The atmosphere of destruction and massacres carried out by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, has clouded the atmosphere of Christmas celebrations in the courtyard of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the south of the occupied West Bank, where Christians believe that Christ was born.
For the first time in the history of the Palestinian people since the Nakba of 1948, and in a message directed from Bethlehem to the Western world whose eyes are directed to the Church of the Nativity, the Christmas tree, which is a symbol of celebration, was not placed and lit. Instead, an artistic sculpture linking history and the message of Christmas was erected. And the present reality now.
The model, which was executed by the Palestinian artist Tariq Salsa and took three weeks to work on, represents the nativity scene in the form of a destroyed house with the words “Birth under the rubble” written on it. It consists of the remains of stones stacked on the ground and surrounded by barbed wire, representing the devastation that occurred in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli bombing.
The artwork also included a model of the Holy Family, another of the Virgin Mary embracing Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, in the form of a shroud symbolizing the martyrs of Palestine, and a third of the map of Palestine, inside which was a map of Gaza made of iron painted in dark gray.
On the wall of a nearby building, a sign was placed that read: “Stop genocide. Stop forced displacement. Lift the siege,” and another that read: “Christmas bells in Bethlehem call for a ceasefire in Gaza.”
The Christmas star, which represents an important symbol for Christians, was also embodied in the form of an Israeli missile that was dropped inside the Gaza Strip, killing more than 20,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, over a period of 79 days.
The scenes showed a small number of Palestinian activists and children from the Bethlehem camps carrying the Palestinian flag along the church square – which is preparing to hold mass tonight – and some of them began chanting patriotic songs and other songs talking about the martyrs of Gaza.
Christian sects that follow the Western calendar begin their Christmas celebrations by holding midnight mass in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
The church square witnessed an event during which dozens of citizens raised the Palestinian flag, and the children of Bethlehem sent a message to their peers in Gaza and the world in different languages calling on them to stand up to their responsibilities by pressuring the international community to stop the aggression against the Gaza Strip, stressing the right of the children of Palestine to live in freedom, dignity, security and peace, like other children. the world.
Palestinian websites quoted the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, Pastor Munther Ishaq, as saying during the event, “It is difficult for us, our families, and our loved ones to celebrate this year, and our people in Gaza are being subjected to genocide and ethnic cleansing, and what is happening in Gaza is a war of genocide against the Palestinian people.”
He added, “We will continue to pray and will not stop praying and supplicating that our people in the Gaza Strip will be saved from the evil and evil of the aggression against them, and let us confirm that we are here and this is our homeland, which we have no other homeland. If Christ was born today, he would be born under the rubble and he would sympathize with the children of Gaza and Palestine who are being subjected to the most horrific methods of killing and destruction.” “.
The season of tourists and pilgrims arriving in Bethlehem usually begins at the beginning of September of each year, and reaches its peak at Christmas, that is, on December 24 of each year, with the lighting of a tree that was placed in the church courtyard at a height of 8 meters and decorated with lamps. It did not happen this year because of the events in Gaza.
The Church of the Nativity is considered the holiest religious place for Christians, as it is located about 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is believed that it witnessed the birth of Jesus Christ. The church was built in 339 AD, and was rebuilt in the sixth century after a fire broke out in it.
In 2012, the church was listed as the first Palestinian site on the United Nations UNESCO World Heritage List, but due to its poor condition, the organization later classified it on the list of endangered heritage buildings.
In early July 2019, UNESCO removed the Church of the Nativity from the list of endangered World Heritage Sites after restoring most of it.