TENSIONS CAST PALL OVER XMAS
Dozens of groups cancel visits after Trump’s Jerusalem announcement, says archbishop
PREPARATIONS for Christmas were under way here yesterday, despite simmering tensions in the city and the region following Washington’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The controversial Dec 6 announcement by United States President Donald Trump unleashed demonstrations and clashes, including in this Israelioccupied West Bank city, where Christians will mark the birth of Jesus in a midnight mass.
Bethlehem is normally flooded by tourists at this time of year, but has, at times, appeared almost empty of visitors as clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli army keep people away.
Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said dozens of groups had pulled out of planned visits after being scared off by the announcement and subsequent violence.
“Of course, this created a tension around Jerusalem and diverted attention from Christmas,” he said of Trump’s announcement, but stressed that Christmas celebrations would go ahead as planned.
Some 50,000 Palestinian Christians make up just around two per cent of the predominantly Muslim population of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israel’s Tourism Ministry said Christmas preparations had not been affected and that it expected a 20 per cent increase in the number of Christian pilgrims this year compared with last year.
The annual Scouts parade marched through Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity, built over the spot where tradition says Mary gave birth to Jesus and where celebrations culminate with midnight mass.
Israel seized east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it, in moves never recognised by the international community.
Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
In a statement ahead of Christmas, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Trump’s announcement “encouraged the illegal disconnection between the holy cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, both separated for the first time in over 2,000 years of Christianity”.