What are Palestine’s unique Christmas rituals, disrupted by Israel’s war?
Through carols, cookies and Christmas lights, December 25 is marked by jubilation and celebration of the birth of Jesus for more than 2 billion Christians worldwide. However, a silent night falls on the 50,000 Christians in Palestine – a number that is in rapid decline. The safety of Christians in Palestine was shaken by the bombardment of Gaza’s oldest Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in October, which killed at least 18 people including children. Israeli forces also shot and killed an elderly Christian mother and her daughter in a Catholic church in Gaza on Saturday. This year, the many gleeful rituals that characterise Christmas in Palestine will be replaced by simpler ceremonies, mourning and prayer, shining a harsh light on the current reality of the region. The Lutheran Church, for instance, has the Baby Jesus in a manger of rubble and destruction. Was Jesus Palestinian? Many Christian schools of thought believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the now Israeli-occupied West Bank. “Jesus was born on our side of the wall,” Palestinian pastor Reverend Munther Isaac told Al Jazeera. Isaac added that the narrative of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is backed by archaeology as well as scripture such as Luke’s Gospel. “It’s the year 2023, and you’ve got, on Christmas day, all over the world, millions of, so many, hundreds of millions, if not more, of Christians going to church, reading about Bethlehem, singing about Bethlehem and thinking maybe of Bethlehem as a mythical place, as a fairytale, not realising it’s a real place with people, with a Christian community that has kept the tradition alive for 2,000 years.” What is the story of Christmas? “While the family of Jesus lived in Nazareth back then, they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for that [census] registration,” Isaac narrated, with thoughtful pauses between his sentences. Isaac drew parallels between the story of the birth of Jesus and the current situation in Palestine. “We’ve always been under empires. We’ve always been displaced,” said Isaac, explaining that Jesus was born when Palestine was under the Roman empire. An imperial decree of the empire ordered the family of Jesus to register for the census in Bethlehem, added Reverend Mitri Raheb, another Palestinian pastor from Bethlehem. King Herod ordered the massacre of infant boys, leading to the family of Jesus escaping to Egypt as refugees, explained Isaac. An Israeli border policeman stands guard on Christmas Eve December 24, 2004, at the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem where a sign welcomes visitors to the biblical town of Jesus’s birth [David Silverman/Getty Images] According to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and then placed in a manger. The Church of Nativity was built at this location and its grotto holds great religious significance, pulling Christians from all over the world into the city of Bethlehem every Christmas. The procession of the patriarchs One of the most important Christmas rituals in Palestine is the procession of the patriarch from Jerusalem. This procession takes place on December 24 for Catholics and January 6 for Orthodox patriarchs. The designated procession route that has been followed throughout the Ottoman Empire and the British mandate is now engraved in tradition, Isaac explained. The patriarch is received from Jerusalem in Bethlehem and then the procession walks through the streets of the old town in Bethlehem until it reaches the Church of Nativity, where prayers are held. Israeli authorities and Palestinian police escort the procession, depending on the territory the procession passes through. Palestinian Christian altar boys and Palestinian police wait for the arrival of the Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah, during the annual Christmas Eve procession December 24, 2003 in Manger Square in Bethlehem [David Silverman/Getty Images] The arrival of the procession is a celebrated festivity, welcomed by several scout groups and musical bands from all over Palestine. People leave their homes to walk around the city and witness the spirit of Christmas. This year, the bands and scouts will not be present, instead, the procession will be silent. A Palestinian man holds a golden crucifix as he waits alongside posters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 24, 2001, during the traditional Christmas Eve procession [David Silverman/Getty Images] Midnight mass and Manger Square Once the procession reaches the church, prayers begin at 5pm local time and last until midnight, with the midnight mass being broadcast for the world to see, Raheb said. Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal carries a doll of the baby Jesus following the Christmas midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity, December 25, 2008 in Bethlehem [Musa Al-Shaer-Pool/Getty Images] The Manger Square in Bethlehem is also decorated with a large Christmas tree and performances are held there. This year, there is no Christmas tree at Manger Square. Instead, “the civil society and some artists are working on a new kind of crib that is made out of rubble as a sign to what’s happening in Gaza”, said Raheb. He added that a video will be screened on the wall of the Nativity Church, showing what is happening in Gaza. This 2012 photo shows a crowd gathering around a brightly lit Christmas tree at the Manger Square [Ammar Awad/Reuters] As a child, Isaac would excitedly visit Jerusalem with his parents for Christmas shopping. Several markets sell festive clothes and decorations for the holiday season. It is a tradition to buy the best clothes from Jerusalem and save them for Christmas. “You know how in America you go to a big mall? We used to go to Jerusalem. We can’t any more,” Isaac said, alluding to the stringent permit rules in the region, which constrict the mobility of Palestinians. Christmas is a time when families meet, in Palestine and elsewhere. While family could mean a small group of immediate relatives in the West, “When I say ‘family’ in Bethlehem, I say all 200 or so members of the Isaac family in our town
Indonesia nickel plant hit by deadly explosion
At least 12 dead and 39 injured in the blast at the nickel processing facility, highlighting dangerous working conditions. An explosion at a nickel processing plant in eastern Indonesia has killed at least 12 people and injured 39, according to the facility. The blast at the Chinese-funded Morowali Industrial Park on Sulawesi Island took place at 5:30am on Sunday while workers were conducting furnace repairs. A spokesperson for the complex said those killed include seven Indonesians and five foreign workers, without stating their nationalities. An initial investigation showed the explosion occurred when a flammable liquid ignited and the subsequent blast caused nearby oxygen tanks to explode as well, spokesperson Dedy Kurniawan said on Sunday. The fire was successfully extinguished, according to the official. The firm that runs the industrial park said it was “deeply saddened” by the disaster and said the remains of several identified victims had been flown home. The island is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of nickel, a base metal used for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and Beijing’s growing investment has stoked unrest over working conditions at its facilities. In January, two workers, including a Chinese national, were killed at a nickel smelting plant in the same industrial park after a riot broke out during a protest over safety conditions and pay. Adblock test (Why?)
Staying warm in Gaza: A battle for survival
Esraa Kamal al-Jamalan was nearly eight months pregnant when she, her husband and their five-year-old son were forced to flee their northern Gaza neighbourhood of Sheikh Radwan after it was bombed by Israel in late October. They walked more than three kilometres (1.86 miles) to al-Shifa Hospital, where many people were sheltering, taking with them only a few lightweight T-shirts and trousers as they expected to soon return home. Two months later, 28-year-old Esraa and her family are living in one of the hundreds of makeshift tents in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza with no means of protecting her newborn from the harsh winter — cold temperatures combined with rains. “When it first started raining here, I hadn’t given birth yet. Me and my husband were trying to find shelter from the rain, as the water kept seeping through here and there in the tent,” Esraa said, sitting with her daughter in her lap, her skin pale and yellow. “We’ve been through rough days. We have never seen something like this before.” Esraa al-Jamalan gave birth to her daughter on November 24 and now lives in a makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza [AbdelHakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] Being unhoused in rough weather conditions and without warm clothing and blankets, the couple are struggling to keep their newborn daughter warm inside their tent. They cannot take her outside either, close to the fires that people are burning for warmth as the smoke gives her breathing difficulties. “The other day, she kept coughing [from wood smoke] until she turned blue. We were terrified she could have died,” Esraa explained, her voice shaking. “I am worried the most about my daughter. She hasn’t even gotten vaccinated yet.” As Israel’s assault on Gaza enters its 12th week, Al Jazeera spoke to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip about the challenges brought on by the arrival of winter for the nearly two million people internally displaced in the enclave. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Did not ask for ceasefire’ in Gaza: Biden after phone call with Netanyahu
White House says the two leaders discussed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, including its ‘objectives and phasing’. United States President Joe Biden says he did not ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in a telephone call between the two leaders. “I had a long talk with Netanyahu today [Saturday] and it was a private conversation,” Biden told reporters on Saturday. “I did not ask for a ceasefire,” he said, in response to a shouted question. In a statement later, the White House said Biden and Netanyahu discussed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, including its “objectives and phasing”. Biden “emphasised the critical need to protect the civilian population including those supporting the humanitarian aid operation, and the importance of allowing civilians to move safely away from areas of ongoing fighting,” said the statement. “The leaders discussed the importance of securing the release of all remaining hostages.” The call between the two leaders came a day after the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed a resolution calling for the scaling up of aid for Gaza but fell short of calling for a ceasefire or a pause in weeks-long fighting. The resolution, which demanded “immediate, safe and unhindered” deliveries of life-saving aid to Gaza “at scale”, was passed after UNSC members wrangled for days over its wording and toned down some provisions at Washington’s insistence. The US and Russia abstained from the vote, whose impact on the ground, aid groups fear, will be close to nil. “This resolution has been watered down to the point that its impact on the lives of civilians in Gaza will be nearly meaningless,” Avril Benoit, the executive director of Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement. “The way Israel is prosecuting this war, with US support, is causing massive death and suffering among Palestinian civilians and is inconsistent with international norms and laws,” Benoit added. The US also opposed the demand to create a UN monitoring mechanism for aid, assuring Israel would continue to have a role in inspecting deliveries. Netanyahu on Saturday “expressed his appreciation” for the stance taken by the US at the UN, his office said. He also “made it clear that Israel will continue the war until all its goals are completed”. More than 200 killed in 24 hours Israel has continued to bomb Gaza for nearly 80 days, with more than 200 people killed in the past 24 hours. Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll since the start of the attacks rose to 20,258 on Saturday, most of them being women and children. According to UN estimates, the war has displaced 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. The UN has described the situation in Gaza as “beyond catastrophic”, with residents struggling to find food, fuel and water, while living in crowded shelters or tents. In a post on X, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said it “cannot deliver meaningful aid” while the Israeli bombardment of Gaza continues. “It is extremely tragic that politics stand in the way of 2.2 million people’s survival in Gaza,” UNRWA spokesperson Tamara al-Rifai said at a news conference on Saturday. Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza media office says 100 journalists killed since Israeli attacks began
Palestinian journalist Muhammed Abu Hweidy latest to be killed in Israeli attack on his home in the east of Gaza City. At least 100 journalists have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, according to new figures released by the government media office in Gaza. Palestinian journalist Muhammed Abu Hweidy was the latest to be killed in an Israeli air raid on his home in the east of Gaza City on Saturday, the media office said. “The number of journalists killed has risen to 100, men and women, since the start of the brutal war on the Gaza Strip, after the martyrdom of journalist Mohammed Abu Hweidy in an Israeli airstrike in the Shujaiya neighborhood,” the office said on Telegram social media. Palestinian officials in Gaza say the number could be much higher. However, according to a tally by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 69 journalists have been killed in the conflict, including Al Jazeera Arabic’s cameraman Samer Abudaqa. More than 50 media premises or offices in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed by Israeli attacks. Hundreds of Palestinian journalists and their families have been forcibly displaced to the south. The media workers were also forced to abandon their reporting equipment in offices in the north to live and report under difficult conditions amid frequent communication blackouts. Journalists working in areas of armed conflict are protected under international humanitarian laws, which Israel is accused of violating repeatedly. Palestinian journalists have said Israel is deliberately targeting them to silence their stories. Tim Dawson, deputy general secretary at the International Federation of Journalists, told Al Jazeera it is becoming “impossible to ignore such a terribly, terribly high toll” of journalists. “I don’t think we have seen a death toll of journalists to this concentration in any conflict that I can think of. There were about 1,000 journalists in Gaza at the beginning of this conflict. And while there are slightly different counts of precisely how many have died, if between seven-and-a-half and 10 percent have died, that is an extraordinarily high number,” he said. Dawson said the journalists in Gaza “only have cameras, microphones and notebooks and continue doing their work despite this absolutely mind-blowing death toll”. When asked by Al Jazeera if Israel is targeting journalists, he said some Palestinian journalists have told him they “received threatening calls from people” purporting to be from the Israeli military, “warning them that they are going to be targeted or that their families are going to be targeted in the coming days”. Adblock test (Why?)
Will motion passed by UN Security Council on Gaza have any impact?
Resolution on aid has been watered down to avoid a US veto and omits call for an end to hostilities. The United Nations Security Council has passed a motion on the war on Gaza. It comes after two months of Israeli attacks that have killed more than 20,000 Palestinians. The resolution – weakened by pressure from the United States – calls for more aid but not for Israel to stop its bombardment. So, will it have any impact? Presenter: Dareen Abughaida Guests: Scott Lucas – professor of US and international relations at University College Dublin and founder and editor of online news site EA Worldview Dmitry Babich – political analyst at the InoSMI internet media project in Moscow Maleeha Lodhi – former Pakistan permanent representative and ambassador to the UN Adblock test (Why?)
Rebel attack in western Burundi kills at least 20
It is the second attack in two weeks by the RED-Tabara rebels, who have been largely inactive inside Burundi since 2021. Gunmen have killed at least 20 people and wounded nine others near Burundi’s western border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an official has told reporters. Those killed in the Friday evening raid on the town of Vugizo included 12 children, two pregnant women and a police officer, government spokesperson Jérôme Niyonzima said on Saturday. The attack was claimed by the RED-Tabara rebel group, considered a “terrorist” group by the Burundian authorities. The attack targeted nine homes in the town, close to the Lake Tanganyika border with the DRC. At least nine others wounded in the attack have been hospitalised. The RED-Tabara rebel group, which has been battling Burundi’s government from bases in the eastern DRC since 2015, claimed on the social media platform X to have killed nine soldiers and one police officer. The group denied having targeted civilians. Local residents said they heard sounds of gunfire and explosions during the attack. Witnesses who spoke to the Associated Press said the rebels appeared to be wearing Burundian Army uniforms and civilians were “left to their own devices” after the military and police fled. “We realised they were attackers when they attacked the police position guarding the border,” said Priscille Kanyange, a farmer. “Many people here were injured by bullets [as they were] trying to flee.” Another farmer, Innocent Hajayandi, who witnessed the attack, said security forces fled, “leaving the residents to their own devices”. André Kabura, a grocery shop owner who was wounded in both legs in the gunfire, said the military and police were slow to regroup and fend off the attackers. Two military and security sources told the AFP news agency the attack targeted “a military position”. “The civilians were caught in the crossfire and were killed, and then the assailants retreated to DRC,” a senior military official told the AFP on condition of anonymity, confirming the toll of 20. The attack was the second in as many weeks inside Burundi by the rebels, who have not been active inside the country since September 2021, when they carried out a series of attacks, including on the Bujumbura airport. Since then, their activities have been taking place in the DRC’s South Kivu province. But on December 11, they exchanged fire with the military in northwestern Burundi. On Friday, Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye told army, police and intelligence officers to remain vigilant, warning that “the enemy never sleeps even if we have security”. Adblock test (Why?)
China considers revising gaming rules after tech giants lose billions
Draft document outlining restrictions caused major stir as tech stocks tumbled, sent investors into a panic. Chinese authorities have said they may revise newly drafted online gaming rules shortly after the planned restrictions caused major tech companies to lose billions of dollars. State broadcaster CCTV reported on Saturday that the authorities have heard the “concerns and opinions raised by all parties”, adding that “the State Press and Publication Administration will study them carefully and further revise and improve them”, referring to the media regulator. The authorities released a draft on Friday with a wide range of rules and regulations aimed at curbing online spending and rewards in video games. Its impact was immediate, dealing a massive blow to the world’s biggest games market. Investors went into a tailspin, leading to as much as $80bn in market value being wiped off from China’s two biggest companies, industry leader Tencent Holdings and Netease. According to the new rules, online games would be banned from giving players rewards if they log in every day, if they spend on a game for the first time, or if they spend several times on a game consecutively. All are common incentive mechanisms in online games. CCTV reported that regulators may now change the wording of sections of the draft rules that limit the ability to encourage daily logins and wallet top-ups. China has become increasingly tough on video games over the years. Its first major move against the gaming sector came in 2021, when Beijing set strict playtime limits for under-18s and suspended approvals of new video games for about eight months, citing gaming addiction concerns. As a result of the crackdown, 2021 and 2022 were the most difficult years on record for the Chinese gaming industry as total revenue shrank for the first time. China revised its position last year and started approving new games again, but regulators have continued to set their sights on curbing the time children play in-game and the amount of money they spend. As part of Friday’s draft, which signifies the strictest limits yet, games are also banned from offering probability-based draw features to minors, and from enabling the auction of virtual gaming items. The new rules reflected Beijing’s concerns about user data, requiring game publishers to store their servers within China. The draft comes as China’s video game market has returned to growth this year as domestic revenue rose 13 percent to 303 billion yuan ($42.6bn), according to the industry association CGIGC. Due to the sheer size and impact of Chinese gaming giants, the global video games market could also be affected in the long run. Several United States and European video games developers saw shares take a hit after Friday’s announcement, but the losses were small when compared with Tencent’s 16 percent tumble. Friday’s news wiped about $54bn off the company’s share value, according to Bloomberg News. The administration is seeking public comment on the rules by January 22. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
The US is no country for old men
Shortly prior to his death from prostate cancer in August of this year at the age of 72, my father emerged from a state of muteness to recite, with a burst of energy, the 1927 poem, Sailing to Byzantium, by William Butler Yeats, which begins: “That is no country for old men.” My mother, my uncle, and I were present for the impromptu performance, which took place in my father’s bed in Washington, DC, where he had commenced in-home hospice care after the chemotherapy treatments that had been forced upon him by profit-oriented doctors had accelerated his demise. This was but one of many poems my father had memorised as a young man intent on honing his intellectual credentials; my mother and uncle – who in their youth had also fallen under the influence of my dad’s cerebral pursuits – joined in on the lines they remembered. Having completed his vehement recitation, my father resumed his generally mute state, which was thereafter punctuated only by intermittent outbursts about wanting to die. I have no way of knowing what was going through my dad’s mind during that final poetic eruption, but the first line of the Yeats poem did seem to be a fitting commentary on the country in which we found ourselves – the one where we had all been born and the one my parents and I had spent years avoiding. My mom and dad had only relatively recently returned to reside in the homeland after nearly eight years in Barcelona; I had flown into Washington in August from Turkey, which was one of my regular stops in a 20-year self-imposed exile. Indeed, my father’s final months had merely confirmed that the US is “no country for old men”. Counterproductive chemotherapy treatments were but one of the ways he had been milked for all he was worth, before being turned over as prey to the lucrative realm of funeral and cremation services. For example, for a one-month prescription of the prostate cancer drug Xtandi, a medication developed with none other than US taxpayer money, my father had been charged $14,579.01 – ie, more than many people in the United States earn in several months. For folks lacking the means to pursue healthcare and other basic needs, US capitalism can be deadly, too. And while US society specialises in oppressing a wide range of demographics – minus, of course, the elite minority that thrives on acute inequality – the treatment of the elderly is particularly cynical. Having outlived their labour-based exploitability as cogs in the capitalist machine, older people become decaying objects from which profit must continue to be extracted until the very last minute. According to the results of a West Health-Gallup survey published in 2022, approximately one in four Americans aged 65 and older and three in 10 Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 said they had sacrificed basic needs, such as food, to pay for healthcare. The study found that older women and Black Americans were disproportionately affected and that punitive health care costs constituted a significant source of stress in the daily lives of older Americans, with stress naturally only exacerbating existing medical issues. Add vampire-like insurance companies to the mix, and the panorama becomes ever more morbid. The prohibitive fees associated with many programmes – coupled with insurance outfits’ frequent refusal to cover lifesaving treatments – means that life itself continues to be a privilege and not a right in the United States. Then there’s the $34bn assisted-living industry, which a recent Washington Post investigation revealed to be plagued by wanton neglect despite charging an average of $6,000 a month per resident. Since 2018, the Post reported, more than 2,000 residents have wandered off unnoticed from such facilities, and nearly 100 of them have died after doing so. So much for “assisted living”. To be sure, the loneliness and isolation that so often attends old age in the US does nothing to increase life expectancy; nor does the unique stigma that US “culture” attaches to ageing. As the American Psychological Association (APA) has noted, institutionalised ageism in the United States entails a “host of negative effects, for people’s physical and mental wellbeing and society as a whole”. Granted, loneliness and isolation are often lifelong afflictions for inhabitants of the so-called “land of the free”, where the collective mental wellbeing is hardly helped by a dog-eat-dog insistence on individual success at the expense of communal and family bonds and the conversion of human beings into consumerist automatons. And the cutthroat, transactional nature of existence in the US culminates, appropriately, with elderly bodies being put up for grabs by pharmaceutical companies, nursing homes, and the corporate racket known as the US healthcare system. That said, the US is, in fact, a fine country for some old men – such as former warmongering diplomat Henry Kissinger, who perished at home in Connecticut in November at the ripe old age of 100 after spending a good part of his life causing the deaths of countless people worldwide. Not long after my father’s death in August, I fell into conversation with a Bolivian man in his 50s who had resided in Washington for more than two decades and who expanded on the “no country” theme. He planned to stick it out for another 10 to 15 years before returning to his home city of Cochabamba, he told me, because he couldn’t afford to be old in the US. And while the US may be “no country for old men”, it’s not much of a country for anyone else, either. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
Yemen warring parties commit to ceasefire, UN-led peace process, says envoy
Rival groups commit to new ceasefire and engage in UN-led peace process to end the nine-year war, says UN special envoy for Yemen. The warring sides in the long-running conflict in Yemen have committed to steps towards a ceasefire and engage in a United Nations-led peace process, according to the UN special envoy for Yemen. The announcement by Hans Grundberg on Saturday marks the latest step to end a nine-year war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Following a series of meetings between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-aligned Houthis in Saudi Arabia and Oman, a statement by Grundberg’s office said he “welcomes the parties’ commitment to a set of measures to implement a nationwide ceasefire, improve living conditions in Yemen, and engage in preparations for the resumption of an inclusive political process”. The envoy “will now engage with the parties to establish a roadmap under UN auspices that includes these commitments and supports their implementation”, the statement said. The plan, along with a ceasefire, will also include the two sides’ commitment to resume oil exports, pay all public sector salaries, open roads in Taiz and other parts of Yemen, and “further ease restrictions on Sanaa Airport and the Hodeidah port”, it added. Yemen has been gripped with conflict since the Houthis took control of capital Sanaa in 2014, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the government forces the following year. A UN-brokered ceasefire that took effect in April 2022 brought a sharp reduction in hostilities in the country of 30 million people. The truce expired in October last year, though fighting largely remains on hold. In September, Houthi officials visited Riyadh for the first time since the war broke out. That followed a first round of Omani-mediated consultations between Riyadh and Sanaa. The peace initiatives gained momentum after regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-establish ties in a deal brokered by China. The UN envoy’s announcement also came amid a flurry of Houthi attacks on key shipping lanes in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinians under attack in the Gaza Strip for more than two months. Adblock test (Why?)