85 per cent of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced.

The war flared after a deadly Hamas assault on southern Israel on October 7 in which militants killed about 1200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostages.

The Gaza war has been accompanied by a surge in violence, with some 300 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire.

The fighting has affected life across the West Bank. Since October 7, access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the Israeli-occupied territory has been difficult, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass military checkpoints.

The restrictions have also prevented tens of thousands of Palestinians from leaving the territory to work in Israel.

Amir Michael Giacaman has reopened his store, Il Bambino, which sells olive wood carvings and other souvenirs, for the first time since October 7. There have been no tourists and few local residents have money to spare because those who worked in Israel have been stuck at home.

“When people have extra money, they go buy food,” said his wife, Safa Giacaman.

“This year, we’re telling the Christmas story. We’re celebrating Jesus, not the tree, not Santa Claus,” she said, as their daughter Makaella ran around the deserted store.

AP

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