Covid-19: a Christmas like no other and confined to Bethlehem and Gaza
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads midnight mass in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on December 25, 2020, with some faithful present.
© Abed Al Hashlamoun, Reuters
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The Covid-19 pandemic is weighing down the holiday season all over the world and Bethlehem and Gaza are no exception to the rule.
In the quintessential Christmas town, where the baby Jesus would have been born according to Christian tradition, the celebrations took place in the evening of December 24 behind closed doors and believers followed them online, with public gatherings being banned.
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From our special correspondent in Bethlehem,
Alice Froussard
With the celebrations
in Bethlehem taking place behind closed doors
, most Palestinians and believers around the world followed the night mass online, behind the screen.
Just a few hundred people were present, keeping their distance and masked.
While the Palestinian president was absent, diplomats, journalists and locals made their presence known.
Despite the circumstances, the message delivered in his midnight homily by the Latin Patriarch of Jersualem was a
message of peace, love, life and above all hope.
He insisted on the need to change our lifestyle, and to spend Christmas focusing on the essentials.
Not the usual crowd due to curfew
Nothing to do with previous years, when thousands of people from all over the world came to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas.
No buses of foreign tourists rushing into the city, no large groups of pilgrims, no crowded crowds on the Place de la Manger… Even the locals have become scarce because of the nighttime curfew and restrictions on weekend to control the coronavirus pandemic.
A fanfare of Palestinian scouts nevertheless marched through the streets of Bethlehem on Thursday, December 24, followed by the public - only a few residents and journalists - behind barriers.
The scouts then marched from the rue de l'Étoile to the Basilica of the Nativity, as tradition dictates.
Because this is the route that Mary would have taken before giving birth to the baby Jesus.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem did the same, face masked, in front of a sea of cameras, before celebrating the famous midnight mass.
Sad Christmas also for the Gaza Strip, remained under bell
Christians in the Gaza Strip number about a thousand of the two million inhabitants.
A number in constant decline since 2007 and the arrival of Hamas to power.
Usually Christmas is almost the only time when locals can leave the blockaded coastal enclave.
An opening synonymous with a breath of fresh air.
Each year, they are entitled to Israeli permits to travel to Jerusalem, Nazareth, or even Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
In 2019, the Israeli authorities had already threatened
not to give the authorization for security reasons ...
but had finally issued the permits
at the last minute.
No permits this year
: Christians will therefore have to stay in Gaza, due to the pandemic and to avoid the spread of the virus.
And because of the lockdown imposed by local authorities, churches in Gaza are also closed: prayers and masses take place only online.
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