Why Bethlehem is celebrating Christmas again

0:00This is The Guardian.

0:08Today, Christmas in Bethlehem.

0:20Bethlehem is full of lights. There's a big, big Christmas tree in the manger square outside of the Nativity Church. Christmas markets, Christmas concerts. and there's usually in Palestine, everything begins with lighting the Christmas tree in Bethlehem.

0:41There's nowhere in the world that says Christmas more than Bethlehem. After all, it's where Jesus was born, in the stall of a stable when there was no room for his mum and dad at the inn. I always say there is nothing like Christmas in Bethlehem and I'm not exaggerating. You know, other countries might boast a bigger tree or nicer decorations. We don't care. This is Bethlehem. This is the real thing. This is Munther Isak, a Christian pastor and director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice. Christmas in Bethlehem and actually in all Palestinian cities is a big festival. Everyone celebrates Christmas in Palestine.

1:19Of course, the prayers are for Christians, but the public events, the public celebrations are attended by everyone. Muslims come to take pictures next to the Christmas tree. Many Muslims decorate their homes in Palestine with a Christmas tree.

1:38But two years ago, as the bodies piled up in Gaza, Christmas celebrations were cancelled in Bethlehem. In the West Bank town, there were no lights, no trees, no concerts.

1:58To say that we cancelled Christmas celebrations as we did for the last two years is a big deal for us. It's really a big deal. It's cancelling part of our identity. But we had no choice. This year, after October's ceasefire, the Christmas lights were turned back on in Bethlehem. From The Guardian, I'm Helen Pitt. Today in Focus. What it's really like in the town where Christmas began.

2:32Montha, welcome to the show. It's really great to have you here. What must be the busiest time of year for a vicar, particularly in Bethlehem, which I think is where you were born. Is that right? I was born in Bethlehem. I grew up in Beit Sahur, the shepherd's field, which is part of the Bethlehem region. So, yes, it's safe to call Bethlehem home. And some people who haven't been to Bethlehem might be surprised to hear that there is such a thing as the shepherd's field, where the shepherds watch their flocks by night and they spotted the star that signaled Jesus's birth. But that's an actual neighbourhood, is it?

3:07That's an actual town right now, a vibrant town with a vibrant community, the same like Bethlehem. But you're absolutely right. I think most people, I wonder when they sing these songs, are they aware that these are real towns today, real places with people, with struggles, with vibrant communities and so on? Or do they just think of them as ancient stories, maybe even mythical stories? No, we exist. And many people in the UK, at least, will have grown up singing their carol, a little town of Bethlehem. Is it still a little town today? Could you paint us a picture of what it looks like? Bethlehem is still a little town, especially by modern standards.

3:53It's not a big city or a cosmopolitan city. And sadly, it remained a little town, given the surroundings of walls and settlements. Maybe the most accurate description of Bethlehem today is a little besieged town of Bethlehem. It's separated from Jerusalem, besieged from a separation wall from one side or settlements on the other. And that actually prevents the natural expansion of Bethlehem. So it's a town now or a city that cannot grow. So in a strange way, Bethlehem now seems to be destined to remain a little town, although it continues to capture the imagination of the world. And at least before 2023, we used to receive hundreds of thousands of visitors.

4:46And has that completely stopped since the 7th of October? Almost completely stopped. We are beginning to see pilgrims returning to Bethlehem. but not in the usual numbers for sure, far, far from the usual numbers. People are afraid to come. So it's not the same. And the last two years, Bethlehem has really become what can be described as a ghost city. Empty streets, hotels are empty, restaurants are empty, no life, because the church of the nativity is at the heart of Bethlehem. It's the identity of Bethlehem. And without pilgrims, Bethlehem is not the same. And I did actually visit Bethlehem, I think in 2014.

5:30And you've already touched on this. What I wasn't quite prepared for when I visited Bethlehem was this feeling of being surrounded. And I was with our then Jerusalem correspondent, Peter Beaumont, who comes on the show quite often, and he was just pointing out settlements. And until I saw it with my own eyes, I hadn't realized how huge they were. And yeah, you used the word besieged. It does feel like that. It feels like an open-air prison, to be honest. And you're talking about 2014, it's much worse now, whether the settlement expansion or the gates and checkpoints that were added since then.

6:06In fact, since October 7, 2023, the Israeli military added a series of checkpoints, gates all over the West Bank. Estimates it's around 900, including around 80 to 90 at least in the Bethlehem area. And right now in Bethlehem, and I'm not exaggerating or speaking hypothetically, I'm talking, this is what happens. If Israel closes two checkpoints, that's it. Because of these gates, then Bethlehem becomes completely isolated from the world. If you're lucky enough to get a permit from the Israeli military among the very, very few, then yes, you can go to Jerusalem. But I'm talking about two checkpoints.

6:49One that takes us to Hebron in the south, another that takes us to Ramallah, using roads that are controlled by Israel and sometimes shared by the settlers. And that's why today these checkpoints, if they are open, sometimes you could wait up to three hours, four hours. In some instances, 17 hours it happened with some friends. Just waiting at the checkpoint, you can't return, you don't know what to do, you're stuck there.

7:24Can you just tell us a bit about the Christian community in Palestine, in the West Bank and also in Gaza? How many Christians are there? How big is the community? In the Palestinian territories, you know, the occupied Palestinian territories, we have close to 40 ,000 scattered between the West Bank, the majority in Bethlehem, some in Ramallah, some in Jenin. East Jerusalem, of course, has a good number. And right now, the remaining number in Gaza is around 500 Christians. Before the war, the number was close to 1 ,000. Since the war, many left and many were killed. We estimate close to 50 were killed in the war, whether directly through bombings or snipers or being shot or because of lack of medication.

8:11But let's not also forget that there is around 120 ,000 Palestinian Christians or so, maybe 130 in Israel proper, in Galilee, in Nazareth, in Haifa. By identity, they are Palestinians. By passport, they are Israelis. And they feel like second class citizens in their own homeland. Of course, our presence predates the state of Israel by hundreds of years, if not thousands. So numbers are small, but in terms of presence impact, we are an important and integral part of the Palestinian community today. And so you're now a pastor in Ramallah, but until this summer, you led a church in Bethlehem. It wasn't the Church of the Nativity, which is the one that most people have heard of.

8:55Could you just tell us a little bit about your church in Bethlehem? So for about eight years, I pastored the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, which is probably a four-minute walk from the Church of the Nativity. A Palestinian church, we were started around 150 years ago by German missionaries, but then the church became indigenous under Palestinian leadership. Most people probably know of Christmas Lutheran Church because of Christ in the rubble. We are angry. We are broken. This would have been a time of joy. Instead, we are mourning. So this is a sermon that you gave two years ago.

9:43Yes, yes. More than 20 ,000 killed. Thousands are still under the rubble. Close to 9 ,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Gaza, as we know it, no longer exists. This is an annihilation. This is a genocide. Actually, it began as a sermon to the people in November of 2023, asking where is God when churches are bombed? Why doesn't he listen? Why doesn't he answer? Where is God when children are literally pulled from under the rubble? Jesus himself became the victim of the very same violence of the empire when he was in our land. He was tortured, crucified. He bled out as others watched. He was killed and cried out in pain, My God, where are you?

10:40And I pointed to the cross of Jesus, and I said, Jesus suffers the same fate. He cries the same cry, Where are you, God? As such, God is under the rubble in Gaza. Stop this genocide now. This is our call. This is our plea. This is our prayer. Hear, O God. Amen.

11:09And that idea, that concept was translated in 2023 into a manger in the heart of our church next to the altar in which we brought rubbles resembling a demolished home from Gaza. and then placed baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian kofiya to say that in a time when the world was dehumanizing children, justifying the killing of children and the children of Gaza, we said we see the image of Jesus in them. And that image of Jesus in the rubble went really viral, to my surprise, to be honest. It's the nativity scene that has captured the world's attention. The landmark Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem created a nativity scene with a figure of baby Jesus and a kathya surrounded by rubble.

12:00A way to honour the thousands who've been killed in Gaza. And you said that you were surprised by the reaction. Talk me through the voices that challenged you or were disappointed in you or even angry with what you were saying from within the church internationally. The overwhelming response was to actually support and stand with what we're doing. And at the same time, yes, some were not pleased. I think for some Zionist Christians at least, the idea of a Palestinian Christian in itself is troubling. because for years they fought to control a narrative and promote a narrative that said this is a religious war between Jews and Muslims and Jews are fighting on behalf of Christians and the free people of the world against radical Islam and so on, which is not the case.

12:55But that's the kind of narrative they promoted. So the fact that we exist in itself challenges that narrative. And then the fact that we say that's not true. the occupation, colonialism, there is a reality of apartheid by the state of Israel. That's the problem. I think that's very unsettling to many. And when you talk about Christian Zionists as being the group that objected perhaps most vociferously to your Christ in the Rubble nativity scene and your sermon, are the Christian Zionists mostly in the US? And how influential are they in financial and political terms? They're not just in the US, they're strong in Europe.

13:36And you find them even in the United Kingdom, in the UK, in the Church of England some. So it's not an exclusively American phenomenon. Even in the United States, I wouldn't say they are an overwhelming majority among Christians. But what we can say for sure is that they are a strong political force. Have I got this right, that they believe that a Jewish state of Israel is the fulfillment of a covenant. And without it, there'll be no second coming. So they won't be redeemed. Some, yes. Today, it's in the MAGA movement. There were other times when they were at their peak during the Reagan presidency, they were strong.

14:11But then they rose again as if they came to prominence again and influenced during the first Trump presidency and now again. And they are in positions of power. and let's not also forget that this is a well-financed movement. Yes. Just two weeks ago or so, maybe less, a thousand American pastors and from the world, but the majority were from the United States, visited Israel in solidarity. This is an army of pastors, a thousand pastors, the largest group of pastors at one time that has ever come to Israel specifically for one purpose, to stand in solidarity with the Jewish state and the people of Israel.

14:50And you know how troubling it is that to me. They're visiting a state that committed war crimes. A lot of young people that are not for Israel, and they're just getting the wrong information. So our whole idea here is to reach the youth of America and around the world and just show the truth. They didn't even meet with Palestinian Christians because we're invisible to them. They don't see us. So today, they are still a strong political force in the United States. The current American ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, doesn't even acknowledge the existence of Palestinians. What does that Palestinian state look like?

15:30Where is it? Where is it going to be? Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria? Does it need to be somewhere? You know, the West Bank, to him everything is Judea and Samaria. I always say it seems as if he's living in the 7th century BC. So, I mean, it's clear that Christian Zionists are incredibly influential people like Mike Huckabee. But do you see that the view is changing among Christians, not simply as a result of your sermon two years ago, but witnessing the genocide and people weighing up in their mind, this is not compatible with the Christianity that they follow? And actually, we're beginning to hear this now in the United States.

16:16When I say things are changing, let's try to be real. This did not translate at all. It's not translating into political change and to shift in foreign policy, for example. But attitudes are definitely changing. And all polls show that. And a big reason is the fact that people are witnessing the massacres in Gaza on their screens. and everyone was able to see this is not a war of self-defense. This is a war against hospitals. They're demolishing universities. They are targeting residential buildings and so on. And many of the victims are children. So we see a shift. But let's be real. This has not translated into political action or a change in foreign policy, but the shift and the change is happening.

17:11Coming up, two months after the ceasefire agreement, what will Christmas look like in Bethlehem this year?

17:25The Free Birth Society made millions selling a simple message to pregnant women. You don't need ultrasounds, doctors or midwives. You can free birth. But behind the scenes, terrible things were happening. I feel ashamed about this, but I didn't think that the deaths were bad until a year after I left. Subscribe to The Guardian Investigates feed to get all the episodes of The Birth Keepers. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Out now.

17:57When you say that it was a big deal for you to cancel Christmas in Bethlehem these past two years, what did that mean in practice? Did it mean that the candles were not lit, that the processions didn't take place? Yes, there was no Christmas tree at the heart of Bethlehem, no decorations in the streets and no festivals, no Christmas markets. The day before Christmas, 24th and January 6th, we still welcomed the patriarchs. That cannot be cancelled, of course, the procession from Jerusalem, but without the music, without the festivals, without the celebrations, but it was mainly just prayers. So all of that was put aside and the focus was on prayer.

18:42And in a sense, you know, here I speak as a clergy, as a pastor, it allowed us to focus on the true meaning of scripture, of Christmas. We all love to give presents to the kids. They can never get enough presents. In Palestine, kids deserve everything that gives us a smile. But sometimes we get distracted by that and not think of the true meaning of Christmas. And the last two years actually allowed us in churches to really focus much and bring people back to the rules that Christmas is about the solidarity of God with us in our suffering. He does so among the occupied, among the marginalized.

19:25So churches were full. Don't get me wrong, you know, churches were full despite cancelling all the festivals around the prayers. But churches were full because you cannot cancel Christmas in that sense, because you cannot cancel the meaning, the joy and the peace of Christmas. And quite honestly, no one was in the mood to celebrate. We were mourning. The attacks on the church of St. Porphylius happened in November. That was the church in Gaza? The church in Gaza that was hit by Israeli missile, the compound at least, was hit. So no one was in a mood to celebrate. Some of our congregants were mourning their loved ones.

20:07Those in Gaza were literally afraid for their lives. And so it didn't feel right at all to celebrate as if nothing is happening to our friends, even relatives in Gaza. Yeah. And we're talking now more than two months into a ceasefire. I wonder how you feel about Christmas this year. There is no ceasefire, Helen. Let's be real. Israel didn't stop killing Palestinians since the so-called ceasefire was announced. And even if the killing stopped, the war did not stop. The siege did not end. Journalists are still not in. Aid is not flowing as we wanted to. and the sad part right now is the images we're witnessing of tents soaked in water floods among tents we hear about people dying from cold from the severe weather conditions it's it's raining and you know we used to pray for rain and wish for rain and now ironically because palestine doesn't get a lot of rain now strangely we're saying you know maybe it could wait i don't know So it's still hard.

21:22Don't get me wrong. It's really still hard. And you can't stop thinking or talking or praying for Gaza. It's the humanitarian situation there is. It's catastrophic. So when we're celebrating, it's not as if there is a ceasefire or the war is over or people in Gaza are free or walking freely. Their homes are destroyed. In Bethlehem this year, we lit the Christmas tree and we decided, yes, we want to celebrate. It's actually an act of defiance saying we're still here, we're celebrating, we're not going anywhere and that we love life.

22:09And how did it feel this year to watch the lights come back on in Bethlehem? the best I can say is there was some sense of contradiction maybe inside of us because we know too well that nothing changed on the ground, maybe the killing became less intense but the reality even of Bethlehem did not change the checkpoints, everything and after two years it definitely felt strange, at the same time I felt proud as a Palestinian that we are able to create such an event with marvelous choirs, marvelous music, celebration through art, through singing, unity, everyone came together. And I also felt good that we're sending the world a message about not just Bethlehem and Palestinians, but about Christmas itself.

23:04Something amazing happened in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. The greatest story maybe of all, salvation, peace, joy to the world came through that child of Bethlehem. And we need to continue to tell that story. So after two years and after destruction and after all the darkness and death, we rose as if from the midst of ashes to say we're still here, we're resilient. And we as a people love life. And most importantly, we will continue to tell the message of Christmas from the place where it all started.

23:49well listen thank you so much for talking to us i don't know if it's appropriate to wish you a happy christmas but i definitely wish you a peaceful christmas thank you and that i hope that next year will be a better one for all of the people in palestine so thank you so much Thank you and Merry Christmas to everyone who's listening to us as well from Palestine, from Bethlehem, from Ramallah. Merry Christmas all. That was Munther Isak. He's the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah and he's also director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice. My thanks to him.

24:24Before we go, I just wanted to remind you about the Guardian's Christmas Appeal. The theme this year is Hope in Action and we're supporting five charities that are helping to bring communities together. They are Citizens UK, Locality, Who Is Your Neighbour, Hope Unlimited and The Linking Network. If you can, please donate now at theguardian.com forward slash donate 25. This episode was produced by Alex Atak and presented by me, Helen Pitt. Sound design was by Rudy Zagadlow and the executive producer was Khama Khalili. We'll be back tomorrow.

25:05This is The Guardian.