There's a significant minority Palestinians that are of christian faith.
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Yes. Part of the problem is that Israel only permitted a few hundred Gazans to travel to Bethlehem (if the Pali/Hamas news sources are correct). They should have allowed more, but they are concerned about terror attacks.
Al-Akhbar English @AlakhbarEnglish 8h8 hours ago
#Israel allows only 500 Gazan Christians to travel to Bethlehem
http://goo.gl/fb/yYgZ6Q #christmas #gaza #palestine
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Israel allows only 500 Gazan Christians to travel to Bethlehem
A Palestinian wearing a Santa Claus costume protests in Bethlehem, West Bank on December 23, 2014. Anadolu / Muhesen Amren
Published Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Only 500 out of the 3,500 Palestinian Christians living in the Gaza Strip were given permits to travel to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas.
A garland in hand, 11-year-old Sara decorates the family Christmas tree with her parents. But this year, the young Gazan will be spending the rest of the holiday alone.
Her family applied for Israeli permits to leave the Gaza Strip and travel to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas in the not-so-little town in the West Bank where Jesus was born.
Although her parents received them, she and her older brother and sister did not.
This year, Israeli authorities granted only 500 permits to Palestinian Christians, either younger than 16 or older than 35, allowing them to travel from Gaza to the West Bank so they can visit Bethlehem's Nativity church and attend the traditional midnight mass.
According to CIA statistics, 123,000 Palestinian Christians live in Occupied Palestine, and another 226,000 reside in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces maintain severe restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement between the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Occupied Palestine through a racist system which includes a complex combination of fixed and flying checkpoints, roads exclusively open to Zionist settlers, a public transportation system restricted to non-Palestinians, and many other obstructions.
The discriminatory system has turned Gaza into an open-air prison with over 1.8 million Palestinians rarely given permits to leave the besieged strip.
"Christmas is a happy time but it's also a bit sad because I didn't get the permit to go with my parents," Sara admits.
Her mother, Abeer Mussad, spoke of a "joy tinged with sadness" as she and her husband celebrate Christmas Day in Bethlehem without their children who will on Thursday be "meeting Santa at church in Gaza".
"He will give us our presents," says Sara who will stay with her older sister and celebrate Christmas at St Porphyrius Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City.
In Gaza, the adults have done everything they can to ensure the holiday is not spoilt, but nobody can forget the deadly Israeli summer assault.
For 51 days this summer, Israel pounded the Gaza Strip – by air, land and sea – with the stated aim of ending rocket fire from the coastal enclave.
More than 2,160 Gazans, 70 percent of them civilians, were killed – and 11,000 injured – during seven weeks of unrelenting Israeli attacks in July and August.
The Israeli offensive ended on August 26 with an Egypt-brokered ceasefire agreement.
"We're going to celebrate Christmas in order to forget the suffering of the war," says 60-year-old Umm George, who lost her sister in the brutal Israeli assault and will be one of those traveling to Bethlehem.
In streets which still bear the scars of war, shops are spruced up with Christmas decorations and ornamented trees covered in sweets take pride of place in front windows.
Heart not in it
For most of Gaza's tiny community of some 3,500 Christians, 85 percent of whom are Greek Orthodox, they must make do with celebrating at home after failing to obtain the small slip of paper issued by Israel which would have allowed them to leave the enclave and travel the 70 kilometers (43 miles) to Bethlehem.
Abdullah Jakhan is one of them.
He and his fiancee Janet applied to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, but they were both turned down. Now they will have to make do in Gaza.
Just four months after the end of the aggression, it would be inappropriate to engage in too much celebration, Jakhan says.
"We want a joyful celebration, but the blood of the martyrs which flowed during the war is still fresh. Because of this we can't be completely happy," he tells AFP.
"We will celebrate mass and have a small, simple party with family and friends in light of the circumstances in Gaza."
According to the UN refugee agency UNRWA, at least 505 children, including 138 UNRWA students, were killed during the assault.
UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness said that an additional 814 UNRWA students were injured and 560 have become orphans due to the Israeli onslaught.
Moreover, at least 96,000 Palestinians homes were damaged or destroyed during the days of hostilities, a higher figure than was previously thought, and over 106,000 of Gaza's 1.8 million residents have been displaced to UN shelters and host families.
Tony al-Masri, 60, has also just put up a tree at home but his heart isn't really in it.
"Inside, I feel sad for my people who have suffered a war," he says.
"The war affected all of us here, Christians and Muslims, so today I am praying for peace and unity."
Following Israel’s summer offensive against Gaza, many of Strip’s ancient sites, including houses of worship, tombs and cemeteries, were left in ruins.
Gaza's historic mosques, dating back to the time of the first Islamic caliphs and the Ottoman Empire, were the worst affected.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Israel targeted mosques on purpose, partially damaging 130 mosques and completely destroying 73.
Moreover, Gaza's only three churches were also damaged during the latest conflict, including the oldest church in the Gaza Strip, the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, which dates back to the 1150s.
(AFP, Al-Akhbar)
