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Churches in Israel and the West Bank are canceling Christmas celebrations due to the war
(JTA) — Ordinarily at this time of year, Nabil Totry would be gearing up for one of the biggest productions in Nazareth, Jesus’ childhood home and one of several cities across Israel and the West Bank to go all-out for Christmas.
But this year, as the holiday approached, Totry wondered whether his hometown would be able to celebrate. As president of the city’s Christmas Parade, he knew that the war between Israel and Hamas would require some changes.
The parade is a rollicking annual march that begins at Mary’s Well in Nazareth — next to a bustling Christmas market — and continues down Paul VI Street, which boasts the Church of the Annunciation and a Christmas tree rising more than 50 feet in the air. The city generally mounts a fireworks display early in the evening, followed by a midnight Mass Christian prayer service.
“We were ready to begin calling the annual march a ‘March of Peace’ for fraternity, since we see that all people from all religious backgrounds march together side by side,” Totry said. “We thought about how to establish the Christmas march under the present conditions without canceling it.”
But in the end, Totry did call off the parade, and he is not alone. Against the backdrop of the bloodshed in Gaza and Israel, churches in Nazareth and in cities across Israel and the West Bank have canceled their public celebrations of Christmas.
People gathering at Nazareth’s Christmas tree ahead of the holiday in 2021.(Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)
The decisions follow the lead of a consortium of Christian leaders in Jerusalem, who last month asked Christians “to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities.” In addition to Nazareth, the call affects celebrations in Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem, revered as Jesus’ birthplace.
“We gathered for several weeks with all the involved organizations to negotiate and decide what was possible in light of the current crisis,” Totry said. “Naturally, there were different opinions because Nazareth in the Christmas season is full of activities as the main address for Arab and Jewish citizens from many areas, and Christmas is considered an important economic source for the city.”
Now, Bethlehem — which is usually a bustling attraction this time of year, with Christmas decorations lining the streets leading to Manger Square, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born — is bare and empty. But the spirit of the city, located in the West Bank, is less somber than it is heated.
The Nativity scene shows baby Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh and placed in a pile of rubble to show solidarity with the people of Gaza in the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, West Bank, Dec. 18, 2023. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Many West Bank Palestinians abhor the war in Gaza, and face increased limits on their freedom of movement coupled with a depressed economy and spiking violence. In a, evocative display that has gained global attention, the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem replaced its traditional nativity manger this year with a depiction of baby Jesus wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh, buried in rubble.
Exacerbating tensions between Israel and the land’s Christians were reports on Saturday of an alleged deadly Israeli attack on a sole Roman Catholic Church in Gaza that has served as a refuge for displaced Christians since the start of the war. Currently, there are approximately 1,000 Christians in Gaza, a drop from a reported figure of 3,000 when Hamas seized control of the strip in 2007.
On Saturday, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Catholic Church’s representative in Israel’s capital, accused Israel of killing a mother and daughter housed at a Catholic church in Gaza. The statement also accused Israel of firing at a convent housing 54 people with disabilities and knocking out its generator. The patriarchate later shared what it said were photos of the attack.
The Israeli army strongly denied the allegations, saying that there were “no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed.” The IDF added that it “takes claims regarding harm to sensitive sites with the utmost seriousness — especially churches — considering that Christian communities are a minority group in the Middle East.”
So far, the allegations have not been independently verified, and there were no images or video of a funeral for Nahida Anton and her daughter Samar Anton as of Monday.
A Christmas display at the entrance to the Tel Aviv flagship store of Tiv Ta’am, an Israeli supermarket chain known for selling food that doesn’t meet kosher dietary rules. (Asaf Shalev)
But in his Sunday sermon, Pope Francis accepted the initial Palestinian reports and condemned any attack on Gaza churches “where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns.” Francis has called for a ceasefire in the conflict.
Meanwhile, as the fighting continues, Christians across the region are preparing for a subdued holiday. Church leaders and city councils in Haifa and Jaffa have also decided not to decorate public spaces with large Christmas trees this year, and to commemorate Christmas in a more ritual fashion. Non-religious Christmas displays, on the rise in recent years among some secular Jews who see them as akin to Halloween decorations, have also been tamped down.
Amir Badran, a member of the Tel-Aviv Jaffa City Council, said, “There is no holiday spirit in the air, in light of the war in Gaza.”
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The post Churches in Israel and the West Bank are canceling Christmas celebrations due to the war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
The post Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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