{"id":26854,"date":"2018-12-25T06:22:41","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T06:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26854"},"modified":"2018-12-25T06:22:41","modified_gmt":"2018-12-25T06:22:41","slug":"palestinians-mark-christmas-amid-israeli-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26854","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians mark Christmas amid Israeli restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nBETHLEHEM: Palestinian Christians celebrated Christmas despite Israeli restrictions. The city of Bethlehem adorned a Christmas tree in Manger Square, where the Church of the Nativity is located.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe square hosted a number of activities, including the establishment of Santa\u2019s Village and celebrations for children and families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe city\u2019s markets are usually bustling over Christmas, with thousands of foreign tourists attending religious celebrations and midnight mass, but this year traders complained that business was down.<\/p>\n

\nIn the last fortnight, the Israeli military imposed roadblocks in the West Bank and stormed several Palestinian towns and villages in search of Palestinians who opened fire on its forces.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nMarwan Salibi, a salesman at an antiques shop in Bethlehem, told Arab News: \u201cWe rely on the holiday period mainly, but this year we\u2019re witnessing weak business activity. Insecurity is one of the important reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAt this time of year, the city is visited by Christians from elsewhere in Palestine. \u201cWe visit Bethlehem every year, once or twice,\u201d Sally Awwad, from the village of Zababdeh near the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, told Arab News.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI used to visit with my family, but now I\u2019m with my friends from different cities. We buy souvenirs and pray in the Church of the Nativity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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#Pilgrims<\/a> from around the world flocked to #Bethlehem<\/a> for what was believed to be the biblical #WestBank<\/a> city\u2019s largest #Christmas<\/a> celebrations in years #Palestine<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/Q976aoQY5k<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/FN9k5OvvFE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Arab News (@arabnews) December 24, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n\u201cI always hope that Bethlehem, the place where Jesus was born, becomes a free place to be visited by Christians from all over Palestine and the world. This doesn\u2019t happen because we live under occupation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nIn the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the YMCA on Saturday lit up a Christmas tree for the first time in years at a ceremony attended by Christians and Muslims.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAfter years of not lighting the Christmas tree in Gaza, we decided this year to celebrate with the Palestinians in Gaza in a small ceremony,\u201d said Hani Farah, director of the YMCA.<\/p>\n

\nEvery year, Israel issues permits for some Christians in Gaza to travel to Bethlehem, but hundreds are prevented from attending midnight mass in the city. There are an estimated 1,000 Christians living in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\nIn early December, the city of Ramallah lit up a Christmas tree in a joyous atmosphere in Yasser Arafat Square.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHow wonderful to meet all of our great Palestinian people, to celebrate one of our national holidays in which we shine the glorious Christmas tree, to affirm our love for each other and that we\u2019re people of peace in Palestine and Jerusalem, which includes Christian and Islamic holy sites,\u201d said Archimandrite Elias Awad, patron of the Greek Orthodox Church in Ramallah.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe want to send a message to the world that we\u2019re a people who want peace, we have our rights, we look forward to the independence of our state, we salute our national and religious days without barriers and occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe YMCA lit up a Christmas tree in Jerusalem in early December, marking the start of celebrations.<\/p>\n

\nPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a message to the world on the occasion of Christmas: \u201cWe want (Jerusalem) to be an open city for worship for all believers and followers of all religions\u2026 and for our people to exercise their right to freedom of worship in their Christian and Islamic holy places.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BETHLEHEM: Palestinian Christians celebrated Christmas despite Israeli restrictions. The city of Bethlehem adorned a Christmas tree in Manger Square, where the Church of the Nativity is located.\u00a0 The square hosted a number of activities, including the establishment of Santa\u2019s Village and celebrations for children and families.\u00a0 The city\u2019s markets are usually bustling over Christmas, with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}