Quiet Bethlehem Christmas: Less business, more religion inquirer.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from inquirer.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sanaa Alswerky
Holiday Mass will be streamed live instead, Catholic clergyman says
[Gaza City] Eyad Albozom, the spokesperson for the Interior Ministry in Gaza, announced on Wednesday that it “will halt public Christmas celebrations in the Strip, like in most countries that have done the same due to the exceptional circumstance that the world is experiencing in light of the spread of the corona pandemic.”
The novel coronavirus continues to spread at a devastating pace in Gaza.
“For the public’s safety, all churches will be shuttered [to the public] until further notice, Youssef Asaad, deputy pastor of the Gaza-based Catholic Church of the Holy Family, told The Media Line.
Quiet Bethlehem Christmas means less business, more religion al-monitor.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from al-monitor.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tuesday, 22 December, 2020 - 05:45
A Palestinian shop-owner arranges christmas decorations at her shop in the West Bank city of Bethlehem - AFP Asharq Al-Awsat
Deprived of its usual tourist influx by the pandemic, Bethlehem will celebrate a quiet Christmas this year that is less about commerce and more about religion, says its parish priest.
In a normal year hundreds of thousands of visitors flood the Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, located less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from Jerusalem.
Those seeking a quiet moment of contemplation in the Church of Nativity generally have to use their elbows to manoeuvre through the crowds.
Quiet Bethlehem Christmas means less business, more religion - Region - World ahram.org.eg - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ahram.org.eg Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.