Ariane Ménage / Photo credits: HAZEM BADER / AFP
Israel has said it is determined to fight its war against Hamas “to the end” and is increasing air raids in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Christians in the Holy Land are preparing for Christmas, without major festivities.
In the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is not giving up. “The war will continue with or without international support,” he said. As fighting rages between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Christian minority is preparing for Christmas. But this year, public festivities will be limited.
“From one day to the next, we find ourselves with absolute emptiness”
A few sober decorations adorn this monastery in Abu Gosh, an Israeli village with a majority Arab population. During mass, most of the pews remain empty. Brother Louis-Marie officiates there. This year, the pilgrims are absent. “All the groups fled after October 7. From one day to the next, we found ourselves with absolute emptiness. Here, we had at least five or six groups who had to celebrate per day,” he explains.
Sober celebrations in solidarity with Gaza
“I have been here for 40 years. I have never experienced such a difficult situation,” he continues. At Christmas, Brother Marie hopes, like every year, to go on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank. But for two months, the checkpoints surrounding the city have been closed by the Israeli army. The municipality announces minimum festivities. “In view of what is happening in Gaza and as the city has not had any activity for two months, since it is a city which essentially lives, if not only on pilgrimages, people will perhaps not have “I don’t even have the financial means to party,” he regrets.
In Jerusalem too, religious authorities are calling for sober celebrations in solidarity with Gaza and its small Christian minority.