Saturday evening, the Christmas tree was lit in the city of Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank, marking the start of Christmas celebrations, amidst a remarkable attendance.
Many Palestinian and Christian dignitaries, consuls and ambassadors of countries to the Palestinian Authority participated in the lighting ceremony of the tree, which was held in the Church of the Nativity Square in the center of Bethlehem, in which Jesus was born, reports a local Arabic daily.
The governor of Bethlehem in the Palestinian Authority, Kamel Hamid, said in a speech during the ceremony that the message of the Palestinian people, coinciding with the Christmas celebrations, is directed to the entire world to stand against “the occupation and injustice until peace, calm, stability, justice and love are achieved.”
This year’s Christmas celebrations, called “The Spirit of Christmas Brings Us Together”, come amid escalating tensions between the Palestinians and the Israeli army in the West Bank since last March.
The ceremony included Christmas carols and artistic performances by Palestinian and South African bands, in addition to scout performances, while the streets of the city were decorated with Christmas lights amid the great joy of hundreds of participating families and visitors.
The Christmas tree lighting ceremony in 2020 was limited to a few Palestinian officials and clerics, in a precedent that is the first of its kind due to the Corona virus.
More than 3.5 million tourists visited the Palestinian territories in 2019, most of them to Bethlehem, before the city was closed following the discovery of the first cases of coronavirus in March 2020.
According to a joint report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Tourism, the losses of the inbound tourism sector to the Palestinian territories during the year 2020 amounted to about $1.021 billion, after its spending decreased by 68 percent compared to 2019 due to Corona.
The city of Bethlehem is considered a destination for Christians of the world because it includes the Church of the Nativity, which was built by Constantine the Great in the year 330 AD over a cave or cave in which Jesus was born.
It is believed that the Church of the Nativity is the oldest churches in the world, and there is another basement nearby. It is believed that St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus, Bishop of Rome in the year 383 AD, to translate the Bible from Aramaic and Hebrew into Latin, has spent thirty years of his life in it translating the Bible.
According to the Oslo Accords signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization with Israel in 1993, the civil and security authorities in the city were transferred to the Palestinian Authority in 1995.
