Palestinian Christians celebrate muted Christmas in West Bank • FRANCE 24 English

Christmas Eve access to Bethlehem has been under tight surveillance since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip the town has been all but cut off from The World At Large there is some access for Christmas itself but only at certain times and the Palestinian authorities

Says it’s left many of the West Bank’s Christians without one of their most important holidays closure on all Palestinian cities makes it difficult uh for people to move from one place to another the whole word uh today is celebrating Christmas but not the birthplace of Our Lord uh Jesus

Christ in this Lutheran Church a sign of the desperation for all too many the figure of baby Jesus wearing a cathia amid Rubble God Is With Us in the midst of our fear when Jesus was born There Was Fear there was Darkness there was a massacre even for

Children um but there was hope also uh in the the birth of Jesus so can we dare to Hope in time of fear and despair according to Palestinian statistics 2% of the West Bank’s population are Christians with 6% of them in Bethlehem Nabil runs a hotel

Just a Stones Throw from the church of the Nativity he blames not Islam in the majority here for declining numbers but politics three Muslims we live with them and there’s no any problem with with them the most difficult things that I cannot even go to churches in Jerusalem

I’m totally surrounding we are all surrounded by these walls Jesus was born less than 50 m from my home why I have to go somewhere else to live for Palestinian Christians Christmas this year isn’t a celebration but a moment of calling for peace and resistance next

Palestinian Christians, who make up 2% of the West Bank’s population, observed on Sunday a subdued Christmas Eve in Bethlehem as the town remained under tight surveillance. Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza broke out on Oct 7, Bethlehem – a major Christian pilgrimage destination – has been cut off from the world at large. The town’s Christmas festivities were scrapped amid the ongoing conflict, leaving the usually vibrant streets with only a handful of worshippers and tourists. FRANCE 24’s Luke Shrago reports.

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24 comments

  2. 2% of Palestinians are Christian down from 60%, but we’re listening to these 2% as if they represent Arab Christians

  12. When Jesus comeback he knew very well the people that wanted to kill him last time and when he come back becauseb this people will never believe him

  13. The Middle East used to be a diverse place. Now it’s all Muslim dominated and the one place they’re not dominating is tiny Israel

  16. Protestant church is different from Orthodox and Catholic church. that's why they called protestant they always do protest.

  18. Politicians 💰 🤑 💸 😎 USA 😎 🙈 🙊 🙉 🇺🇸 world 🌎 Double gamer arms commission broker don't trust 🌎

  19. It's well known that the Christians in the West Bank are deeply afraid of the muslims in the west bank.

  20. Long time ago in bethlehem, the holy bible say merries son child jesuis christ was born on xmas day. Hark now here the angle sink.

  24. Christmas is the time for the Catholic Church to remember the genocide and the mass murder of the Jewish Race by Catholic Church from the Inquisition of burning children to the gas chamber of the European Union to the drowning of Jewish children in Bethlehem the genocide of of the Jewish children By Arab Palestinians Civilians Drowning Jew babies drowning jew Babies Drowning Jew babies drowning jew Babies Drowning 0:14

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