Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas Amidst Ongoing Military Raids
Al Jazeera headlines "Christmas joy returns to Bethlehem," noting gatherings in Manger Square for the first time since 2022. They mention this happens "amid Israeli raids across West Bank," a masterful understatement for the daily violence of occupation. (One might wonder how 'joy' truly thrives under military checkpoints.) What's missing? The crucial context that Bethlehem, like the rest of the
West Bank, remains under Israeli military control, making any 'celebration' an act of resilience against systemic oppression, not a return to normalcy. These isn't joy; it's a defiant whisper against the roar of tanks. The article's framing, while accurately describing events, inadvertently normalizes the occupation by presenting joy and raids as co-existing phenomena rather than diametrically
opposed realities. How many Christmas 'returns' before the occupation *returns* to wherever it came from?