While the Christmas celebrations continue in Bethlehem, occupied Palestine, some people in occupied Jerusalem recall the differences between the manifestations of the celebration today and those they were accustomed to in the past and whose details colored their childhood.

In a report published by the British “Middle East Eye” website, Palestinian elderly people remember how Christmas celebrations were simpler in the past, and how they used to make their decorations by hand. They also recall the pre-Christmas shopping trips to Damascus and Beirut, and bemoan the sweeping of goods. The Chinese market is now becoming an alternative to the decorations that people used to use before.

Plastic tree 12 meters high

One aspect of the celebrations that reflects that difference is that the 12-meter-high Christmas tree that decorates Manger Square in Bethlehem is made of plastic, like most of the decorations used in the celebrations of various towns and villages in the West Bank in Palestine.

Palestinian Fouz Atallah Qumsieh, 90, remembers how in her childhood she went with her father to Jabal Abu Ghneim - which is located southeast of Jerusalem and where there were dense forests in the past, but is now the site of an Israeli settlement - in search of a suitable branch of the cypress tree to decorate a house family at birthdays.

Palestinian women dressed in traditional clothes pose for a photo in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas (French)

We make decorations with our own hands

"Christmas were a special joy in the past, and finding a tree was part of the celebration," said Qumsieh, a retired teacher. "My father used to go to the wilderness, and we would go with him, and cut a branch from a small pine tree, and we never cut down an entire tree."

Qumsiyeh added, "At that time, there was no electricity or lights at Christmas, so we used to make all the decorations with our own hands;

Scout teams pass in the center of Bethlehem on the glorious Christmas of Christian denominations that follow the Western calendar (Al-Jazeera)

The most beautiful birthday

As for the retired Palestinian photographer, Maurice Michel, 87 years old;

He remembers how there was a real pine tree in Manger Square, planted next to a police station that was in the square during the British Mandate at the site now known as the Peace Center in Bethlehem, and that tree was decorated every Christmas.

"The tree was there for a long time and people would come to take pictures in front of it because of the decorations that adorned it. Even the Jordanian army (who were in Jerusalem at the time) were playing near the tree," says Michel, referring to the period between 1948 and 1967 when the West Bank was under Jordanian control.

"Those days were beautiful. People used to bring pine trees to their homes and decorate them. Christmas was more beautiful and simple then, and we were really feeling the feast and we were looking forward to it."

Palestinian Louis Michel, 61, who owns a gift shop in Bethlehem, says that Jabal Abu Ghneim was the place people went to fetch trees for Christmas before the Israeli occupation uprooted those forests and turned the area into an Israeli settlement.

He added, "There were a lot of cypress and pine trees in Jabal Abu Ghneim, which had the most beautiful trees in the area, and it was so big that it was frightening...Before 1967, we could walk by the hillside to Bab al-Amud in Jerusalem. Then after the second intifada They cut down trees and built Har Homa settlement there."

Michel, who was speaking while holding a plastic rosary made in China, lamented the days gone by when Christmas was more cheerful and magical, and says, "I still remember those wonderful days. Today the magic is gone, and people come to take selfies in front of a tree." plastic".

The Palestinian Boy Scouts parade in front of the Church of the Nativity, during the Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem (French)

Chinese plastic occupied the country

The Palestinian Elie Shehadeh - the former mayor of the municipality of Beit Jala, northwest of Bethlehem - says, "The Christmas tree in Beit Jala is artificial, and I can say based on my practical experience in the work of the municipality that there is not a single real (Christmas) tree in the West Bank. all of the West.

"The Greek Orthodox Church had a natural pine tree that was decorated annually, but it died years ago. Now all the trees (used in Christmas decorations) are made in China, Chinese plastic has occupied the country."