Israel and West Bank Christmas Celebrations Canceled Amid Gaza War
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – As the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues unabated, Church leaders and city councils in Israel and the West Bank have decided to call off large-scale public Christmas celebrations and not to decorate public spaces with Christmas trees, the Jerusalem Post reports. The decision affects Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace (now controlled by the West Bank Palestinian Authority), Nazareth in northern Israel, where Jesus grew up, and Jerusalem, where He was crucified and rose again.
The decision to have a subdued regional Christmas comes after Christian leaders in Jerusalem called on their congregations “to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities,” JPost reports.
In a statement to the Jerusalem Post, Nabil Totry, the president of Nazareth’s annual Christmas Parade, said: “We were ready to begin calling the annual march a ‘March of Peace’ for fraternity, since we see that all people from all religious backgrounds march together side by side. We gathered for several weeks with all the involved organizations to negotiate and decide what was possible in light of the current crisis.”
“Naturally, there were different opinions because Nazareth in the Christmas season is full of activities as the main address for Arab and Jewish citizens from many areas, and Christmas is considered an important economic source for the city,” Totry said.
Ultimately, Totry decided to cancel the Nazareth parade. Meanwhile, Bethlehem, which is usually “a bustling attraction” at Christmas time, currently lies “bare and empty,” JPost noted in its report.
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