It was visited by 40,000 annually.

Ramallah -

Palestinian Nafez Hammouda remembers the Christmas period in his village "Al Qubeiba" located to the northwest of the occupied city of Jerusalem, during his childhood.

He says, "It was crowded with Palestinian Christians and foreign tourists, while scout and musical teams lined up in a long procession from the beginning of the village to the Emmaus Monastery, and street vendors' stalls spread everywhere."

Despite the political and social changes that affected the festive celebrations in Qubeibeh, which includes one of the most important monasteries in Palestine, and despite the emigration of most Christians from the village, the people there maintain the minimum level of celebrations, by lighting the Christmas tree in the monastery, distributing sweets and welcoming men The religion they go to during the festive period.

Hammouda, the mayor of the village, mentions how the siege of the Israeli wall, which was erected from the western and southern sides and devoured more than 100 dunums of its land, affected its celebrations and the presence of Christians, and led to the cut off of its people from the city of Jerusalem, which is only 11 kilometers away, and after the construction of The wall takes hours to reach.

The Christian religious narrative says that the historic Monastery of Emmaus in the town of Qubeiba was one of the stations of Christ (Al-Jazeera)

More than 40,000 pilgrims missed

In the years before the construction of the apartheid wall (its construction began in 2002), Hamouda says, "More than 40,000 Christian pilgrims from inside and outside Palestine visited the village at one time, but after the construction of the wall, these celebrations became limited to the people of the village and nearby villages." .

Al-Qubeiba was named after the style of building its houses in the past, which was characterized by domes.

It is located in the middle of villages northwest of Jerusalem (16 villages), which have been isolated by the separation wall from its natural extension with the city of Jerusalem since 2002.

It is now inhabited by 4,500 people, only 15% of whom hold Jerusalem identity cards, and Israel refused to grant the rest a Jerusalem identity after occupying the village in 1967. Its families number 9, including the only remaining Christian family, "Wakim", in the village.

station on the path of Christ

But what is the importance of this village and its monastery, called "Deir Emwas", historically, to be a major station in the Christian holidays?

Father Francesco Patton, ofm, Custos of the Holy Land, answers this in his sermon at the "Monastery of Emmaus" during the 2021 holidays, saying, "We came here to Emmaus al-Qubiba, and it is one of the possible places for the place that St. Luke narrated in chapter 24."

According to this chapter of the Gospel, Christ, before his "last resurrection", met with two of his disciples who were walking on the road to "Emmaus", which is 11 kilometers from the city of Jerusalem.

Among the many supposed locations of the meeting place, researchers later estimated it to be al-Qubeiba, because it is the same distance from Jerusalem mentioned in the Biblical texts.

A Byzantine church was built in this place, which was destroyed, and it was rebuilt again - the current building - in the 14th century AD, and it bore the same evangelical name "Emmaus", and it is the place that now includes all official and religious Christian celebrations in the village.

The entrance to the historic Monastery of Emmaus in the town of Qubeiba, which is preserved by the people, whether they are Christians or Muslims (Al-Jazeera)

part of the village identity

The representative of the Fatah movement in the village, "Hazem Hammouda," says that this monastery has a place for all the people of Qubeiba, and not only for the few Christians who remained in it. It opens its doors to all villagers.

On the other hand, Christian holidays have turned into national holidays for all the villagers, as the municipality, village institutions and activists prepare for them, light the Christmas tree, and join the remaining Christian family in their celebrations every year.

"These celebrations are part of our cultural and collective identity in the village," Hazem Hammouda told Al-Jazeera Net. "We grew up and the church was its most important feature."

Most Christians emigrate

Victor Wakim is now the oldest member of the last Christian family in the village, along with his wife, four children and sister.

He says that his family refused to emigrate and clung to living in the Qubeiba that his grandfather took refuge in from the town of Ein Karem - west of Jerusalem - and which was abandoned by Zionist gangs in the 1948 Nakba.

We met Wakim, who works in a center for the elderly, which is housed in the Sisters of the Savior monastery near Emmaus Monastery.

In a quick talk, he lamented the emigration of other Christian families from the village.

He said, "There is no one left but us, and our large family is now scattered all over the world. This is the case for Christian families in all of Palestine because of immigration."

The situation of Qubeibeh is like that of many Palestinian villages that were abandoned by Christian families in light of a large wave of emigration from Palestine abroad due to the difficult conditions under the Israeli occupation, or because they went to live in the main cities where Christians are concentrated, such as Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and Ramallah.

Some historical Christian areas are completely devoid of Christian families.

As is the case in the town of Nisf Jbeil, in the northern West Bank, and its neighbor, the town of Sebastia, which is considered one of the most important historical Christian towns in Palestine, and only a family of 3 remains.

Although there are no new statistics, the latest official data published confirms the decline in the percentage of Christians in Palestine from approximately 12% of the total population to less than 1%, according to a study by Dar Al-Kalima University in Bethlehem in 2017.

Victor Wakim, son of the last Christian family in the town of Qubeiba (Al-Jazeera)

Imperfect joy

Despite the great sorrow spoken by Victor Wakim (68 years), he still conveys his feeling of the beauty of celebrating the holidays and their memories before the siege of the town, the construction of the wall around it, and the exodus of Christians from it.

"Big celebrations were organized here, and preparations were made to receive tourists and pilgrims over the course of days, and it was not limited to the villagers only," he says.

But what Wakim remembers most is his mother's preparation for the feast, as she used to wear the embroidered peasant dress that was characteristic of all the women of the village, and she was busy with her neighbors making cakes to distribute to well-wishers from the people and from abroad.

"We try to preserve these rituals, but we feel that the holiday joy is lacking," he says.