Christians in Gaza try to capture holiday spirit

GAZA CITY: Attallah Tarazi recently received Christmas presents that included socks and a scarf to shield him against the Gaza winter, and he joined some fellow Palestinian Christians in a round of hymns.

“Christ is born,” the group sang in Arabic. “Hallelujah.”

The presents and hymns offered the 76-year-old a taste of the holiday in a devastated Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire has provided some relief, but the losses of the Israel-Hamas war and the ongoing struggles of displaced people are dampening many traditional festivities.

Tarazi and much of the rest of Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community are trying to capture some of the season’s spirit despite the destruction and uncertainty that surround them. He clings to hope and the faith that he said has seen him through the war.

“I feel like our joy over Christ’s birth must surpass all the bitterness that we’ve been through,” he said. He’s been sheltering for more than two years at the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza, where a church group, including choir members, toured among displaced people this Christmas season, he said. “In such a glorious moment, it’s our right to forget all that’s war, all that’s danger, all that’s bombardment.”

But for some, the toll is inescapable.

This will be the first Christmas for Shadi Abo Dowd since the death of his mother, who was among those killed in July when an Israeli attack hit the same Catholic church compound where Tarazi lives and which has been housing displaced people. Israel issued statements of regret and said it was an accident.

Abo Dowd said his son was wounded in the assault that also hurt the parish priest. Ahead of Christmas, the Lain patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, paid a visit to the Holy Family Parish. A patriarchate statement said the visit marked the beginning of Christmas celebrations in “a community that has lived and continues to live through dark and challenging times.”

Suffering and a state of no peace and no war’ Abo Dowd, an Orthodox Christian who observes Christmas on Jan. 7, said he does not plan to celebrate beyond religious rituals and prayers.

“There’s no feast,” he said. “Things are difficult. The wound is still there,” he said. “The suffering and pain are still

there.” He added: “We’re still living in a state of no peace and no war.”