Christians from all over the world celebrated Christmas in the Holy Land on Saturday. Christmas is a festival that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.
Bethlehem was the destination of the annual Christmas procession, which arrived in the afternoon.
On December 25 at noon (1000 GMT), the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, led a march from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
His final leg of the journey to the traditional birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem was covered on foot.
When he arrived, he was met with open arms by Christians.
During the Christmas season, tens of thousands of guests are anticipated, significantly higher than the previous two years when coronavirus restrictions were in effect.
At least 120 thousand pilgrims from all around the world are expected, according to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
Bethlehem, currently a little village in the West Bank, features a massive Christmas tree with a star on top in the square in front of the Church of the Nativity.
Pizzaballa expressed concern about the rising bloodshed in the Holy Land in his Midnight Mass address.
“With our eyes, we see that violence seems to have become our main language, our main way of communicating.”
Pizzaballa warned the congregation that “violence is increasing, first of all in the language of politics.”
“This year, we have seen a terrible increase in violence in Palestinian streets, with a death toll that takes us back decades.”
As Pizzaballa put it, “it is a sign of the worrying increase in political tension and the growing unease, especially among our youth,” due to the seemingly intractable nature of the ongoing struggle.
The Israeli army has increased its raids in the West Bank in response to the recent terror attacks in Israel.
More than 140 Palestinians, including numerous children, have been killed by Israeli forces this year, according to the Ministry of Health in Ramallah.
In 1967, Israel took control of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestine is a goal for the Palestinians, who hope to establish their nation with East Jerusalem as its capital.
According to Pizzaballa, the Palestinian issue is receiving little attention.
He underlined that “this, too, is a form of violence, which hurts the conscience of millions of Palestinians, left increasingly alone and who, for too many generations, have been waiting for an answer to their legitimate desire for dignity and freedom.”
Jerusalem’s patriarchs and church leaders expressed concern in their Christmas message about rising anti-Christian sentiment, discrimination against Christians, and the dwindling number of Christians worldwide.
Especially among our Christian youth, who are increasingly made to feel unwelcome in the home of their forefathers, “such a disheartening atmosphere has led to a lack of hope,” the message said.
The number of Christians in the Holy Land is continuing to fall.
Only approximately 2% of the roughly 5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip identify as Christians.
About 185,000 Arab Christians currently reside in Israel, per the most recent data from the Israeli Bureau of Statistics.