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Sunday, December 08, 2024

JESUS WAS PALESTINIAN
Pope unveils nativity scene with baby Jesus wrapped in Palestinian keffiyeh

In a ceremony held at the Vatican, Pope Francis presented the annual nativity scene, which features baby Jesus dawned in a Palestinian keffiyeh.


The New Arab Staff
08 December, 2024


Pope Francis has been vocal about Israel's current war on Gaza and has called for an end to the onslaught 

Pope Francis unveiled the annual nativity scene at the Vatican on Saturday, which this year featured baby Jesus dressed in a Palestinian keffiyeh.

The scene, crafted by Palestinian artists from Bethlehem, features a Bethlehem Star with the Latin and Arabic inscription: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to all people." It also includes figures of the Holy Family carved from olive wood.

The keffiyeh is a traditional head and face covering worn by many around the Middle East. The Palestinian keffiyeh is seen as a national symbol and is emblematic of the struggle against Israeli occupation.

The nativity scene was organised with the Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs, the Palestinian Embassy to the Vatican, and Dar Al-Kalima University in collaboration with the Beitcharilo Center.

Pope Francis was also joined by Ramzi Khouri, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Executive Committee and head of the Palestinian Presidential Committee for Church Affairs.


A view of Nativity Scene, crafted in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, with Baby Jesus' crib covered by a Palestinian kaffiyeh donated by delegates of the Palestinian Embassy to the Holy See, in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 | Photo: AP/Andrew Medichini
The Pope also presented two Palestinian children, who were representing the committee, with a Bethlehem star, which is seen as a reminder of the plight Palestinian children are currently facing.

After the nativity was shown, a mass for peace and a ceasefire in Palestine was held at the Angeli Chapel. It was led by Ibrahim Faltas, Deputy Custodian of the Holy Land, alongside Father Ibrahim Shomali and Monsignor Marco.

Pope Francis has been vocal about Israel's current war on Gaza and has called for an end to the onslaught.

"Enough wars, enough violence! Did you know that one of the most profitable industries here is weapons manufacturing? Profit from killing. Enough wars!" he said at the event.

"As our eyes fill with tears, we lift up our prayers for peace, that peace may reign over the entire world, and for all people whom God loves."

Pope recently became a target of pro-Israel figures after calling for an investigation into whether Israel's war on Gaza amounts to genocide. He also decried the deaths of children in the Palestinian territory and Israel's attacks on a Gaza church.


Outrage after Vatican hosts 'Jesus in keffiyeh' nativity scene

One online commentator wrote, "The pope is exploiting Christmas to advance the ridiculous effort to rebrand Jesus as Palestinian rather than what he was – a Jew who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of a Messiah."
 
By Miri Weissman
Published on 12-08-2024
ISRAEL HAYOM 



A Nativity Scene crafted in Bethlehem and displayed at the Vatican's Paul VI hall features a distinctive and controversial addition this year – a cloth that appeared to be a Palestinian keffiyeh (traditional head dress) covering the baby Jesus' manger, donated by the Palestinian Embassy to the Holy See. The inclusion of the traditional Arab scarf has sparked discussion.

The display has drawn particular attention for its connection to Jesus' historical Jewish identity, as he was born to Jewish parents in what was then the Roman province of Judea.

Pope Francis arrives to hold an audience with donors of the St. Peter's Square Christmas tree and Nativity scene, at the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, December 7, 2024 (Photo: Reuters/Remo Casilli)

One online commentator wrote, "Does the pope think Jesus wasn't a Jew either? Did he even read the Bible?" Another outraged X user wrote, "The pope is exploiting Christmas to advance the ridiculous effort to rebrand Jesus as Palestinian rather than what He was – a Jew who fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy of a Messiah."

THEIR AHISTORICAL ISLAMOPHOBIC CLAIM IS THAT PALESTINE NEVER EXISTED




















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Tuesday, December 27, 2022

The Greatest Story Never Told? 
Why we need to talk about Jesus' ‘blackness’

Richard Sudan
21 Dec, 2022

Jesus was one of the most important figures in history, his whitewashing has been used to justify white supremacy, colonialism and imperialism, this is why we must ‘tell the truth’ about him, argues Richard Sudan.


A painting of a black Jesus hanging up at Saint Margaret of Scotland Catholic school. [Photo by Mark Gail/The The Washington Post via Getty Images]

Jesus was a black Palestinian revolutionary, who was born in Africa. To some, this might seem a controversial statement, but when considering the facts, reaching such a conclusion is obvious.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, which at the time of his birth was considered part of North East Africa.

The term Middle East wasn’t coined until the 1850s after the creation of the Suez Canal by the British, long after the lifetime of Jesus.

Naturally, the appearance and characteristics of the people from Palestine at the time reflected the region of the world in which they lived.

Beyond the geographical reality of the holy land in the time of Jesus, there is also an abundance of evidence in the bible itself reflecting the fact that Jesus did not have classic European features as modern day depictions like to indicate, but was in fact a dark-skinned man with curly hair.

''During colonisation, Europeans took their white Jesus with them and used it to preach a doctrine of white supremacy. The notion of white superiority relied on God being represented as white. White deity was used to sell the myth of white superiority. Similarly black inferiority cannot stand up, if God is black.''

Scripture describes Jesus as having hair “like wool” and feet like “burnished brass” and looking at some of those among his lineage suggests that it is unlikely Jesus had white European features.

Rahab the harlot, Tamar, the Queen of Sheba were all of black ancestry and part of Jesus’ genealogy. Abraham too, was born in the city of a black man, Nimrod.

In the book of the songs of Solomon, Solomon says “I am black but I am handsome.”

There are numerous other references speaking to the blackness and African heritage of those in the lineage of Jesus. Let’s not forget too, that when Jesus fled persecution he hid in Egypt among black skinned Africans. What this means when testing the white Jesus myth, is that looking plainly at the available evidence; Jesus most certainly, did not look of northern European descent.

Early depictions of black Jesus

From Ethiopia to Russia many images of Christ reflect him as a dark skinned man. Prior to the European Renaissance it was more commonly accepted that Jesus had features in line with how the people in the region looked at the time. Different cultures eventually painted Christ in their own image, and Europeans were no exception.

What this meant, however, was that during colonisation, Europeans took their white Jesus with them and used it to preach a doctrine of white supremacy.

The notion of white superiority relied on God being represented as white. White deity was used to sell the myth of white superiority. Similarly black inferiority cannot stand up, if God is black.

Voices
Jeanine Hourani

This thinking has persisted in Western society at least, which today remains reluctant to present Jesus as black or as a person of colour opting instead to depict him as one of their own.

While people might debate the best way to characterise Jesus, what’s certain is it is highly unlikely that he looked like the whitened Eurocentric depictions.

The big question is, 2000 years after his death, why does it matter?

A question of representation

Facts matter, but so too does representation.

Hollywood for example, with all its influence, is notorious for producing a majority of movies casting Jesus as a white man, decade after decade. At the same time, Hollywood also stands accused of readily profiting from films portraying black people negatively.

All of this of course is by design and is simply another example of a system operating as intended.

Countries like Britain and the US, which many define as Christian, cannot seem to grasp the notion that Jesus, who was a refugee, looked like the vulnerable migrants trying to enter Britain today, rather than the way he has been portrayed across history by the West.

Britain, which was barely able to accept that the oldest known remains in the country belonged to a black man, embraces white Jesus in the same way it denies or apologises for Winston Churchill’s racism.

White supremacy and racism depend on a number of falsehoods being maintained, and acknowledging Jesus as black means exposing and turning a system, and an entire way of thinking about that system, on its head.

Ancient black history: Jabel Qafzeh

Additionally, when considering the wider historical backdrop to the region, it is unsurprising that some of the oldest remains found in Palestine speak to the African 

Voices  Mariya bint Rehan

A number of remains found in Jabal Qafzeh around 100 years ago are estimated to be between 80-100,000 years old. Recently, modern technology gave the ability to reproduce what one of those remains would have looked like had they been alive today. Jabal Qafzeh 9, bore the clear resemblance and features of a black West African woman.

Black people have been in Palestine for millennia, including the time when Palestine was considered part of Africa, and for thousands of years before that.

We also have to consider the modern context in which Jesus would have lived. As a man of colour persecuted for speaking up for the downtrodden, he’d have seen others punished for the same motive. Indeed, if Jesus were alive today, he and his people would be under siege by the Israeli Occupation Forces. 

Denied entry at borders.

Why? Jesus spoke up for the oppressed, refugees, the marginalised and those cast to the outskirts of society. While European Christianity has often watered-down Christ’s message to simple forgiveness, the fact is, Christ was a black revolutionary with a political, economic and health program who strived for equality and was lynched by the Roman empire as a result.

In this sense Jesus has to be considered in the radical black tradition which has always existed in all parts of the world including Palestine. That tradition has held firm, from the time of Christ to torchbearers like Fatima Bernawi, an Afro-Palestinian resistance fighter who recently died and who became the first Palestinian woman to be imprisoned by Israel after the 1967 war.

Reframing how we think about Jesus might also serve as a counter weight to the churches in the US and UK which unflinchingly support and lobby on behalf of Israel.

Churches with the iconography of black Jesus at the centrepiece are an important voice within the Christian community, where traditionally so many institutions have been completely whitened essentially acting as a conduit to further normalise white supremacy.

By the same token, Christian churches and institutions speaking out against apartheid and racism, challenging the dominant narrative are very much needed to change how we think about Christianity, which in the West at least has often been used to uphold power, rather than to hold it accountable.

With racism being challenged all over the globe, it is important that mainstream perceptions of Jesus change and evolve with the times. We must popularise an accurate portrayal of one of the most important figures in history, revered by so many millions of people all over the world. After all, he continues to have an important political, theological and social role today. Telling the ‘truth’ about Jesus is therefore not simply a matter of racial ‘preference’ in the religious imagery used.

Richard Sudan is a journalist and writer specialising in anti-racism and has reported on various human rights issues from around the world. His writing has been published by The Guardian, Independent, The Voice and many others.
Follow him on Twitter: @richardsudan
Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com






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Friday, November 29, 2024

JESUS WAS PALESTINIAN

How the Bible contradicts itself over key details about Jesus' birth
November 26, 2024

Every Christmas, a relatively small town in the Palestinian West Bank comes center stage: Bethlehem. Jesus, according to some biblical sources, was born in this town some two millennia ago.

Yet the New Testament Gospels do not agree about the details of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. Some do not mention Bethlehem or Jesus' birth at all.

The Gospels' different views might be hard to reconcile. But as a scholar of the New Testament, what I argue is that the Gospels offer an important insight into the Greco-Roman views of ethnic identity, including genealogies.

Today, genealogies may bring more awareness of one's family medical history or help uncover lost family members. In the Greco-Roman era, birth stories and genealogical claims were used to establish rights to rule and link individuals with purported ancestral grandeur.

Gospel of Matthew

According to the Gospel of Matthew, the first Gospel in the canon of the New Testament, Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. The story begins with wise men who come to the city of Jerusalem after seeing a star that they interpreted as signaling the birth of a new king.

It goes on to describe their meeting with the local Jewish king named Herod, of whom they inquire about the location of Jesus' birth. The Gospel says that the star of Bethlehem subsequently leads them to a house – not a manger – where Jesus has been born to Joseph and Mary. Overjoyed, they worship Jesus and present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were valuable gifts, especially frankincense and myrrh, which were costly fragrances that had medicinal use.

The Gospel explains that after their visit, Joseph has a dream where he is warned of Herod's attempt to kill baby Jesus. When the wise men went to Herod with the news that a child had been born to be the king of the Jews, he made a plan to kill all young children to remove the threat to his throne. It then mentions how Joseph, Mary and infant Jesus leave for Egypt to escape King Herod's attempt to assassinate all young children.

Matthew also says that after Herod dies from an illness, Joseph, Mary and Jesus do not return to Bethlehem. Instead, they travel north to Nazareth in Galilee, which is modern-day Nazareth in Israel.

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel of Luke, an account of Jesus' life which was written during the same period as the Gospel of Matthew, has a different version of Jesus' birth. The Gospel of Luke starts with Joseph and a pregnant Mary in Galilee. They journey to Bethlehem in response to a census that the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus required for all the Jewish people. Since Joseph was a descendant of King David, Bethlehem was the hometown where he was required to register.

The Gospel of Luke includes no flight to Egypt, no paranoid King Herod, no murder of children and no wise men visiting baby Jesus. Jesus is born in a manger because all the travelers overcrowded the guest rooms. After the birth, Joseph and Mary are visited not by wise men but shepherds, who were also overjoyed at Jesus' birth.

Luke says these shepherds were notified about Jesus' location in Bethlehem by angels. There is no guiding star in Luke's story, nor do the shepherds bring gifts to baby Jesus. Luke also mentions that Joseph, Mary and Jesus leave Bethlehem eight days after his birth and travel to Jerusalem and then to Nazareth.

The differences between Matthew and Luke are nearly impossible to reconcile, although they do share some similarities. John Meier, a scholar on the historical Jesus, explains that Jesus' “birth at Bethlehem is to be taken not as a historical fact" but as a “theological affirmation put into the form of an apparently historical narrative." In other words, the belief that Jesus was a descendant of King David led to the development of a story about Jesus' birth in Bethlehem.

Raymond Brown, another scholar on the Gospels, also states that “the two narratives are not only different – they are contrary to each other in a number of details."

Mark's and John's Gospels

What makes it more difficult is that neither the other Gospels, that of Mark and John, mentions Jesus' birth or his connection to Bethlehem.

The Gospel of Mark is the earliest account of Jesus' life, written around A.D. 60. The opening chapter of Mark says that Jesus is from “Nazareth of Galilee." This is repeated throughout the Gospel on several occasions, and Bethlehem is never mentioned.

A blind beggar in the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus as both from Nazareth and the son of David, the second king of Israel and Judah during 1010-970 B.C. But King David was not born in Nazareth, nor associated with that city. He was from Bethlehem. Yet Mark doesn't identify Jesus with the city Bethlehem.

The Gospel of John, written approximately 15 to 20 years after that of Mark, also does not associate Jesus with Bethlehem. Galilee is Jesus' hometown. Jesus finds his first disciples, does several miracles and has brothers in Galilee.

This is not to say that John was unaware of Bethlehem's significance. John mentions a debate where some Jewish people referred to the prophecy which claimed that the messiah would be a descendant of David and come from Bethlehem. But Jesus according to John's Gospel is never associated with Bethlehem, but with Galilee, and more specifically, Nazareth.

The Gospels of Mark and John reveal that they either had trouble linking Bethlehem with Jesus, did not know his birthplace, or were not concerned with this city.

These were not the only ones. Apostle Paul, who wrote the earliest documents of the New Testament, considered Jesus a descendant of David but does not associate him with Bethlehem. The Book of Revelation also affirms that Jesus was a descendant of David but does not mention Bethlehem.

An ethnic identity

During the period of Jesus' life, there were multiple perspectives on the Messiah. In one stream of Jewish thought, the Messiah was expected to be an everlasting ruler from the lineage of David. Other Jewish texts, such as the book 4 Ezra, written in the same century as the Gospels, and the Jewish sectarian Qumran literature, which is written two centuries earlier, also echo this belief.

But within the Hebrew Bible, a prophetic book called Micah, thought to be written around B.C. 722, prophesies that the messiah would come from David's hometown, Bethlehem. This text is repeated in Matthew's version. Luke mentions that Jesus is not only genealogically connected to King David, but also born in Bethlehem, “the city of David."

Genealogical claims were made for important ancient founders and political leaders. For example, Ion, the founder of the Greek colonies in Asia, was considered to be a descendant of Apollo. Alexander the Great, whose empire reached from Macedonia to India, was claimed to be a son of Hercules. Caesar Augustus, who was the first Roman emperor, was proclaimed as a descendant of Apollo. And a Jewish writer named Philo who lived in the first century wrote that Abraham and the Jewish priest and prophets were born of God.

Regardless of whether these claims were accepted at the time to be true, they shaped a person's ethnic identity, political status and claims to honor. As the Greek historian Polybius explains, the renown deeds of ancestors are “part of the heritage of posterity."

Matthew and Luke's inclusion of the city of Bethlehem contributed to the claim that Jesus was the Messiah from a Davidic lineage. They made sure that readers were aware of Jesus' genealogical connection to King David with the mention of this city. Birth stories in Bethlehem solidified the claim that Jesus was a rightful descendant of King David.

So today, when the importance of Bethlehem is heard in Christmas carols or displayed in Nativity scenes, the name of the town connects Jesus to an ancestral lineage and the prophetic hope for a new leader like King David

.

Fuller Theological Seminary is a member of the Association of Theological Schools.The ATS is a funding partner of The Conversation US.

Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, Adjunct Assistant Professor of the New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Sunday, December 29, 2024

Was Jesus really born in Bethlehem?
December 27, 2024

Every Christmas, a relatively small town in the Palestinian West Bank comes center stage: Bethlehem. Jesus, according to some biblical sources, was born in this town some two millennia ago.


Yet the New Testament Gospels do not agree about the details of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. Some do not mention Bethlehem or Jesus’ birth at all.

The Gospels’ different views might be hard to reconcile. But as a scholar of the New Testament, what I argue is that the Gospels offer an important insight into the Greco-Roman views of ethnic identity, including genealogies.

Today, genealogies may bring more awareness of one’s family medical history or help uncover lost family members. In the Greco-Roman era, birth stories and genealogical claims were used to establish rights to rule and link individuals with purported ancestral grandeur.

Gospel of Matthew

According to the Gospel of Matthew, the first Gospel in the canon of the New Testament, Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. The story begins with wise men who come to the city of Jerusalem after seeing a star that they interpreted as signaling the birth of a new king.

It goes on to describe their meeting with the local Jewish king named Herod, of whom they inquire about the location of Jesus’ birth. The Gospel says that the star of Bethlehem subsequently leads them to a house – not a manger – where Jesus has been born to Joseph and Mary. Overjoyed, they worship Jesus and present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were valuable gifts, especially frankincense and myrrh, which were costly fragrances that had medicinal use.

The Gospel explains that after their visit, Joseph has a dream where he is warned of Herod’s attempt to kill baby Jesus. When the wise men went to Herod with the news that a child had been born to be the king of the Jews, he made a plan to kill all young children to remove the threat to his throne. It then mentions how Joseph, Mary and infant Jesus leave for Egypt to escape King Herod’s attempt to assassinate all young children.

Matthew also says that after Herod dies from an illness, Joseph, Mary and Jesus do not return to Bethlehem. Instead, they travel north to Nazareth in Galilee, which is modern-day Nazareth in Israel.


Gospel of Luke

The Gospel of Luke, an account of Jesus’ life which was written during the same period as the Gospel of Matthew, has a different version of Jesus’ birth. The Gospel of Luke starts with Joseph and a pregnant Mary in Galilee. They journey to Bethlehem in response to a census that the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus required for all the Jewish people. Since Joseph was a descendant of King David, Bethlehem was the hometown where he was required to register.

The Gospel of Luke includes no flight to Egypt, no paranoid King Herod, no murder of children and no wise men visiting baby Jesus. Jesus is born in a manger because all the travelers overcrowded the guest rooms. After the birth, Joseph and Mary are visited not by wise men but shepherds, who were also overjoyed at Jesus’ birth.

Luke says these shepherds were notified about Jesus’ location in Bethlehem by angels. There is no guiding star in Luke’s story, nor do the shepherds bring gifts to baby Jesus. Luke also mentions that Joseph, Mary and Jesus leave Bethlehem eight days after his birth and travel to Jerusalem and then to Nazareth.

The differences between Matthew and Luke are nearly impossible to reconcile, although they do share some similarities. John Meier, a scholar on the historical Jesus, explains that Jesus’ “birth at Bethlehem is to be taken not as a historical fact” but as a “theological affirmation put into the form of an apparently historical narrative.” In other words, the belief that Jesus was a descendant of King David led to the development of a story about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.

Raymond Brown, another scholar on the Gospels, also states that “the two narratives are not only different – they are contrary to each other in a number of details.”


Mark’s and John’s Gospels


A Nativity scene showing the birth of Jesus in a manger.
Swen Pförtner/picture alliance via Getty Images

What makes it more difficult is that neither the other Gospels, that of Mark and John, mentions Jesus’ birth or his connection to Bethlehem.

The Gospel of Mark is the earliest account of Jesus’ life, written around A.D. 60. The opening chapter of Mark says that Jesus is from “Nazareth of Galilee.” This is repeated throughout the Gospel on several occasions, and Bethlehem is never mentioned.

A blind beggar in the Gospel of Mark describes Jesus as both from Nazareth and the son of David, the second king of Israel and Judah during 1010-970 B.C. But King David was not born in Nazareth, nor associated with that city. He was from Bethlehem. Yet Mark doesn’t identify Jesus with the city Bethlehem.

The Gospel of John, written approximately 15 to 20 years after that of Mark, also does not associate Jesus with Bethlehem. Galilee is Jesus’ hometown. Jesus finds his first disciples, does several miracles and has brothers in Galilee.

This is not to say that John was unaware of Bethlehem’s significance. John mentions a debate where some Jewish people referred to the prophecy which claimed that the messiah would be a descendant of David and come from Bethlehem. But Jesus according to John’s Gospel is never associated with Bethlehem, but with Galilee, and more specifically, Nazareth.

The Gospels of Mark and John reveal that they either had trouble linking Bethlehem with Jesus, did not know his birthplace, or were not concerned with this city.

These were not the only ones. Apostle Paul, who wrote the earliest documents of the New Testament, considered Jesus a descendant of David but does not associate him with Bethlehem. The Book of Revelation also affirms that Jesus was a descendant of David but does not mention Bethlehem.

An ethnic identity

During the period of Jesus’ life, there were multiple perspectives on the Messiah. In one stream of Jewish thought, the Messiah was expected to be an everlasting ruler from the lineage of David. Other Jewish texts, such as the book 4 Ezra, written in the same century as the Gospels, and the Jewish sectarian Qumran literature, which is written two centuries earlier, also echo this belief.

But within the Hebrew Bible, a prophetic book called Micah, thought to be written around B.C. 722, prophesies that the messiah would come from David’s hometown, Bethlehem. This text is repeated in Matthew’s version. Luke mentions that Jesus is not only genealogically connected to King David, but also born in Bethlehem, “the city of David.”

Genealogical claims were made for important ancient founders and political leaders. For example, Ion, the founder of the Greek colonies in Asia, was considered to be a descendant of Apollo. Alexander the Great, whose empire reached from Macedonia to India, was claimed to be a son of Hercules. Caesar Augustus, who was the first Roman emperor, was proclaimed as a descendant of Apollo. And a Jewish writer named Philo who lived in the first century wrote that Abraham and the Jewish priest and prophets were born of God.

Regardless of whether these claims were accepted at the time to be true, they shaped a person’s ethnic identity, political status and claims to honor. As the Greek historian Polybius explains, the renown deeds of ancestors are “part of the heritage of posterity.”

Matthew and Luke’s inclusion of the city of Bethlehem contributed to the claim that Jesus was the Messiah from a Davidic lineage. They made sure that readers were aware of Jesus’ genealogical connection to King David with the mention of this city. Birth stories in Bethlehem solidified the claim that Jesus was a rightful descendant of King David.

So today, when the importance of Bethlehem is heard in Christmas carols or displayed in Nativity scenes, the name of the town connects Jesus to an ancestral lineage and the prophetic hope for a new leader like King David.



Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, Adjunct Assistant Professor of the New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


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Thursday, December 26, 2024

 

Palestinians Endure Another Christmas of Genocide and Displacement

American lawmakers will be celebrating the holiday with their families as Palestinians endure US-financed genocide.

By
 
Palestinians partake in the yearly Christmas procession towards the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem town in the Israel-occupied West Bank on December 24, 2024.

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Over the past 14 months, I have watched in horror as fellow Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to Israel’s relentless bombardment — targeting refugee camps, residential neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, universities and bakeries — and forced to live the nightmare of homelessness in leaky tents without food, water or medical care. I have listened to friends and family in the West Bank and East Jerusalem talk about their despair and describe the daily terror they are subjected to at the hands of the Israeli military and armed settlers, whose aim is to get them to leave their homes and land.

Meanwhile in the U.S., our elected officials are now on holiday recess, celebrating Christmas with their families, friends and loved ones in the warmth of their cozy homes — despite their direct responsibility for facilitating the massacres and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, the displacement of over a million residents in southern Lebanon, and the recent Israeli bombardment of Syria and Yemen.

Palestinian families in Gaza will be huddling in freezing cold tents shivering as they mourn the loss of loved ones and await their turn to be killed by a U.S.-supplied bomb or burned alive in their tents. As President Joe Biden celebrates his last Christmas in the White House with his son Hunter, Palestinians will still be searching with their bare hands for their children that remain missing under the rubble.

Under the watchful eyes of U.S. lawmakers, Israeli forces have killed more than 17,000 Palestinian children in Gaza and 169 children in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. According to the Gaza Government Media Office, nearly 26,000 children are now without one or both parents. A recent report by the United Nations says that Gaza is home to the largest number of amputee children in modern history.

Defense for Children International-Palestine said in its report, “Targeting Childhood: Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank,” since October 7, 2023, Palestinian children in the West Bank are being killed by the Israeli military at the rate of one child every two days. During the past 14 months, nearly 800 West Bank Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military and armed settlers and close to 12,000 arrested and imprisoned, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a prisoners’ rights group.

Palestinians wonder: What would it take to stop the massacres and end this nightmare? What did Palestinians do to deserve the horror being inflicted daily on their families? Why do Palestinians have to pay the price for Europe’s war crimes? And does Israel really think it can erase us; annihilate our cities; steal our lands; torture, imprison and kill our children; obliterate our cultural heritage; and wipe us off the face of the Earth?

Christmas in the Holy Land Is Magical

I am a descendant of Palestinian Christian Nakba survivors from the Old City of Jerusalem. Although I have deeply rooted Palestinian Christian Eastern Orthodox ancestry, and I wholeheartedly embrace the holidays and traditions of my ancestors, I am mainly a cultural Christian. I feel very much at home with my Palestinian sisters and brothers, regardless of whether they follow any religion.

Before the 1967 War, I spent my childhood in the Old City of Jerusalem. Each year, I would await the arrival of Christmas with great anticipation. I have vivid memories of the last magical Christmas I had with my grandparents in Jerusalem, when I was barely 11 years old.

My grandfather was the Mukhtar (literally, the chosen), the head of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Arab community in Jerusalem, which he dutifully served for over 50 years, as his father had done before him and his eldest son after him. In 1948, after my grandparents’ expulsion from their home in the Katamon Quarter of West Jerusalem, and because of my grandfather’s position in the church, my family was given residence inside the Greek Orthodox Convent, which abuts the walls of Mar Ya’coub (St. Jacob’s Orthodox Church) and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. From the convent’s rooftop the view of the Mount of Olives, the Dome of the Rock, the al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher overwhelmed my 11-year-old eyes every time I gazed in the distance.

In 1966, in the run up to Christmas, I remember accompanying my grandfather as he went about performing his official duties and preparing for the celebrations and festivities of the season. With him, I lit candles at Jesus’s tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I visited church dignitaries, family members and even the Batrak, the grand old Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, whose hand I had to kiss after he placed around my neck a gold chain with a black and gold cross. Inside it was a wood splinter that my grandfather told me came directly from the cross of Jesus Christ.

I remember being mesmerized by the chanting, the carols on Christmas Eve, the incense, and the prayers in Arabic and ancient Greek. And I will never forget the Christmas dinner that my grandmother prepared: keftas and kababs, hashwet jaaj (chicken with rice and pine nuts) and koosa mahshi (stuffed zucchini), and mezze plates as far as the eye could see, including hummus, baba ghanouj, stuffed vine leaves, glistening black olives, braided white cheese, glossy vegetables, plump nuts and lush, juicy fruits.

Christmastime in the Old City of Jerusalem was one of the most beautiful experiences imaginable. But the next year, the 1967 War broke out.

It was the last Christmas I spent in Jerusalem, and the last time I saw my grandparents.

Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land Are Not Okay

The Palestinian Christian community in the Holy Land — the oldest Christian community in the world, with ancestors dating back to the first followers of Christ — face numerous challenges, including daily harassment by settlers, bans on public Christmas trees, spitting on priests, bombings of churches and attacks on Christian clergy. Several family members have asked the same question: “Where’s the outcry from Christians in the West?”
Palestinian Christians are angry at the World Council of Churches and its “Statement on the Escalating Crisis in Gaza,” released this past June at a meeting in Bogota, Colombia. Kairos Palestine, a Christian Palestinian Movement, called the statement “neither accurate, nor adequate” for refusing to use the word genocide and failing “to mention Israel’s 7-decades settler colonial regime, apartheid and prolonged occupation with total impunity as the root cause and the context that laid the grounds for the events of 7 October and the ensuing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza and the grave escalation of Israel’s atrocities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

Palestinian Christians are furious at Evangelicals and decry the more than 10 million Christian Zionists in the U.S. who believe that their support of Israel at any cost is a fulfillment of a divine promise, even if it means committing genocide against the Indigenous Palestinian inhabitants of the land. And they dread the arrival of Donald Trump’s appointee for the U.S. ambassadorship to Israel — ultra-Zionist evangelical Christian former-Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. Huckabee, an advocate of West Bank annexation and a proponent of Greater Israel, has said there was “really no such thing as a Palestinian” and that “God gave historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel.”

In a November 9 interview in Al Jazeera, Khalil Sayegh, a Palestinian Christian resident of Gaza City who was able to leave and now lives in Washington, D.C. said, “Everyone I speak to who’s currently sheltering at the St. Porphyrius Church is looking to leave Gaza.” He added, “The majority of the houses in the north, where the Christians lived, have been bombed. Everything is destroyed. People have no reason to stay.”

Lamenting the silence of Christians in the West, Sayegh said, “We’re used to our brothers and sisters in the West totally ignoring us. It’s not new.”
Gaza City’s Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, which dates back to the 5th century CE, was hit in October 2023 by an Israeli strike, killing 18 of the 450 or so parishioners who took refuge in the church’s compound. Two months after that, two Christian women — Nahida and Samar Anton, a mother and a daughter — were shot dead by an Israeli military sniper as they crossed the courtyard of the Catholic Parish of the Holy Family on the other side of town. Since then, Israel’s atrocities continue to decimate the Christian community in Gaza, while destroying their historical roots in their homeland.

Christmas Is a Story About a Family Seeking Refuge

Now more than ever, Palestinian Christians see a close resemblance between their story of forced displacement from their homes and the story of Advent and Christmas — the injustice, oppression and displacement of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem from Nazareth. Palestinian mothers today identify with Mary, the tragic loss of her son, and her resilience when confronted with discrimination against her newborn child.

The Rev. Munther Isaac, the Palestinian Christian pastor for the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, powerfully proposed during Christmas last year the idea that “Jesus is born this Christmas not in a stable in Bethlehem, but among the wreckage of war in Gaza. ‘God is under the rubble,’” he proclaimed.

On December 8, Reverend Isaac repeated last year’s plea in a post on X:

This Christmas, once again, we find ourselves reflecting on the meaning of Christmas through the image of Christ in the Rubble. Christ is still under the rubble in Gaza, as children are still being pulled from under the rubble in Gaza. It is heartbreaking that we are still calling and pleading for a ceasefire. Decision makers seem to be content with this war continuing as long as it has. They have decided that Palestinians are dispensable. … It is literally hell on earth in Gaza. … We insist: we see the image of Jesus in every child killed. They are precious to God.

How can we have a joyous Christmas when our people are being massacred and are grieving the deaths of their loved ones?

Leaders of Christian churches in the Holy Land have released a joint Christmas message that calls for an end to the war in Gaza. They called on the faithful to celebrate in a modest way and to keep the focus on the religious ceremonies and the true meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Sami El-Yousef, the CEO of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said in a statement: “Advent is certainly a time of waiting and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’s birth at Christmas. Celebrating an advent is a season of prayer, fasting, and repentance followed by anticipation, joy and hope. How can we still have hope amidst all the destruction, killing, and hatred?”

Pope Unveils Solidarity Nativity Scene, Removed After Backlash

In the Holy Land, where Palestinian baby Jesus was born in a manger and where Christ’s message of love, compassion and caring for the oppressed was first heard, Palestinians live their lives in daily fear under the gun of Israeli soldiers and armed settlers.

Last year, the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem canceled its Christmas festivities, put away its Christmas decorations, and instead of the church’s normal nativity scene, it placed baby Jesus on top of a pile of rubble inside the church.

On December 7, 2024, in a message of solidarity, Pope Francis unveiled the annual nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square, which this year featured baby Jesus laying on a Palestinian keffiyeh. The scene was created by Palestinian artists Johny Andonia and Faten Nastas Mitwasi from Bethlehem.

Following the unveiling, Ibrahim Faltas, Angeli Chapel deputy custodian of the Holy Land, praised Pope Francis’s message and said, “These nativity scenes remind us of those who, in the land where the Son of God was born, continue to suffer due to the tragedy of war.”

The nativity scene was removed by the Vatican five days later due to pro-Israel backlash. No official explanation was given.

Interviewed on December 13, Bethlehem artist Mitwasi explained, “The keffiyeh is not a symbol of violence. It is part of our cultural heritage. I feel that those who see it as a symbol of violence need to learn more about Palestinian history and culture.”

She added, “As a Christian Palestinian, I should have the freedom to create my nativity scene and use any Palestinian symbol I find suitable.”

Like all Palestinians — and people of conscience everywhere — Palestinian Christians are overwhelmed by the unending cruelty of the daily massacres and terror in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are outraged at people and governments in the West — from political leaders to church leaders, and from mainstream media outlets to academia and the medical establishment — who have been silent in the face of an ongoing genocide, but openly and loudly show their support for Israel, a racist, nuclear-armed, apartheid state with expansionist ambitions that has been terrorizing and ethnically cleansing Palestinians and stealing their lands for over 76 years.

But Palestinians such as myself, irrespective of their faith, direct the bulk of their anger towards the U.S. for its complicity in the genocide and for its continued supply of the Israeli state with arms shipments and bombs — in violation of U.S. and international law — that are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, the destruction of 70 percent of homes in the Gaza Strip, and the displacement of nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants. They also hold the U.S. responsible for shielding Israel from accountability by using its veto power to thwart and derail UN Security Council resolutions that call for an immediate ceasefire.

But through all the daily hell that Palestinians are experiencing, one thing that remains strong is their belief in a free Palestine. So when you gather with family and friends this holiday season, talk about the Palestinian struggle for freedom and equality — and remember those in Palestine who can no longer celebrate with their loved ones.

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Monday, December 25, 2023



OPINION

Christmas in Bethlehem 2022 vs 2023

Christians in Palestine called on the world to not celebrate Christmas this year in solidarity with Gaza. Yet many Christian leaders choose to stand with Israel without caring about the land of the man they are supposedly celebrating.
PALESTINIANS ARRIVE FOR CHRISTMAS EVENTS AT THE CHURCH OF NATIVITY ON DECEMBER 24, 2023 IN BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK. 
(PHOTO: MAMOUN WAZWAZ/APA IMAGES)

Despite being under occupation, Palestinians resist. They resist yet also welcome worshipers from all over the world, particularly during Christmas and particularly to Bethlehem. Yet this year is different. From resisting and spreading cheer to dejection, the journey has been both short and long. During the genocide inflicted upon Gaza, the Israeli occupation has bombed a number of Gaza’s churches, including the third oldest church in the world. They have killed the earliest Christians and also harmed those Christians in other biblically mentioned towns such as Jerusalem and Jericho. The Christians of Palestine, those from Jesus’s homeland, have called upon the world to not celebrate Christmas this year in solidarity with Gaza and with Palestinians and to call for an end to the genocide instead. Yet, the world, including many Christian leaders across the world, are publicly standing with Israel without so much as caring about the land of the man they are supposedly celebrating.

Thinking back to last Christmas, I woke up at my hotel early on December 25, 2022, in Jerusalem, right near Damascus Gate, from where I could faintly hear the call to prayer from Al Aqsa. Today was going to be exciting. The plan was to visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day. I may be Muslim, but the thought of experiencing Christmas in Bethlehem was nothing short of special.
CHRISTMAS TREE IN BETHLEHEM, DECEMBER 2022. 
(PHOTO: SYEDA MAAH-NOOR ALI)

After an unnecessarily convoluted journey, which included being dehumanized at checkpoints, we finally reached Bethlehem. The first thing I noticed was how less commercialized Christmas is in the Holy Land. The focus is most definitely more on worship and joy than dramatic decorations. The huge Christmas tree in Manger Square, a blown-up Santa, and some small decorations in homes, being a few exceptions. Despite the minimal decorations, the spirit was alive and well. The square and areas around were teeming with worshipers and onlookers like myself. People were clamoring toward the grotto under the Church of Nativity, which is believed to be the place where Jesus was born. At the entrance, we found a Palestinian policeman. It was refreshing to see the Palestinian flag on his uniform, and he welcomed us with a smile. Then we began to enter. We started ducking very low to get through the tiny stone door, barely over a meter and a half. Once in, we stood up straight and were met with a magnificent display. The chancel with gilded iconostasis was a bejeweled sight to behold. The stone church, the gold hues, the candles, and the ruby red decorations. But what struck me were the lines, the lines were huge. People lined up one behind the other on their holiest day after their morning service. To get a chance to take it all in and worship. To pay their respects at the grotto.

Seeing the Christmas celebrations in full swing in the Church of the Nativity on Christmas day was nothing short of electric and an image I will never forget.

But this year, Christmas is canceled in Bethlehem. The tree in Manger Square is nowhere to be seen. There is melancholy in the air. The birthplace of Christianity has asked its residents to withhold from celebrations and ceremonies this year. No decorations and no festivities in the public areas of the city.

A SCENE IN THE CHURCH OF NATIVITY ON DECEMBER 24, 2023 IN BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK. LAST MONTH, CHRISTIAN PALESTINIAN LEADERS HERE CALLED OFF PUBLIC CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS, CITING THE EFFECTS OF THE ONGOING WAR IN GAZA.
(PHOTO: MAMOUN WAZWAZ/APA IMAGES)

Rev Munther Isaac Live from Bethlehem, in his ‘Liturgy of Lament’ told us that while in America last month, upon seeing the excess decorations and commercialization of Christmas, he thought that “They sent us bombs whilst celebrating Christmas in their lands’ ‘they sing about the prince of peace in their land, while playing the drum of war in our land,'” and that encapsulates the feelings of many. The West watches and cheers on the genocide in Gaza, all whilst celebrating the birth of a Palestinian man. If Jesus were born today, he would be born under rubble, he would be born under occupation. He would be born under persecution; he would be born being hated. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem wouldn’t have been made, the apartheid wall and checkpoints would have prevented it. Jesus’s existence would have been taken as a threat by Israel.

The irony isn’t lost. The irony is astounding and sickening.


Jesus was Palestinian, this is a factual statement. But very conveniently, Palestine has been eradicated from the retelling of the Christmas story in the Western world.

By painting Bethlehem as a mystical place far far away, with mangers and wise men, and absolutely no mention that Bethlehem is in Occupied Palestine, resisting to survive every day. Fighting for its existence. People don’t like speaking about politics, but politics is real, the occupation is real, the systematic violence is real. But all very very conveniently left out. Left out to prevent making people uncomfortable. To prevent ‘ruining the holiday mood’ yet there would be no ‘holiday mood’ if Jesus hadn’t been born. Born in a land that is being bombed. Born in a land with an active occupation. and no one thinks. What of the 20,000 + people in Gaza that have been mercilessly massacred? What of the men, women, children? What of the holy sights? What of Gaza’s Christian population? Those that live only a few kilometers from where Jesus was born?

Christmas day saw one of the biggest massacres in Gaza by Israel. They took advantage of the world looking away for their festivities and slaughtered.

Even Bethlehem was attacked as part of routine raids on the West Bank.

There is no pause, or looking away, or breaks for Palestinians.

The world just doesn’t care. But it must.




Pope Francis Posts Political Christmas Message Amid Israel-Hamas War

Pope Francis' Israel Remarks Spark Fury


By Shannon Power
Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
Dec 25, 2023 

Pope Francis has shared his thoughts on the Israel-Hamas war as Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem remain canceled.

Bethlehem is located in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank and is considered the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Usually a sacred place for Christians to celebrate Christmas, this year's festivities were canceled in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, who remain under fire from Israeli forces.

The Pontiff took to X, formerly Twitter, to share his thoughts on the ongoing Israeli war efforts in Gaza, which are retaliation to Palestinian militant group Hamas' surprise attack on October 7 that led to the death of 1,200 people in Israel. Around 20,400 people have been killed in Gaza, according to The Associated Press.

Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus blessing on December 24, 2023, in the Vatican City. He has shared a message about the Israel-Hamas war to X, formerly Twitter.
VATICAN POOL/GETTY IMAGES EUROPE

"Tonight, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war, by the clash of arms that even today prevents him from finding room in the world. #Christmas," wrote Pope Francis.

Jesus is sometimes referred to as the Prince of Peace, especially around Christmas time.



On Friday, the pope announced he had sent papal almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to the Holy Land as a "sign of his solidarity amid the tragedy of war." The papal almoner is responsible for performing works of mercy on behalf of the pope.

Krajewski will spend Christmas with the local church in the place of Jesus' birth and has previously personally delivered humanitarian aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.

"Cardinal Krajewski will join this great invocation for peace together with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the entire local church, to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace and the only hope of our world," a release from the Vatican stated.

Pope Francis invited everyone to accompany the cardinal's journey in prayer, "in order to obtain the gift of peace in areas where the thunder of weapons continues to roar."
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"Pope Francis, saddened by the 'third world war fought piecemeal' that afflicts the world, prays every day for peace, calling for an end to the conflicts that stain the earth: in martyred Ukraine, in Syria, in many countries in Africa, and now in Israel and Palestine," read the statement.

READ MORE


How Pope Francis was involved in "Sound of Freedom"

Pope Francis had warned of a "mountain of dead" piling up in Gaza and Israel, and described the conflict there as "terrorism."

"This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism," the Pontiff told an audience in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City in November.

Earlier that week, he shared a video message to X in which he said: "The Palestinian people and the people of Israel have the right to live in peace: two fraternal peoples.

"Let us #PrayTogether for peace in the Holy Land, so that disputes may be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, and not with a mountain of dead on each side."
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