{"id":171255,"date":"2025-12-06T21:30:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/171255\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T21:30:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:30:30","slug":"christmas-celebrations-return-to-bethlehem-start-with-tree-lighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/171255\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas celebrations return to Bethlehem, start with tree lighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Christmas tree is up and workers are bustling around the clock in Bethlehem, as the West Bank city prepares to welcome back visitors for the holiday season. \u201cThe tree is already up and employees are working 24 hours a day to prepare for Christmas,\u201d said Deputy Mayor Lucy Talgieh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter five years of COVID closures and then the war, we want to celebrate,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

After discussions with Palestinian authorities, Bethlehem officials said shops and hotels will reopen for Christmas \u2014 with plans to remain open beyond the season. That\u2019s a change from last year, when ongoing violence in Gaza<\/a> led church leaders to mark Christmas only with religious observances, foregoing festive decorations and public celebrations. The previous two years were similarly subdued, limited to religious rituals due to the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe need to celebrate this location,\u201d one Palestinian attending the festivities said, adding that this is the first time they could after two years of \u201cagony and pain, unemployment, a lot of troubles and sadness.\u201d \u201cIt is time now that we share our happiness and joy to share this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

City hopes for a better future<\/p>\n

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, Bethlehem has seen a surge in unemployment, with tens of thousands of Palestinian West Bank workers blocked from entering Israel and its settlements, according to the BBC.<\/a> The city\u2019s once-crowded souvenir shops and bustling squares remain quieter than before the conflict. Still, Talgieh expects around 11,000 visitors during Christmas week, signaling hope for a brighter holiday season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Christmas tree is up and workers are bustling around the clock in Bethlehem, as the West Bank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-171255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}