Don't Come, All Ye Faithful

Never mind the Grinch; the Israeli army stole Christmas. Or at least that's the way the Palestinian Authority would like you to see it. The city fathers of Bethlehem, an Arab town (35 percent Christian, 65 percent Muslim) which falls under PA jurisdiction, have decided that Christ's birth will not be celebrated in his birthplace this year — at least not officially. Although the local economy is heavily dependent of tourists drawn every Christmas season to the Church of the Nativity on Manger Square, the local authorities have canceled the outdoor concerts of previous holiday seasons and have announced that the town's festive lights will not be turned on.

But it's not as if Christian tourists had been flocking to the town before the Palestinian authorities made their decision. Bethlehem, which lies seven or eight miles south of central Jerusalem, has been a flash point of confrontation between Palestinian youths and Israeli troops during the current intifada, and all access points to the town have been tightly guarded by Israeli troops. The Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jalla has suffered heavy Israeli shelling after being used as cover by Palestinian snipers firing on the adjacent Israeli neighborhood of Gilo. Municipal authorities cited the death of seven Palestinian youths from the town over the past two months as their reason for refraining from celebration — Palestinian leaders fear that Christmas celebrations in the midst of the intifada may anger the local Muslim community.

Publicly canceling Christmas in Christ's birthplace may have a higher purpose for the PA, however. It sends a message of the depth of the crisis in the West Bank to the international community, and reminds Christians everywhere that their access to their shrines in the Holy Land may be imperiled by the current conflict. And with the continuing violence in the region doing little to encourage pilgrimage, the PA may simply be making capital out of a pre-existing condition.