December 18, 2000
Christmas festivities canceled in Bethlehem due to unrest
___JERUSALEM (RNS)--Bethlehem, the traditional site of the birth of Jesus, saw thousands of pilgrims flock to the city last year for Christmas celebrations but has canceled almost all this year's holiday festivities.
___The only exceptions are some worship services and a traditional Christmas Eve procession of religious figures.
___The Bethlehem 2000 Project of the Palestinian National Authority made the announcement as Israeli army helicopters and artillery continued their intermittent battle against Palestinian snipers and stone-throwers at various points around the city of Jesus' birth.
___"This year, Bethlehem will not be able to celebrate Christmas as planned, and there will be no Christmas festival," said Christiane Dabdoub Nasser, head of church relations in the Bethlehem 2000 project. "The children will not have their gifts, the worshippers will be in mourning and the pilgrims will be absent."
___An extensive series of Advent concerts and other cultural events had been planned in advance of the Christmas celebrations to showcase the multimillion-dollar restoration of the ancient city, only just completed.
___Guest choirs also were to perform in the city on Christmas Eve, visiting from as far away as Russia and the United States, Nasser said. But all of those events have been canceled. New Year's Eve, which was marked last year in Bethlehem by fireworks and the release of thousands of peace doves into the air, will be noted this year only by a moment of silence.
___The famous Shepherd's Field in the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Sahour, where tradition holds that angels announced the birth of Jesus, has been turned into an impromptu campsite for families displaced from damaged homes by recent Israeli shelling, Nasser reported.
___Israel says its shelling of the Bethlehem area's Christian enclaves has been in response to shooting attacks by Palestinian snipers on military outposts and the Jewish residential neighborhood of Gilo on the fringes of Jerusalem. But Palestinians say the Israeli response has been out of proportion to the attacks.
___"While Israelis carry on with their lives, we have every aspect of our life disrupted, from electricity and water cuts to food shortages and medical services," Nasser said. "Bethlehem is under siege. And even the tourists who dare to come are often blocked from coming in."
The Baptist Standard
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