“There is no joy in our hearts”: Bethlehem Christians face heartbreak at Christmas

Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – At Christmas, Noha Helmy usually decorates her home with a large tree, which she describes as a symbol of light and joy.

The 87-year-old prepares the house for her family who gather here every year, preparing Christmas sweets and large festive meals. She usually places gifts under the Christmas tree for her grandchildren, making sure to wrap them and put their names on them.

This year, no one will meet at her house. She says: Even children don’t feel like celebrating.

“There is no longer joy in our hearts,” she says.

In the birthplace of Jesus Christ, Christmas celebrations have been suspended. The decision to cancel Christmas was not taken lightly, but it is a decision that the church and community here unite to show their solidarity with the Palestinians facing Israeli bombing and a comprehensive blockade in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli bombing and artillery fire have killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza since the war began on October 7, including at least 8,000 children. More than 300 people were killed in the occupied West Bank as well, either by Israeli soldiers or by settlers who often attack under the cover of Israeli forces.

The war has halted tourism in Bethlehem, the cornerstone of its economy, at a time of year when it usually peaks. While visitors from all over the world usually flock to Bethlehem’s Christmas markets, the streets are empty this year.

But even if the tourists are there, there is no celebration among Bethlehem residents, many of whom have close family members in Gaza.

“How can we celebrate Christmas in the midst of this genocidal war?” asks Tarazi, known to those close to her as Umm Shadi. “How can we celebrate when people in Gaza struggle to get even one meal a day?”

The images and news about the suffering in Gaza under the ongoing Israeli bombing and ground invasion are too much for her. Umm Shadi, whose family lives in Gaza City, says she was particularly disturbed by videos showing people fleeing toward the sea and being forced to boil seawater to make it drinkable.

She grew up in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City and lived there until her twenties during the 1960s. She has “good memories of the sea,” where she used to swim at night. She says the people lived in peace.

Life became more difficult after she graduated with a degree in English literature from Cairo University in 1967. She was unable to return to Gaza because Israel occupied it that year, and instead spent the next ten years in Libya, where her brothers also lived and where she met her husband.

She eventually returned to the occupied West Bank, where she settled in her home and held Christmas rituals with her family, traditions she will outgrow this year.

‘On this Eid, may God have mercy on them’

All signs of Christmas have disappeared from the streets and homes of Bethlehem. People usually flock to the decorated Manger Square to watch the fireworks. None of that will happen this year.

Many people in Bethlehem and the surrounding area have relatives in Gaza. Umm Shadi herself lost a brother and a sister since the war began.

Her brother died on October 17, after he was unable to undergo gallbladder surgery that saved his life, due to the air strikes on Gaza Strip hospitals.

Just a few days later, one of her sisters died in an air strike on the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrios, where the family had taken refuge. Another sister lost her leg during the same bombing.

It has always been difficult to see her family, even before the war, but now she can barely talk to them due to the communication blackout in Gaza.

Umm Shadi was unable to attend the funeral of her other sister in the Gaza Strip before the war because she did not obtain a permit to travel there. Instead, her niece had to film a video of the party for her.

In happier years, some Christians from Gaza were able to obtain permits from the Israeli authorities to travel from Gaza to Bethlehem at Christmas – something her sisters and friend Rose often did.

“My sisters were visiting me, and I say this year at Christmas, may God have mercy on them.”

She adds that the suffering of not being able to communicate with her family in Gaza is unbearable. He brought her to the “edge of despair.”

Umm Shadi says that Christmas was the only joyful event that everyone could count on every year. Now, that’s gone too.