In reality, the town of Bethlehem is a densely populated city of about 25,000 people, mostly Muslim, despite it being the birthplace of Jesus and despite it being a place where Christians from around the world visit each year.
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Bethlehem Mayor Vera Baboun said earlier this week that only 40 per cent of hotel rooms were booked in the Biblical town this year, amid the recent wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian areas.
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Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli troops near Bethlehem in the West Bank on December 8. The annual Manger Square celebrations in Bethlehem were set to go on, however.
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Islamic radicals were also arrested for allegedly burning down a Christmas tree in Zababdeh, a village made up mainly of Christians on the northern West Bank of Palestine. Palestinians view the structure as a land grab that has stifled Bethlehem’s economy. In the wake of warnings from ISIS telling Christians in the Middle East not to celebrate the holiday because “they are heretics”, Muslims attacked four men in Berlin, Germany on the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day.
Israel argues that the wall, which is considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, has been a key part of halting suicide attacks by Palestinian terrorists against Israeli civilians. This year one artist, Rana Bishara, carried a large wooden cross covered with empty tear gas shells used by the Israeli security forces.
It is this campaign of intimidation against Palestinian Christians that prompted the Palestinian Authority security forces to arrest scores of Islamists in the West Bank ahead of Christmas. Christian residents of Bethlehem and Ramallah said they received threats and demands to cancel celebrations from various Islamic groups.
Also Thursday, police said they were investigating the “many serious offenses” seen in a video of extremist Jews aired Wednesday on Israeli Channel 10 TV.
It was “important to be here, to react and send a message of peace for Christmas”, said Italian nun Sister Donatella as she walked among a procession of drummers and bagpipe players. “We are sensitive to this kind of thing, maybe because we are a minority”.
Following the verbal altercation, Palestinian officials contacted the Israeli Civil Administration, which handles all non-military aspects of connected to the West Bank. “We are being suffocated by this confiscation”, she said. “Life for Palestinians means fighting for the right to smile and the right to be happy”. “This is the land of peace”, she said, “Bethlehem is the birthplace of the king of peace, and all we want is peace”.
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, center, arrives at the Church of the Nativity, built atop the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank City of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015.
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Celestial sounds and fragrant incense filled the Church of the Nativity during Christmas Mass here in Bethlehem. Among them is Dunia al-Hawareen, who brought her baby daughter to the manger display at the foot of the Bethlehem tree, holding the child up so she could see the baby Jesus.
