Yesterday, the Jordan Times provided a picture of Bethlehem’s Christmas this year in their article, “Israel’s Gaza War, West Bank Raids Stole Bethlehem’s Christmas”: “There are no colored lights decorating tall pine tree on the edge of Manger Square…. There will be no marching Palestinian Boy Scout bands on Christmas Eve ahead of the religious service in St. Catherine’s Catholic church.” Rather, the “Boy scouts will walk silently across Bethlehem, in mourning for the nearly 20,000 Palestinians who have died from Israeli bombing, shelling, and shooting during its ground offensive.” The nativity scene has an “infant Jesus wrapped in a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh lying on a pile of rubble….”
Joining Bethlehem in the sober ceremonies this year is nearby Jerusalem, where the prelates of the Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, and Protestant churches are boycotting celebrations. They have called upon their “congregations to stand strong with those facing” this season’s horrors “by this year foregoing any unnecessary festive activities.”
