For two years, visitors could walk through the Church of the Nativity and enter the grotto with barely another soul in sight. With a ceasefire now in place in Gaza, the crowds have returned and Bethlehem is once again feeling the Christmas spirit.
From early on Wednesday, dozens of scout groups gathered along the famous Star Street in the city in the occupied West Bank, and marched towards Manger Square beside the church, which is said to be where Jesus was born, kicking off a day of celebrations that would culminate in a midnight mass.
Local and international media jostled to film the bands under the shadow of Bethlehem’s glittering and towering Christmas tree. Its lighting ceremony at the beginning of the month was the first sign that Christmas was back almost to normal in 2025.
On December 6, it took only a few hours for residents of Bethlehem to realise Christmas had returned. Thousands of people turned up for the tree-lighting ceremony and accompanying concert. The elaborate lights, crowded streets and loud hymns were a sign for many of real hope.
“Honestly, I feel amazing,” said Selene Nastas, 17. “It's refreshing to go back and [see] everything becoming normal again.
“The last two years, it didn't feel like Christmas a lot because in Gaza there was a war, so even though it's in a different area, it's still our country, and we felt we were mourning for them, so it wasn't as special. But this year, because the war ended, thank God, it's special again,” she told The National.
Ahead of the midnight mass, band leaders, men in their 50s throwing batons high into the air, marched down the route alongside the youngest members of the troops, who were no more than eight years old and wearing special hats for the occasion.
Members of the public, Christian and Muslim, lined the pavements filming and shouting above the noise of the bagpipes, drums and brass instruments. Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and Red Crescent paramedics were out in force but bar a scuffle instigated by two rival bagpipers, they did not have much to do.
However, PA Vice President Hussein Al Sheikh was barred by Israeli authorities from entering Bethlehem for the midnight mass, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Mr Al Sheikh later arrived to attend on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Buoyed by the success of the Christmas tree lighting, Levon Kalaydjian, who helped organise the concert, told The National that “everybody was touched – it was something people felt they needed.”
“During the last two years, there were prayers in the church, but nothing felt the same. Even at home, many people didn't decorate a Christmas tree. They didn’t feel that they could celebrate with the war going on,” he said. “Many people here have lost family members and friends, so Christmas cannot be 100 per cent the same, but at least there is hope.”
These mixed feelings are felt across the Holy Land, where Christians are celebrating the festive season with more confidence.
In Jerusalem, Christmas markets dot the city, both in the Palestinian east and Israeli west. In Nazareth, a glittering tree towers above the streets, as in the other cities and towns with Christian populations.
In Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank, two Christmas trees stand metres from where Jewish settlers in the summer attacked agricultural land next to a centuries-old church, drawing condemnation from local Christians and even the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a pro-Israel, pro-settler Christian Zionist.
Inside the Catholic section of the Church of the Nativity, hundreds of faithful packed into pews long before midnight mass began.
Security was tight in anticipation of the arrival of senior Palestinian and foreign officials. Scout leaders that had been heading marching bands in the morning were now stationed outside the tiny doors of the church checking tickets of the diverse group of visitors, a mixture of faithful from across the world, local Christians and foreign dignitaries.
Clothed in white, clergy by the altar chanted in a steady stream throughout the service, mostly in Latin and Italian. The aisle was busy with heads of foreign missions being ushered towards seats at the front of the church, as their security details watched from the back.
Worshippers looked on, some tired from long service, some enjoying the drama of who would turn up, others crying.
Settler violence
Despite the prominent coverage given to the assault, the Palestinian territory, including its small but important Christian community, faces escalating settler violence.
The most striking example of the fragile hope this Christmas has brought is in Gaza, where a tiny Christian population clings on after two years of deadly war in which many members of the community were killed and injured.
In a grand, decorated reception room of the Vatican’s Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa gave his impressions of his most recent trip to Gaza, which he made at the end of last week.
“What we felt compared to the last time I was there, about six months ago, was the desire to return to life. The atmosphere was completely different … They wanted to celebrate Christmas joyfully,” he said.
“Of course people are still living in tents, in miserable conditions, most schools are still closed, there are problems in the hospitals. All the questions that were put aside these past two years are coming out. What about us? What about the future? What about our children?”
This was a busy year for the Italian cardinal, who has lived in the Holy Land for more than three decades. He was a favourite in the papal conclave. He also made headlines on previous trips to visit Gaza’s Christians, making him a hero for many, ready to take major risks to highlight the plight of Gazans. It also built his reputation as a highly effective diplomat, able to convince Israel to grant him access to Gaza while so many foreign humanitarian workers and all foreign journalists are barred from entering.
He largely avoided answering direct questions about the fragile politics of Gaza today. Despite the ceasefire, the strip still endures regular and deadly Israeli strikes, and US President Donald Trump’s vague plan to rebuild is shrouded in ambiguity, waiting for an ill-defined second phase to begin.
“I hope that the Trump plan will continue. I know that it’s not as simple as people think but it’s the only road map we have,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. “We are convinced that Gaza needs to turn the page and to have a completely different future. The use of violence … we saw the result it brought. We are against all this.”
He spoke more freely in his role as a member of the clergy, taking lessons this Christmas from the suffering the Holy Land has endured so acutely over the past two years.
“If you look at situation it’s very difficult to talk about hope, but at Christmas we celebrate the meaning of hope. Jesus, when he entered into history, didn’t wait for history to be better, or for the human situation to be favourable, he entered into history as it was. That’s also a lesson for us. You have to enter into life as it is.”
