Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – The Churches of Palestine announced the cancellation of all Christmas celebrations, as a sign of unity with Gaza and rejection of the ongoing aggression against Palestinians, by limiting them to masses and prayers.
In Bethlehem, the Lutheran Church decided that its Christmas Nativity scene would reflect the reality of children living and being born in Palestine today, placing the symbolic Baby Jesus in a Nativity scene of rubble and destruction.
It is a poignant depiction of the suffering of Gaza’s children who find themselves buried under what remains of their own homes, victims of incessant Israeli bombing.
“If Christ were to be born today,” said the Rev. Munther Isaac, “he would be born under Israeli rubble and bombing.
“This is a powerful message we are sending to the world celebrating the holidays.”
The true meaning of Christmas
For Isaac and other Church leaders, it was a way of conveying a message reflecting the birth of Christ, a messenger of justice, peace and dignity for humanity.
Christ was not born among conquerors or those with military power, he said, but in an occupied country, which Palestine was 2,000 years ago.
“Bethlehem is sad and broken. We are all suffering from what is happening in Gaza, we feel helpless and overwhelmed by our inability to offer anything,” he said.
Um Bishara, a mother of four, told Tel Aviv Tribune she was surprised to see the nativity scene with Baby Jesus in the rubble on Sunday.
Crying, she had to sit down as the importance of the exhibition hit her and dedicated her fervent prayers to the children of Gaza, praying that they would find peace and safety.
A pious woman, Um Bishara hopes that the prayers of the faithful in the Holy Land this Christmas can end the pain and killings, and replace them with hope and peace.
Forgetting Palestinian Christians
Two weeks ago, Isaac delivered a letter from the churches of Bethlehem, a city of significant religious significance, to the U.S. administration in Washington, DC.
The letter urges US President Biden, the US Congress and American church leaders to apply Christ’s message rejecting injustice and calls for an end to the genocidal war in Gaza.
“Some Westerners forget the existence of Palestinian Christians. This war affects everything Palestinian, whether Muslim or Christian. It is our responsibility now to raise our voices as a nation to end this war,” Isaac said.
Continuing, he explained how saddened he was by several conversations he had had in the United States, during which he was told that the Israeli attack on Gaza was justified as self-defense measures. However, he added, the thousands of children and innocent people killed daily, as well as churches and hospitals bombed, do not figure in their calculations.
He knows that the struggle to bring change will be long because the Palestinian struggle is not just this war but a deeper struggle to assert the legitimacy of Palestinian existence.
Anton Nassar, principal of Dar Al-Kalima Lutheran School, said Bethlehem was sad and suffering this year, but had not given up hope.
He explained that while the Nativity scene represents the reality of Palestinian life, it also reflects hope as the baby Jesus is born in the rubble, a new light amid the pain.
He said: “We believe in the existence of hope and in the hope of the birth of Jesus in the city of peace, the holy city.
“This is reflected in this painting placed in the church where we pray for a just peace in our country. We pray for an immediate end to the genocidal war against Gaza and for the people of Gaza to enjoy peace based on justice.
“Christmas is in the heart,” Nassar said. “We pray and call upon Jesus to be born again in our lives, our country, our churches and our schools so that we can live in peace and stability and realize our independent state with its capital, Jerusalem. »
