Palestinian choristers mark a sad Christmas from Bethlehem to Gaza
Reporting from a musical choir performance in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim says Palestinians are marking a sad Christmas.
A local choir from Bethlehem and Hebron is singing along with Palestinians in Khan Younis from a band called Gaza Birds Singing via an internet connection, she said. Displaced teachers and music students in the besieged Gaza Strip formed the band during the war to use music as a way to cope with the difficulties amid the ongoing genocide.
“It was a difficult technical initiative to merge between the singers here and the ones in Gaza; it took more than one hour. The band in Gaza has had to move from the al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis to another area to look for a better internet connection so they could make this musical event work,” Ibrahim said.
“They say they cannot physically meet, but at least virtually they will be singing together. They are sending a message from Bethlehem, Hebron and Gaza, to the world that they are one nation, but they cannot meet.
“They are not singing Christmas carols … one of the songs is called ‘Give us a Childhood’. They want peace. They want to live their childhood. They are marking yet another Christmas with their people undergoing a genocide.”
Gaza’s Christians attend mass after three churches destroyed, parishioners killed
Ismail al-Thawabta, a spokesman for Gaza’s Government Media Office, is quoted by the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) as saying that the Israeli targeting of the Christian community in the Gaza Strip is part of a “systematic policy aimed at eliminating the diverse human and historical presence” in the besieged enclave.
He said that Israeli forces had killed three percent of Gaza’s Christians during the war and destroyed three churches in the Gaza Strip in a “flagrant violation of all international norms and covenants that guarantee the protection of places of worship”.
Pope Francis denounces ‘extremely grave’ situation in Gaza, seeks release of captives
Pope Francis has denounced the “extremely grave” humanitarian situation in Gaza and appealed for the freeing of Israeli captives held by Hamas in his traditional Christmas address at the Vatican.
“I think of the Christian communities in Israel and Palestine, particularly in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave. May there be a ceasefire, may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war,” he said.
