Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas Under Occupation, Media Calls it 'Return to Normal'
Al Jazeera reports on Christmas celebrations resuming in Bethlehem with a mix of 'joy and sadness,' framing it as a return to relative normalcy. What's conveniently left out is the systemic joy-sapping: the daily reality of Israeli military checkpoints, land confiscations, and the looming apartheid wall that have strangled Bethlehem’s economy and its Palestinian Christian population for decades.
This isn't just about 'hardship'; it's about deliberate, state-sponsored suffocation. While the article spotlights resilience, it fails to connect the dots: the 'sadness' isn't just an emotion, it's a direct consequence of policies enabled by billions in U.S. military aid (e.g., the $14.3 billion package approved by Congress in April 2024, overwhelmingly backed by politicians who received
significant contributions from groups like AIPAC, which spent $4.3 million lobbying in 2023, according to OpenSecrets). To call this a simple 'return' without addressing the boots on the ground, literally and figuratively, is to sanitize enduring oppression. How many Christmas seasons must pass before the 'sadness' is recognized as engineered rather than atmospheric?