Christ under Rubble
By Zohreh Qanadi
Staff writer
“If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.”
This is an excerpt from a congratulatory speech delivered by a Palestinian Christian theologian Munther Isaac.
Christmas Eve in Gaza marked one of the enclave’s deadliest nights in the 11-week-old war, with 100 lives lost in Israeli airstrikes. Heart-wrenching scenes unfolded: One man hugged a dead child and others were hysterical.
Gaza remains entrenched in bloodshed, hunger, and rubble, with over 20,000 casualties and many bodies feared trapped beneath the debris. Almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced.
Miles away in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus (PBUH), there was little for Christians to celebrate.
Palestinian Christians earlier held a Christmas vigil in Bethlehem, West Bank, with candle-lit hymns and prayers for peace in Gaza instead of the usual celebrations.
Hamas commended the Palestinian Christians’ decision to limit their Christmas celebrations to religious rituals, saying, “The holidays of our Christian people come this year amid a continuing fascist aggression launched by the occupation (forces) against all components of our Palestinian people, targeting both mosques and churches.”
“We appreciate the position of the Christians of our honorable national Palestinian people who limit their celebrations this year … and stand united with our people in the Gaza Strip, which is subjected to brutal Zionist aggression,” the statement said.
It added that the decision “confirms that our people … Muslims and Christians alike, are united on the path of resilience, preserving their identity, and protecting their Islamic and Christian sanctities.”
There were no trees, no lights, no choirs or celebrations for the first time in Palestine’s history since the Nakba of 1948.
Nativity figurines in churches were placed amid rubble and barbed wire in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
Instead of a manger, at the Lutheran church in Bethlehem, the baby Jesus lies swaddled in a keffiyeh, half buried in a pile of rubble.
Many here have ties to Gaza through loved ones and friends, and a sense of misery has fallen upon the city revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus Christ (PBUH).
Decorations that once adorned neighborhoods have been removed. The parades and religious celebrations have been canceled.
“It’s impossible to celebrate when there’s a massacre, a genocide, taking place in Gaza with our people,” Pastor Munther Isaac tells Al Jazeera.
Ali Thabet tells CNN: “My son asked me why there’s no Christmas tree this year, I don’t know how to explain it.”
Father Spiridon Sammour, a Greek Orthodox priest at the Church of the Nativity says, “I have never seen it like this.”
“Christmas is joy, love, and peace. We have no peace. We have no joy,” he says solemnly. “It is out of our hands, and we pray for the leaders who will make the decisions all over the world, to God to help them, give them his light to make peace here and all over the world.”
In the US, the home to the world’s largest population of Christians, some Christians are following suit. “The only gift that Palestinians want to have is a Christmas cease-fire,” said the Rev. Khader Khalila, who grew up in Bethlehem, and is now at The Redeemer-St John’s Lutheran church in Brooklyn.
Khalila will not be exchanging gifts this year, even with his own two children, and will instead donate money to organizations helping children in Gaza and rebuilding efforts.
“It’s impossible to celebrate” resonates as a sentiment, reflecting the grim reality of the Gaza war and exposing divisions among US Christians.
A very different letter was sent to President Joe Biden on November 9 from Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and 30 American Christian leaders, calling for the administration to “support an immediate cease-fire, de-escalation, and restraint by all involved”. It was signed by representatives of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, United, Lutheran, and Orthodox churches, among others.
In his Christmas message on Monday, Pope Francis kicked off global Christmas celebrations with a call for peace, as the war cast a shadow over one of the world’s favorite holidays.
“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,” the Catholic leader said.
He said that children dying in wars, including in Gaza, are the “little Jesuses of today” and that Israeli strikes there were reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians.
“I plead for an end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims, and call for a solution to the desperate humanitarian situation by an opening to the provision of humanitarian aid,” he told thousands of faithful gathered in Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in a message to the pontiff on Sunday, urged “the international community and all the truthful people of the world” to help bring an “immediate end” to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip in the New Year.
Raisi said Israel killed thousands of innocent people in Gaza amid the inaction of international organizations and the support of the US and some European nations.
The Latin patriarch of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), Pierbattista Pizzaballa, arrived Sunday at the Church of the Nativity, clad in the traditional black and white keffiyeh. “Our heart goes to Gaza, to all people in Gaza but a special attention to our Christian community in Gaza who is suffering,” he said.
Yet, the world remains shrouded in silence. Amidst the chaos, the only discernible sounds are only empty calls for cease-fire. Churches stand as silent witnesses, leaders observe without decisive action, and the people in Gaza ‘are sending live images of their own execution’.
As the Palestinian Christian theologian said during his Christmas sermon “The Christmas message is not about Santa, trees, gifts, lights.” The true message of Christmas would be that “this genocide must stop now.”