How should Palestinian celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem?

By: Daoud Kuttab

How should Christians celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem this year? Since November 22 the city and its surroundings have been under a crippling 24-hour curfew that has been relaxed for a couple of days during the entire period.

Opinions vary from those calling for a total boycott of all festivities including the traditional Latin Patriarch's parade on Christmas Eve to those who insist that life and celebrations must go on in spite of the Israeli actions.

The dwindling Palestinian Christian community wants to protest as loud as possible the injustice happening on it and the entire Palestinian nation, while wanting at the same time not to interrupt the traditional celebrations. The big fear is that Israel will try and create internal tensions between Palestinian Christians and Moslems by opening the city up just for Christmas knowing very well that such moves would give the impression that Israel has a bias to the Christians.

The boycott supporters called on the local community of Bethlehem 'not to fall for the trap' that Israel is planning to set up by making it look like everything is ok on Christmas Eve. Turn the lights off on Christmas Eve, and encourage Palestinians from Nazareth not to come and don't march in the patriarch parade, an anonymous leaflet circulating in Bethlehem said. Christian Palestinians are even called on to keep their decorations inside their homes. "Do not place them in view of the street, where journalists will take the opportunity to take pictures and misrepresent what we have been living through.

Latin Patriarch Michele Sabah rejected this sentiment. While explaining the situation he called on people not to cancel festivities. "As for the siege and the humiliation imposed on the Palestinians of Bethlehem itself and on all the Palestinian towns and villages, and the demolition of houses and the killing of people, all these measures push us rather to renew our courage, our hope and our love even to those who make hard our life. Therefore we have to pray, may God put an end to all that and give us instead justice, dignity and love. The present difficulties will not compel us to cancel our feasts. Besides the sufferings already imposed upon us, it is not necessary to dispossess ourselves from the joy of the feast and from our duty to worship God and present Him ourselves with all our sufferings.

No one knows what will happen. While Israeli troops are expected to stay in Bethlehem until long after Christmas and New Year, some indications have been made that the Israelis will not insist on accompanying the Latin Patriarch all the way to the Church of Nativity. The latest rumor is that they will escort the leading Palestinian clergyman to the Paradise Hotel building in Bethlehem and then allow the local authorities and the Church to pick up the traditional Jerusalem-Bethlehem parade from there. If that doesn't happen said one leading Palestinian Christian no one will agree to march into Manger Square with the Israeli army.

Palestinian president Yasser Arafat who was denied entry to the Church last year and whom the Israelis also want to deny him the chance to participate in this year's events has called on Palestinians to joyfully celebrate the Christmas season and not to allow the Israelis to dampen this festive holiday.

A third option is also being circulated. It calls for the public to celebrate the holidays but with an attempt to use it to demonstrate the displeasure of Palestinians at the continued Israeli oppressive measures. They want the world to know how they feel by all wearing black shirts or decorating Christmas trees with empty bombshells and other symbols of the Israeli army's brutal anti Palestinian policies. Some nonviolent activists are calling on Palestinians to go out in the streets with olive branches and black flags as a pro-active participation in showing the world that Palestinians reject the continued Israeli occupation and oppression of their country.

Daoud Kuttab is the director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah. His email is dkuttab@ammannet.net