Christmas celebrations have been cancelled in Bethlehem, the West Bank town where Christians believe Jesus was born.
It comes as British charity workers renewed calls on UK ministers to follow Australia and issue temporary visas to children and their families fleeing the war.
“I return to the UK not suggesting that we cancel Christmas, but that we take urgent action in the spirit of Christmas, extending compassion to those suffering before it is too late,” said Dr Krish Kandiah, of the Sanctuary Foundation, who visited both Bethlehem and nearby Jerusalem this week on a fact-finding mission.
“If our government were to start by providing a significant number of humanitarian temporary medical evacuation visas to children and their families, a few lives will be saved from the horrors of war.”
Bethlehem’s Manger Square, which normally sees a 20ft fir tree erected above an illuminated nativity scene, stands empty, locals say, in solidarity with people enduring the conflict just 46 miles away in the Gaza strip. Instead, Dr Munther Isaac, a Palestinian pastor at Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, created a manger scene depicting baby Jesus surrounded by rubble and concrete.
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A pastor in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, built a nativity scene out of rubble“We did this for ourselves to emphasise that Jesus is in Solidarity with those who suffered,” he told Dr Kandiah.
“Jesus is with us in our pain, when we're victims of marginalisation and injustice. This is Christmas to us. And I hope that you think of the true meaning of Christmas as you celebrate in your own ways in the UK.”
He added: “For there is a genocide taking place in our land. We're broken. We're praying every day for this to end. We're heartbroken by images of children being pulled from under the rubble on a daily basis. So many people have died. Enough, enough, enough, we say. We urge you to pray that this war is over. We urge you to work, to lobby, to advocate. All we want this Christmas is a comprehensive ceasefire.”
Australia recently issued emergency visas to 800 Palestinians and 1,700 Israelis, granting them temporary visitor status and allowing them to stay in the country for a year.
In October, a coalition of charities and groups drew up proposals for a refugee scheme that would accept thousands of Palestinians from Gaza into the UK, based upon the Ukraine refugee programme.
The UK government currently has no programme for accepting refugees from the conflict in Gaza.
It's no wonder no-one felt like celebrating Christmas
By Dr Krish Kandiah, Sanctuary Foundation
There is no Christmas tree in Manger Square in Bethlehem this year. The 20-foot fir tree bedecked with lights and the huge, illuminated nativity scene that nestles beneath it are missing. None of the stars on Star Street are lit. The shops that are filled with candy and gifts crafted from olive wood are all boarded up.
The people of Bethlehem have cancelled Christmas celebrations this year in solidarity with those suffering in the Israel-Gaza conflict. Just 46 miles away, tens of thousands of children, women and men have been killed in just 8 weeks.
I was in the Middle East to speak with those hoping for humanitarian responses that could alleviate the suffering. Yet everyone I met only had stories of ever more horrific situations.
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One of the medics I was travelling with had heard from a colleague in Gaza that was performing 25-30 amputations a day.
Another reported she had performed a caesarean without anaesthetic for the mother.
A seasoned worker with the International Red Cross said to me that he had never seen anything like the devastation in Gaza anywhere in the world.
A senior member of the clergy described the scene as a catastrophic massacre of terrible proportions.
I spoke to one hotel owner whose family had lived in Bethlehem in the same house for over 500 years. He told me that he could not sleep thinking about the tragedy unfolding in his country: “Sometimes I just sit and cry”, he said, “I have lost my appetite."
It was no wonder no one felt like celebrating Christmas.
I also spoke by telephone to a Gazan lady who was desperate to get her children out of the country to safety. So far the only option open to her is to apply for some of the 800 visas offered by the Australian government. Her chances are slim.
I hope other countries will quickly follow the Australian precedent, or that of Qatar and Turkey, who have evacuated very sick and injured babies and children.
I return to the UK not suggesting that we cancel Christmas, but that we take urgent action in the spirit of Christmas, extending compassion to those suffering before it is too late.
If our government were to start by providing a significant number of humanitarian temporary medical evacuation visas to children and their families, a few lives will be saved from the horrors of war.
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