Afrasianet - Dr. Hani Al-Akkad - It is the first celebration of Christmas in Bethlehem, the city of peace, the city of love, the sad city of Christmas that has planted love and peace in the hearts of millions of people of the Christian and Islamic religions, the children of Palestine and the world throughout history, lovers of peace and humanity, it is the first celebration after the barbaric war that has not stopped and destroys the Palestinian body, not only in Gaza but throughout the country in villages, camps, cities and all over the destroyed Gaza Strip and the torn West Bank.
Hundreds of people in the Nativity Square were attached to peace and love, and their prayers to heaven were raised for the achievement of peace in the land of peace, and their messages to all the advocates of peace in the world escalated to stop this Israeli madness against our Palestinian people, they raised their eyes to the sky and the eyes cried when they saw the tears of the Christmas tree raining non-stop as it cried and stood burning with burning, they did not wonder why...?
The answer was in their eyes and in themselves, that it weeps for the people of Palestine, and it cries for the devastated burns, tens of thousands of martyrs, wounded, sick and scattered in the displacement camps, its tears are pouring down in grief for the Palestinians throughout the Palestinian homeland and throughout the geography of the stricken Gaza Strip, the Christmas tree is sad for the Palestinians who have been deprived of security, stability and peace, the Palestinians of whom Israel has killed tens of thousands, destroyed their cities, scattered their children and become homeless in the displacement camps.
The large Christmas tree decorated with red balls and gold balls did not rejoice in its decoration did not rejoice in Christmas this year like the rest of the previous years, the birthday of the Palestinian Christ "Jesus peace be upon him" was sad this year, as it has become a date for mourning ceremonies, crying and prayers to God Almighty to achieve peace throughout Palestine.
The atmosphere was festive in the city of peace "Bethlehem", but it was not at the level of joy in previous years, as the celebrations were somewhat of a formal character, the occupation did not allow thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world to come to Bethlehem and attend Christmas ceremonies and celebrations, in an old and modern systematic policy to offend the Palestinians on their wedding occasions, which the occupation often rushes to turn into a relief, preventing them from coming to Bethlehem, closing Palestinian cities with hundreds of checkpoints, preventing celebrations, and many more.
Sometimes their masses and celebrations are violated in their mosques and churches, today Christmas comes and the occupation is waging a war in which human humanity is not respected and the teachings of all religions are not respected, even Judaism, which forbade the children of human beings to kill and slaughter human beings, and forbidden the demolition of their homes, the burning of their farms, and the theft of their property.
The celebration of Christmas this year came on a painful Palestinian reality in which the pain increased and the groans of the people increased, the war robbed them of everything, robbed them of their lives and the lives of their children, robbed them of their homes and destroyed them, destroyed their roads and streets, deprived them of schools and hospitals where they are treated, the occupation did not differentiate between Palestinian Muslim and Palestinian Christian, all of whom were the target of the barbaric war machine, so mosques and churches were destroyed. The Church of the Latin Monastery in Gaza was bombed and many members of the Christian community were killed in it, who took it as their shelter in the hope that the occupation would respect the holy places and not target them with planes or tanks.
The occupation also targeted the Baptist Hospital more than once, which is a hospital established in 1882 AD and was founded by the Society of the Mission Church of England and later the administration of the Southern Baptist Denomination as a medical mission in 1954 and 1982, and the hospital returned under the hospital under the management of the Anglican Church in the eighties, and Israel committed bloody and horrible massacres during which the bodies of Palestinian citizens, Muslims and Christians were blown away by the missiles of warplanes, who took refuge in the hospital in order to take shelter from the war machine and escape death in the streets. More than 500 martyrs in one night, hundreds of wounded, and large parts of the corridors and departments of the hospital destroyed.
This year's Christmas celebrations took place in Gaza as well, and the Christmas tree was erected in the church of (Deir al-Latin) also at the same time, as in Bethlehem, and the bells were ringed, hymns were played, and the calls were raised for a year of peace and a year of stability, but the Christmas tree in Gaza was no less tearful than the tears of the Christmas tree in Bethlehem, and the Christmas tree in Bethlehem shared the crying, the worry is one, the calamity is one, the open wound in the chest of the Palestinian is one, and the enemy that refuses to let us live as Palestinians In peace, he is one enemy....
Despite the decorations of the Christmas tree in Gaza as well, and the people's attempts to rejoice, their faces speak and tell of misery, anxiety and fear of what is to come, in light of the presence of an Israeli government that does not recognize any understandings or agreements and refuses to move to the second phase of the Trump agreement to end the war in Gaza.
Silent crying was the master of the scene, tears here in Gaza for its devastated state and the state of the scattered people, and sad tears for the situation of the people who are now sleeping without shelter in the Gaza Strip and living a temporary life in all its details, tears there in Bethlehem in grief over the lost peace that was lost by the Israeli occupation and crying over the violated right, the right of Palestinian people to life, the right to housing, the right to enjoy security and stability, the right to treatment and the right to education are the rights of the rest of the peoples of the earth.
The residents of the tents who are shivering due to the bitter cold and who do not find a cover to protect them from this cold and often their intestines are writhing due to deadly hunger, and most of them are writhing in pain because there is no medicine or treatment, which we read in the eyes of the Christmas tree that are overflowing with tears that the crying of the Christmas tree this year is a great and great thing, as it cried because of the absence of humanity from this world, and humanity was created for peoples and not others, and medicine was created for peoples. Security and stability are created for peoples without others, and the intention is of course the Palestinians.
The world has two standards in the matter of humanity and saving and protecting man is a matter of the pain of the stone before humans and making the tree cry, so the Christmas tree was the first tree to cry because humanity in Palestine is absent while the Sunnis of politicians in the world pay lip service to many terms of condemnation and denunciation whenever the humanity of the other peoples of the earth is touched, and whenever the peoples of the earth suffer, this year suffers, yes, the people suffered and they took to the streets and protested in front of the embassies of those who support Israel and those who supply it with lethal weapons, those who do not believe that the Palestinian is The victim and those who believe the occupation's false narrative that the Palestinian is a terrorist...!
They raised their voices and called out loud demanding the protection of the Palestinians from the ghoul and power of the occupation, and these free peoples said their word because they know the truth, they know that the Palestinians are a people without protection who are subjected to ethnic cleansing and extermination because they want to live in peace, security and stability like the rest of the peoples of the earth.
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