Palestinians have no happy endings; no one cares

World-famous authors of children’s stories, Charles Dickens and Dr Seuss wrote about sour characters called Scrooge and The Grinch who despised or tried to steal Christmas. That is, of course, the celebrations those traditionally take place around the world on the birthday of Jesus more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. At that time, as now, the town was occupied by a hostile foreign power. Then, it was the Romans, today it is the Israelis. Unfortunately, the Israelis do not take their cue from Dickens or Dr Seuss whose Christmas stories had happy endings. Palestinians have no happy endings. And almost, no one cares.

Among those who care is elusive British artist Banksy who has installed a new work opposite his Walled-Off Hotel built facing Israel’s concrete slab apartheid barrier which encloses and isolates Bethlehem. On the wall Banksy depicts baby Jesus lying in a manger with his parents beside him and animals in the background. Above the nativity scene light shines through a hole in the wall punched by a mortar shell and shaped to form the star that, according to tradition, guided three wise men to the place.

Every year at this time there are tussles with the increasingly restrictive Israeli authorities — Scrooges and Grinches — about who among the Christian Palestinians they control will be permitted to travel to Bethlehem to attend church and take part in Christmas celebrations. During this season, Bethlehem has also been a meeting place for West Bank and Gaza Palestinians with permits and Palestinian citizens of Israel, if Israel’s soldiers at the town’s gate allow them to enter. All citizens of Israel — Jews and Arabs — are barred from entry to West Bank Palestinian enclaves and Gaza but Palestinian citizens ignore this prohibition.

This year Israel refused to issue permits for any of Gaza’s 1,200 mainly Greek Orthodox Christians to visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem during the holiday period. Some 950 Gazans applied for West Bank permits, but the Israelis provided post-Christmas permits for 100 Gazan Christians to travel abroad via Jordan and 200 permits for Gazan Christians who are living abroad to visit their families in Gaza. Since Israel issues permits only for Gazans of 45 years of age, this means that parents with young children cannot travel together. In previous years Israel had permitted West Bank access to several hundred Gazans during Christmas and Easter.

Israel has a complex set of pass and permit laws, which restrict Palestinian freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank and between the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel. Within the West Bank Palestinian freedom of movement is severely restricted by Israeli roadblocks, checkpoints where soldiers decide who passes, Israeli settlers-only roads, Israeli apartheid barriers, and military closures. These impositions limit freedom of worship for Muslims as well as Christians. While Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem can travel freely in the West Bank and Israel, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have to apply for permits to observe religious holidays — both Muslim and Christian — in the Holy City.

Having banned Gazans from Bethlehem this Christmas, Israel’s Scrooges and Grinches have demonstrated their determination to also disrupt celebrations in Bethlehem, Ramallah, and other towns which are being subjected to daily power cuts which affect 130,000 people. The Israel Electric Company (IEC) which generates 90 per cent of the power provided by the Palestinian-owned Jerusalem District Electricity Company has timed the cuts to take place during the holiday season. The Palestinian firm owes the IEC $519 million, has paid $28.3 million and plans to raise a loan for another $43.25 million to reduce the debt. Without aid from the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, more outages can be expected in the New Year.

Undeterred by Israel’s Scrooges and Grinches, Bethlehem has laid on a spectacular show for Christmas. The huge tree in Manger Square glows with glitter and fairy lights. Five new hotels are set to open and existing hotels have expanded to meet rising demand. Opening hours have been extended at the refurbished Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where it is said Jesus was born. Shops ranged around the Square display olive-wood and mother-of-pearl handicrafts, tables are set at cafes and restaurants, and the Peace Centre is open to visitors. During next year, Bethlehem expects to receive more than the 1.5 million visitors who made the journey this year, if the situation is stable and secure. Tourists and pilgrims are the town’s life blood.

During the lean years, Palestinian citizens of Israel from Nazareth and the Galilee travelled to Bethlehem during Christmas and to East Jerusalem every Friday to sustain their economies. The aim was to make it possible for fellow Palestinians to remain at home in their own land instead of emigrating. Unfortunately, both Muslims and Christians, who believe they have no future under Israeli occupation, are leaving.

Palestine’s Christian minority, once 20 per cent, has declined to two per cent. A census conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2017 revealed that 47,000 Palestinian Christians are living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Ninety-eight per cent of Palestine’s Christians dwell in the West Bank — concentrated in the cities of Ramallah, Bethlehem and East Jerusalem. While only two per cent of Palestinian Christians live in Gaza, this number has halved since 1967. Once a Christian town, Bethlehem now has an 86 per cent Muslim majority due to Israel’s colony construction and confiscation of land from surrounding villages forcing their inhabitants to move into the town. Since 2016, the number of Bethlehem’s Christians has fallen by 12 per cent to 11,000 people.

Israeli policies, not tensions between Muslims and Christians, are driving out Christians and Muslims. Since a larger percentage of Christians than Muslims have relatives living in the US, Latin America, Europe and Australia, they find it easier to secure immigration visas. This means their number is shrinking rapidly. If Israel succeeds in pressuring Christians to leave, Palestine, the land where Christianity was born, will have no Christians.