For the second year in a row, the Bethlehem Municipality announced that there will be no visible Christmas celebrations this month. Once again, there are no plans to create a traditional Christmas tree. Shops remain closed, and tourism is sparse.
Issa Thaljieh, an Orthodox priest who ministers at the Nativity Church, says Christmas will be a muted affair:
“The Church of the Nativity is the most important spot on earth, and as we come closer to Christmas it is supposed to be packed with visitors and tourists who come to pray and to light a candle of hope. We have never seen it like this, even during COVID.”
The Vatican called for Catholics in Jerusalem to also tone down their holiday celebrations.
“As Christmas approaches with no signs of a ceasefire in Gaza, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem have invited their communities to celebrate in ways that express Christian hope but also respect the hardships endured by the Gaza population amid the ongoing war,” the Vatican said in a statement. “In 2023, the Church leaders made a joint decision to ask Christians in the Holy Land to refrain from displaying Christmas decorations and lights in public places as a means of standing in solidarity with the multitudes suffering from the newly erupted war between Hamas and Israel.”
Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel took control of the city. In 1995, Israel officially withdrew from Bethlehem, and the city came under the administration and military control of the PA. The city’s economy is primarily tourist-driven, peaking during the Christmas season when Christians pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity.
The city’s Christian population has dropped significantly under Muslim rule. In 1948, the religious makeup of the city was 85% Christian, mostly of the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic denominations, and 13% Muslim. After 20 years of Jordanian rule, the Christian population dropped to 54%. By 2016, the Christian population of Bethlehem had declined to 16%– a high percentage compared to the greater Palestinian Territories, now less than two percent compared to 80 percent in the 1950s.
Israel is likely to be the only respite in an anti-Christian region. Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, the Jewish State is the only country in the Middle East where the native population of Christians has increased since 1948. In 1949, about 34,000 Arab Christians lived in Israel; today, there are more than 130,000. Christians have declined as a percentage of Israel’s total population, but in absolute numbers, the Arab Christian population in Israel has increased by close to 300 percent.
