Bethlehem, the West Bank city where Jesus Christ was born, was uncharacteristically silent on Christmas Day. Gone was the usually bustling place filled with foreign tourists and pilgrims flocking to the Church of the Nativity.
In the past, the presence of busloads of tourists arriving from practically all directions brought a lively vibe that blended into the solemnity of one of Christianity’s most beloved places in the Holy Land.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Bethlehem had its second subdued Christmas Eve following the Hamas’ attacks on Israel in 2023, which ignited the war in Gaza and a wider conflagration that has engulfed southern Lebanon, Syria, and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
“The excitement and cheer that typically descends on the West Bank during Christmas week were nowhere to be found. The festive lights and giant tree that normally decorate Manger Square were missing, as were the throngs of foreign tourists that usually fill the square,” the AP said.
It then described Palestinian scouts marching “silently through the streets, a departure from their usual raucous brass marching band. Security forces arranged barriers near the Church of the Nativity, built atop the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born.”
This scene is commonly associated with a funeral march rather than a Christmas parade. The absence of foreigners from Manger Square for the second year in a row has turned the old city into a ghost town, stealing the joys that come with the annual commemoration of the birth of our Messiah and Savior.
Uneasy peace. It’s hard for me to envision something like this happening to Bethlehem, especially on Christmas in 2018, when I first set foot in the ancient town where time seemed to stand still.
Amid partitions that dotted the road system in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, our tour bus had to clear an Israeli checkpoint just to get to Bethlehem, a Palestinian town in the West Bank situated south of Jerusalem (a 30-minute drive away).
As the morning mist receded, we came to the Shepherds’ Field where, according to the Gospel of Luke, the angels declared the birth of Jesus to “shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” (Luke 2:8).
Further on the horizon, we could see the contours of a massive West Bank Wall, a security barrier that divides Israel and Palestine.
Before our thoughts got lost in the intractable conflicts that the wall had evoked, our tour guide hastened us back into the minibus, which took us to the nearby Church of the Nativity and Manger Square fronting it.
The church was built on top of a grotto that marks the birthplace of Jesus. To reach the underground grotto, a rectangular cave beneath the mosaic-decorated altar, visitors have to scale down a narrow flight of steps that leads directly to the spot where Jesus was born. A 14-point silver star marks the spot.
“Fear not.” Despite the influx of tourists and pilgrims who visited the church that day, the noise was reduced to a hush when the crowds reached the grotto.
The solemn atmosphere then took us back to the reality of the first Christmas, when an angel appeared to the shepherds and announced, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).
If we compare the good news of the first Christmas with the current reality in Israel, one can’t miss the irony that this silence that has engulfed Bethlehem since Oct. 7, 2023 is being secured at the cost of war. The ongoing war in Gaza has scared away tourists and pilgrims, forcing Bethlehem’s economy, which depends heavily on tourism and religious pilgrimage, into a standstill.
“We have no guests. Not one,” Reuters quoted Joey Canavati, owner of the Alexander Hotel, as saying. “This is the worst Christmas ever. Bethlehem is shut down for Christmas. No Christmas tree, no joy, no Christmas spirit,” said Canavati, who belongs to the fourth generation of a family that has lived in Bethlehem.
Canavati’s lamentation on Christmas echoes the cries of despair of people around the world living in troubled times, whether through wars, plagues, famines, or disasters.
But Christmas is about hope and new beginnings, a time for giving and showing empathy for those who are suffering and in need, as Jesus’ birth in a manger—bereft of pomp and pageantry—so vividly highlighted.
This hope, and the peace that results from empathy and understanding, may still hold the key to peace in Bethlehem, Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, and the rest of the world.
May Luke’s account of the first Christmas come true in our lives: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:13-14).
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For comments: mubac@inquirer.com.ph