The State of Israel has granted 10,000 Christmas permits to Christians in the West Bank and Gaza to go to holy sites to pray. The number of pilgrims returns to 2017 levels.

Newsroom (Dec 30, 2022, 8:00 PM, Gaudium Press) Christmas celebrations without restrictions and with many pilgrims: is what is being experienced in the Holy Land, which has returned to a situation of pre-Covid pandemic normality, as described in recent days by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and also by Father Ibrahim Faltas, vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, who reported that on Christmas, the Israeli authorities granted more than ten thousand permits to Christians from the West Bank and Gaza, valid until January 20, 2023, to travel to Bethlehem and the other holy places to pray and meet their relatives.

Christmas Eve Celebrations

In the Grotto of the Nativity, on Christmas Eve, the functions were celebrated by Friar Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land. In the city, the number of pilgrims has returned to 2017 levels, and authorities expect to reach record levels soon for 2019. Celebrating midnight mass in Bethlehem, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa denounced “a growing violence, first and foremost in the language of politics.” “Violence,” he said, “seems to have become our main language.” The mass was also attended by the Palestinian president and prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh.

Concerns about the disruption of the balance

Pizzaballa once again expressed concern about the new government in Israel, “where there is a risk of breaking the already fragile balance between the different religious and ethnic communities that make up society.” “Politics has the task of serving the country and its inhabitants, of working for harmony between the different social and religious communities in the country and translating them into concrete and positive actions on the ground, and not by fomenting divisions or, worse, hatred and discrimination,” the patriarch added. “This year, moreover,” he continued, “we have seen an increase in violence in Palestinian streets and squares, with a death toll that takes us back decades. It is a sign of the worrying increase in political tension and the growing unease, especially among our young people, about the increasingly distant solution to the ongoing conflict.”

A future of great expectations

Friar Rami Asakrieh of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, pastor in Bethlehem of the Church of St. Catherine near the Shrine of the Nativity, also speaks of great hope for the future. “After the end of Covid,” he told Vatican Radio – Vatican News, “we now have great expectations. We see so many groups, it’s a Christmas full of people, as always.” Fray Rami’s wish is that wars can also be stopped now, such as the one in Ukraine, which, besides the drama experienced by civilians in that country, also has very heavy repercussions on Christians in the Holy Land, already hard tried. The worst, however, has been caused by the Covid pandemic.

With Covid, fewer and fewer donations

“I think,” continues the friar, “that the times that have just passed were worse than the intifada,[1] worse than any conflict, because at least during the intifada we had benefactors, we received donations, and many people had the ability to help, especially the European Christian countries. With the Covid global crisis, those who were donating began to do so less and less, the virus affected all economies, and this made everything difficult for the Custody of the Holy Land. Tourism is the main resource in Bethlehem, here every job, from grocery stores to barbers, from transportation to hotels and tour guides, is linked to tourism. The pandemic has put everyone through a very difficult time.”

The Church’s commitment

“The Church at this time is therefore called upon to use all its strength to stand by people in an attempt to strengthen the inner man,” explains the religious, “because if we create people of faith, people who are strong inside, humble people who accept what is to come, who thank God, who respect the Lord in their lives and who believe in Providence, this helps a lot, at least they have inner freedom, because the outside is very limited, and so we try to strengthen these people with the word of God, with the sacraments and with pastoral activities.”

“And there are many activities in Bethlehem, entrusted to youth groups, scout groups, which also organize Christmas celebrations, as well as prayer groups. We try to do our best, we try to give Christians a dignified life, so that they can live peacefully with their families and resist this situation of fear and instability,” the parish priest concluded.

[1] Intifada: is the popular name for the uprisings of the Palestinians of the West Bank against Israel. The term arose after the uprising that broke out from December 9

of 1987, with the Palestinian civilian population throwing sticks and stones at the Israeli military. This uprising would later be known as the “First Intifada” or “war of the stones.” With Arafat’s refusal to accept Israel’s peace proposal, the Palestinian “Second Intifada,” also known as the Al-Aqsa intifada, began on September 29, 2000, the day after Ariel Sharon walked through the Esplanade of Mosques and on the Temple Mount in the vicinity of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque – an area considered sacred by both Muslims and Jews.

Compiled by Teresa Joseph