Published in Data Dive
Jesus’ unknown birth-day would be marked worldwide amidst joy and fanfare except at his birthplace, Bethlehem.
December 26th, 2023
Jesus’ unknown birth-day would be marked worldwide amidst joy and fanfare except at his birthplace, Bethlehem.
Religious authorities in the town have called off the annual festivities, citing the ongoing large-scale bloodshed of innocent children, adolescents, adults and the aged in the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza, 70 kilometres west of Bethlehem.
Christmas is observed and is a public holiday in 163 states and 2 territories.
It is observed but not a public holiday in 21 states – Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
By Pharexia – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76101778
Bethlehem, a Palestinian-controlled town of Israel, will observe the international festival of the birth of Jesus Christ in an unusual way this season. No celebrations, as “residents grieve and tourists stay away.”
“The ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree in Bethlehem was expected to be so popular this year that the city authorities planned to stage it twice, to better accommodate the crowds.
“Now, Bethlehem will have no Christmas tree at all. The Palestinian hilltop town, considered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, is in mourning, devastated by the human toll of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Out of respect, festivities in Bethlehem have been called off — for the first time in the town’s memory.
“We’re not celebrating,” said Majed Ishaq, a member of the town’s Palestinian Christian community,” according to the Financial Times.
Yet, the surviving children in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank long for Christmastime.
Santa brings some seasonal cheer to those worst affected in Israel’s last assault on Gaza
(MEE/Mohammed Assad)
Nine years ago, when Israel’s bombs damaged fewer Palestinian lives and properties, little children in Gaza looked to a “bankrupt Santa” for gifts. Israeli bombings had reduced their communities to rubbles.
Last year, Gaza’s multifaith community celebrated the festival.
Christmas in Gaza in December 2022 (Palestinian Christians in Gaza light the traditional Christmas tree. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)
This year, Christmas may indeed be remembered as a holy day in Gaza. But, amidst the biting hunger and greater horrors of war, it is likely no one can observe the celebration side by side with so much desecration and dehumanisation that began the war in Israel and that perpetuates the same in Gaza.
Elsewhere, in 13 states and 1 disputed Territory, Christmas is neither observed nor is a public holiday – Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, North Korea, Libya, Mauritania, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Nothing better pictures the contradictions of Christmas in Palestine this December than this excerpt from the religious writings of a Jewish Prophet, Isaiah.
Isaiah’s writings date back to the 8th century BC and form part of the Jewish and Christian holy scriptures.
Eugene Peterson paraphrased Isaiah’s prediction thus:
“But the time is coming when he’ll make that whole area glorious—the road along the Sea, the country past the Jordan, international Galilee…
You repopulated the nation,
you expanded its joy.
Oh, they’re so glad in your presence!
Festival joy!
The joy of a great celebration,
sharing rich gifts and warm greetings…
The boots of all those invading troops,
along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,
Will be piled in a heap and burned,
a fire that will burn for days!
For a child has been born—for us!
the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over
the running of the world…
He’ll rule from the historic David throne
over that promised kingdom.
He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
beginning now and lasting always.”
This little excerpt of Christmas history could help us understand and possibly resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem personally and politically.
Over the centuries, way back Isaiah’s time through the time Jesus lived in Palestine, Galilee was dominated by foreigners, earning it the title “Galilee of the Gentiles” or Galilee of the nations. It was a crossroads of international travel and had a significant non-Jewish population, making it a diverse and culturally rich territory
A documented history of over two thousand years shows Jesus’ encounters with a mixed Palestinian community of people – Jews, Galileans, Samaritans, Greeks, Syrophoenicians, and so on.
These records show that Palestine had been a melting pot of people of various races and religions before and after the Jewish Monarchy.
The History of Palestine shows it is amoral to think of wiping out people of Jewish descent from Palestine, as Israel’s neighbours have attempted, once or twice, unsuccessfully.
It is equally immoral for Jews to construct a racist apartheid system that discriminates against people of other races who know Palestine as their only homeland.
Little wonder the Jewish Jesus has an international appeal today. His unknown birthday in Bethlehem, his known execution by a Roman governor in Jerusalem at the behest of his fellow Jews, and his life after life in Galilee are celebrated globally.
Why not?
In his time on earth, he identified as the Guy from Galilee. When he showed up after death, he still had the interracial, cross-cultural Galilee on his mind. “Tell my disciples to meet me in Galilee,” he was reported to have told some ladies he met when he resurrected.
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Jesus’ unknown birth-day would be marked worldwide amidst joy and fanfare except at his birthplace, Bethlehem.
