BEIRUT - Due to the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and amidst the Israeli restrictions the manifestations of Christian celebrations on the occasion of Christmas in Palestine have disappeared.

Meanwhile, the patriarchs and heads of churches in occupied Jerusalem have decided to limit the festivities and revival of rituals out of respect for the blood of the martyrs who are victims of the ongoing Israeli genocidal wars.

Besides, the Israeli occupation forces have turned the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and its surroundings into a closed military zone.

Atallah Hanna, the Archbishop of Sebastia for the Greek Orthodox, called on Christian churches around the world to raise their voices to demand justice and peace in Palestine, stressing that his message will always be a message of love and peace, far from wars, violence and the violation of human dignity. 

He added that the message of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem on Christmas is for God to protect Palestine and Syria, which are going through difficult conditions.

Archbishop Atallah Hanna stated, “We love Syria, we love Lebanon, we love the Arab nation and we wish them well. We hope that God will protect the Arab countries because when they are well, Palestine is well. When those countries are weak and in turmoil, Palestine is weak and in turmoil. We hope that the compass of the nation will always be towards Palestine and Jerusalem... I stand with the Palestinian people in their ordeal. Every Palestinian must be a fighter in his own way and from his own position.”

The Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Ramallah, Haifa, Jaffa, Birzeit, several villages in the Upper Galilee, Beit Sahour, Ramallah and other Palestinian areas are descended from the Aramaeans, Canaanites, Syriacs, Armenians and Byzantines.

It is estimated they are about 2.3 million people, the absolute majority of whom reside outside Palestine, where the percentage of Christians residing in the Palestinian territories does not exceed 1%, after they constituted about 11.2% before the Nakba in 1948. The main reason for this decline is the occupation regime’s colonial policies, most of whom are Roman Catholics or Catholics.

Their most famous churches are: the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; and the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Due to the occupation regime’s oppressive policies, the Palestinian Christians are exposed to a real ordeal like the rest of Palestinian society.

There are dozens of holy Christian places, churches and monasteries in historical Palestine, including 95 churches and monasteries in Jerusalem belonging to all Christian sects.

In 1948, 50% of Jerusalem Christians lost their homes in West Jerusalem. Israel also confiscated 30% of the lands owned by Christians after its occupation in 1967. Besides, Israel confiscated 11,000 acres of olive-grove lands in Beit Jala, to build the “Gilo” settlement, and confiscated thousands of dunams of land belonging to Christians to construct a highway linking the settlements located south of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

To fragment the Palestinians, the Zionist regime imposed “compulsory military service” on Christians inside the occupied territories since 1948 in line with the policy of “divide and rule” and opened the doors to internal strife among all Palestinians inside.

However, the general response among Christians inside is to reject the occupation, as Palestinian Christians consider themselves an integral part of the Palestinian society, and consider service in the “Israeli army” to be forbidden and an ultimate disgrace.