The city of Bethlehem is feeling a profound impact from the Israel-Hamas war, miles away from the front lines of fighting in the Gaza Strip.
The city of Bethlehem is feeling a profound impact from the Israel-Hamas war, miles away from the front lines of fighting in the Gaza Strip. The birthplace of Jesus is canceling many of the Christmas traditions that historically have turned the West Bank city into a global tourist destination each holiday season.
Many of the festive lights, Christmas trees and other decorations typically seen in historic Manger Square are missing this year. There is no formal tree-lighting ceremony. Many of the holiday music festivities have been canceled.
Even many of the simple, traditional manger scenes have been altered to highlight the fighting in Gaza. At the city’s Lutheran Christmas Church, a baby Jesus lies, not in a cradle, but in a pile of rubble symbolizing the destruction in Gaza. Other Nativity scenes across Bethlehem are surrounded by barbed wire.
Those sites and others reflect the tension gripping Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and much of the Middle East. Israel has been waging war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since Oct. 7, when the militant group Hamas launched a terrorist attack on the Jewish state.
