No pilgrims came to the churches in Bethlehem for Christmas, but Palestinian Christians came and “showed defiance,” the pastor of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church Reverend Dr Munther Isaac said.
#Christmas #Palestine
#Christmas #Palestine
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NewsTranscript
00:00Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
00:03How has Christmas been marked there today?
00:06Yeah, it's actually a state of mourning, anger,
00:13that this war has lasted as much as it did.
00:17We could have never imagined
00:18that this war would last so long.
00:22We're mourning our siblings in Gaza.
00:24When we talk about Gaza, we have family members there,
00:27we have friends there.
00:29It's really hard to celebrate normally
00:33or to live life normally as if nothing is happening.
00:36There's also anxiety and fear
00:37that this will escalate to the West Bank.
00:40However, there was also defiance.
00:43Today, we saw the faithful coming to churches.
00:46Yes, our churches were empty from the pilgrims
00:49who usually come to Bethlehem in thousands to pray with us,
00:53but the Palestinian Christians are defiant
00:56and we insist on continuing the Christmas tradition
00:59from the place where it all started.
01:01And today, we saw that in the churches
01:03and in the messages of hope that came from our churches,
01:06insisting that we are still here
01:09and that we're not going anywhere.