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At midnight on Christmas Eve, the words of the traditional hymn “Christmas Night” will echo in the small grotto of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, which is built on the spot where Christians faith jesus christ Was born.
“On Christmas night, war is buried, on Christmas night, love is born,” a local singer sings during the midnight service each year. While practicing before this year’s service, several members of the choir said these words resonate with deeper meaning following the ceasefire in Gaza.
“It reminds us that no matter what the difficulties, the darkness, there is always a light and that hope always lives on,” said Joseph Hazboun, conductor of the choir made up of local Catholics.
For the past two years, as the war in Gaza escalated, Christmas approached bethlehem Without traditional celebrations, decorations and music, it has been a somber affair. But this year, families are flocking to Manger Square again, signaling hope about the fragile ceasefire and giving Bethlehem a much-needed economic boost.
On a recent visit, Manger Square was crowded and buzzing with festive lights, a Christmas market and concerts for children.
“You can see the city coming back to life,” said Bethlehem resident Zoya Thalgia. “Everyone is happy, everyone is coming out to celebrate, no matter what religion, no matter what their stance is, everyone is here.”
Christmas and religious pilgrimages have always been a major economic engine for Bethlehem. According to the local government, about 80% of the Muslim-majority city’s residents depend on tourism-related businesses. During good times, their earnings reach communities in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and which has long struggled with poverty.
But during the Gaza war, the unemployment rate in the city rose from 14% to 65%, Bethlehem Mayor Maher Nicola Canavati said earlier this month. And in previous years, as an act of protest, some churches created scenes of the birth of Jesus as an infant surrounded by debris and barbed wire.
Despite a ceasefire that began in October, tensions remain high in much of the West Bank.
The Israeli army has said that it is cracking down on terrorists in the area and conducting continuous raids. Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians It has reached the highest level in the West Bank this year since the UN humanitarian office began collecting data in 2006.
Bethlehem resident Odette El Slaby has been singing in choirs since she was seven, but she said there are very few things that compare to being able to sing in the grotto at midnight Mass.
“It’s so sacred, the place and the atmosphere and the songs and the words,” he said. Singing those songs is a message of hope and reminds Christians of the importance of patience, he said. “As Christians in the Holy Land, it’s a big message to be here,” he said.
Christians make up less than 2% of the West Bank’s approximately 3 million residents, and that number is declining.
The mayor said poverty and unemployment had increased during the war, with about 4,000 people leaving Bethlehem in search of work. This is part of a worrying trend for Christians, who are leaving the region in large numbers.
Throughout the Middle East, the Christian population has steadily declined as people have fled conflict and attacks.
Hazboun said he would pray this Christmas that the Christian population of Bethlehem and other areas of the region important to Christianity would not decline further.
The return of Christmas celebrations throughout the West Bank, including a Christmas market packed with visitors in Ramallah, is a much-needed break for local children, Hazbon said.
While Palestinians in the West Bank are still devastated by the images coming from Gaza, the lighting of the community Christmas tree in Bethlehem’s Manger Square for the first time in two years earlier this month brought a boost of much-needed holiday cheer.
“We continue to pray for peace. This is the land of peace, this is the land where the Prince of Peace was born, and we continue to pray and hope that one day we will all enjoy peace,” Hazboun said.