Christmas celebrations have returned to the birthplace of Jesus after a two-year hiatus, but the joy remains overshadowed by another turbulent year for Palestinians living under Israeli-occupation in the West Bank.
Morning mass was held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Thursday, a day after crowds of Palestinians and foreign tourists flocked onto Manger Square to attend celebrations for the first time since they were halted in solidarity with Palestinians suffering a two-year deadly war in Gaza.
Despite the festivities, the numbers of people attending remained limited, which, according to Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, is due to Israeli military checkpoints blocking roads in the West Bank.
“The West Bank is completely under siege,” Barghouti told CNN’s Matthew Chance in Bethlehem on Wednesday. “Israel has blocked the roads. Of course many people couldn’t come. … Many people cannot afford to come, and many people find great difficulty moving from one place to another.”
As the war in Gaza raged on, the occupied West Bank experienced a sharp escalation in Israeli military operations, record numbers of Palestinian home demolitions and unprecedented expansion of Jewish settlements amid a Palestinian leadership plagued by allegations of corruption and stagnant decision-making.
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