BBC<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re all living here from tourism and tourism was down to zero.\u201d<\/p>\nSince October 2023, Israel and Hamas have been locked in bitter war in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
Despite the struggles of many in the region, including minority Christians, the Christmas spirit could not be denied this Yuletide, the mayor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome may say it\u2019s not appropriate and others say it\u2019s appropriate,\u201d Canawati told the outlet. \u201cBut deep inside my heart, I felt that this was the right thing to do because Christmas should never be stopped or cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the light of hope for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Muslims and Palestinian Christians regaled in the holiday cheer \u2014 seen posing for selfies in front of the tree in Manger Square, where brightly colored signs advertised local businesses to tourists who have resumed flocking to the holy city.<\/p>\n
Palestinians of all religious backgrounds came together in Manger Square for the tree lighting ceremony on Dec. 6. REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very happy to have the tree, first thing, and to see foreigners in Bethlehem and to be able to celebrate Christmas in its true spirits,\u201d local jewelry designer Nadya Hazboun told the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where it all started, so this is where we can send the message to the world of what really Christmas should be about.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mother and child take in the Christmas festivities which were on hold for the last two years. REUTERS<\/p>\n
One tour guide in the historically holy city, identified as Hamza, claimed the city was now safe and ready for the world to return paying its respects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tourist city, without tourism there is no life,\u201d Hamza said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From missiles to mistletoe. Christmas celebrations publicly returned to Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,7600,5527,5061,441,301],"class_list":{"0":"post-54354","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-christianity","12":"tag-christmas","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-israel-hamas-war","15":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54354","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=54354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}