Bethlehem, Dec 7: For the past two Christmases, John Juka’s family restaurant looked about the same as any business in Bethlehem: shuttered and eerily empty.
But on Saturday evening, it bustled with families and was lit by strings of red lights, a hopeful change in the Palestinian city that’s been reeling since war broke out in Gaza.
Christmas celebrations are slowly returning to the traditional birthplace of Jesus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
While a shaky ceasefire holds in Gaza, Palestinians hope the festivities are a step toward a more peaceful future in a region shaken by tragedy.
“It’s not like it was before the war,” 30-year-old Juka said. “But it’s like life is coming back again.”
Muslim-majority city thrives on Christmas Tourism and religious pilgrims have long been a prime economic engine for Bethlehem. Around 80 per cent of the Muslim-majority city’s residents live off it, according to the local government.
The economic lifeline vanished when war broke out in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Bethlehem’s authorities canceled major Christmas celebrations during Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza, whose health ministry has reported over 70,000 Palestinians killed. (AP)
