Christians mourn for Gaza
By Robert Beglarian
Iranian Christian MP
This year, celebrating Christian festivities and the upcoming New Year has been eclipsed by the war in Gaza and the inhumane massacre of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli regime. Any fair human, regardless of their political or religious views, cannot stay indifferent to what has happened in the last three months in the Gaza Strip. How timeless are the famous lines that the Iranian poet Sa’di wrote centuries ago, which translate as follows:
“Human beings are members of a whole
In creation of one essence and soul
If one member is afflicted with pain
Other members uneasy will remain”
Christians in Bethlehem, which is the birthplace of Jesus Christ in the West Bank, were not alone in marking these days not as a time for celebration but as a time for mourning. Palestinian Christians, wherever they were around the world, grieved the grueling deaths and displacement of their fellow innocent children, women, and men.
Palestine has always been home to Christians, Muslims, and Jews who were happy to have a peaceful co-existence for years, only to see their peace broken following the emergence of Zionism there.
It seems that these days, no one can really feel the negative and inhumane aspects of the Israeli regime as well as its clear clashes with the divine teachings of Abrahamic religions in their bones better than Christian Palestinians residing in the occupied territories. As such, these Christians must not be indifferent to the Israeli oppression of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip. That’s what we have seen: this year’s festivities in Bethlehem have been imbued with expressions of sympathy with the Muslims of Gaza and bereft of the joyous celebrations that were the norm for many years.
Celebrations and events were held across the world, but they were either limited in scale or accompanied by sympathies with Gazan Muslims and, in some cases, criticism of the global silence toward Israeli crimes. Christians had condemned past Israeli genocides in Gaza as well.
Iranian Christians, just like other peoples of faith, are moved by the extreme oppression of Palestinians, and this will be reflected in their special plans for the upcoming New Year’s Eve. Surely, they will not forget the people of Palestine in their prayers.
Thanks to the work of various media outlets as well as social media, the ongoing genocide of Israel in Gaza has not been overlooked. Therefore, it is only natural that New Year’s Eve will be significantly affected by the people’s response to that genocide.
Describing the atrocities that he witnessed in Gaza, Father Munther Isaac started his address during the service at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem by saying, “If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.” In the Christian faith, the resurrection is a major event. Three days and three nights after Christ was crucified, his rock tomb was opened, but there was no sign of Christ’s body, signaling that he had been resurrected.
A religious and apocalyptic message is embedded in this. I think that the Bethlehem pastor wanted to say that the extent of Israel’s killings and destruction in Gaza is such that it is as if Israel wants to stop the resurrection and prevent the words of Abrahamic religions from being heard.