Christmas celebrations begin in Bethlehem

A Palestinian dressed as Santa Claus gestures as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa arrives through an Israeli checkpoint to attend Christmas celebrations, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem December 24, 2016.Reuters/Mussa Qawasma.

 

 

Christmas Eve celebrations have begun in the birthplace of Jesus with thousands of pilgrims and tourists descending on Bethlehem.
Crowds gathered in Manger Square to hear traditional Christmas songs like Jingle Bells being played in Arabic over loudspeakers.
Tourists and local Christians wandered around the square, which has been illuminated by festive red and golden lights and decorated with a large Christmas tree.
Rodrigo Reis, 23, who came from Louisville, Kentucky, said: “It’s very unique, I’ve never seen anything like it.
“It’s very meaningful. It’s Christmas time, where everything started.”
Christian clergymen welcomed the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land inside the Church of the Nativity, as Christians worldwide prepare to celebrate Christmas this year.
The Rev Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate, is the temporary chief clergyman to the local Catholic population.
He travelled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Saturday in a traditional procession, and said: “I am happy that the war, at least the military war, in Aleppo is finished and that for the first time in Aleppo the Christians can celebrate without fear the Christmas season.
“I wish that they can now reconstruct, rebuild the city, not only the infrastructure but also the common relations that was a tradition over there.”
The Syrian Government assumed full control of Aleppo earlier this month when rebels agreed to withdraw from their last remaining enclave after more than four years of heavy fighting over the country’s largest city.
The Christmas festivities brought holiday cheer to Christians in the Holy Land, which has endured a wave of bloodshed that erupted more than a year ago.
The violence has eased in recent months but not stopped completely.
Rula Maaya, the Palestinian minister of tourism, said all the hotels in Bethlehem were fully booked.
Despite the Christmas cheer, Middle East politics loom large in the background – the concrete barrier that surrounds parts of Bethlehem just one ominous reminder.
It was built by Israel in the last decade during the second Intifada, or uprising, when Palestinian suicide bombers attacked buses and cafes.
Israel insists the barrier is meant to keep out Palestinian attackers but because it dips inside the West Bank, Palestinians see it as a land grab that also holds back their economy.