Bethlehem lights its Christmas tree for the first time since 2022, offering a glimmer of joy amid the ongoing pain of the Gaza war and a yearning for peace.<\/p>\n
BETHLEHEM: A giant Christmas tree adorned with red and gold baubles stands in the West Bank city for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n
The Palestinian city, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, had refrained from public Christmas celebrations over the past two years as war raged in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Palestinians from across the West Bank and Israel filled Manger Square on Saturday night for a ceremony lighting the 20-metre tree.<\/p>\n
The crowd erupted in cheers when the tree\u2019s lights were turned on shortly before 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came to celebrate, watch and enjoy, because for several years we haven\u2019t had the chance,\u201d said Randa Bsoul, a 67-year-old Palestinian from Haifa in Israel.<\/p>\n
The war, which began in October 2023, has devastated Gaza and painfully affected Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n
Many have family and friends in Gaza, and the war has shrivelled the tourism that Bethlehem\u2019s economy relies on.<\/p>\n
The past two years have been \u201clike hell\u201d, said a Bethlehem shopkeeper selling souvenirs, who asked to remain anonymous because of fears of reprisal by Israeli forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying our best to keep going,\u201d the shopkeeper said, describing a worsening economic situation and tightening Israeli restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Bethlehem lights its Christmas tree, the deep anguish endured by our people in Gaza does not leave our hearts,\u201d Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati told reporters this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wound of Gaza is our wound, the people of Gaza are our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Bethlehem, Palestinians said they were hopeful that Christmas and the new year would bring peace after two years of agony and pain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking for hope,\u201d said Diana Babush, a Palestinian in her 50s from Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are looking that, from this moment, peace will prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n
In contrast to the time before the war, there were no fireworks following the lighting of the Christmas tree.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s scary because no one knows what will happen in the future. But we are hopeful,\u201d said Bsoul from Haifa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bethlehem lights its Christmas tree for the first time since 2022, offering a glimmer of joy amid the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,5527,456,3955,2510],"class_list":{"0":"post-54187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news","11":"tag-christmas","12":"tag-gaza","13":"tag-hope","14":"tag-palestinians"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}