26 Kislev 5780
24 December 2019
It is already the happy 3rd night of Chanukah here in Israel (Image courtesy of rotter.net).
Chag Chanukah Sameach!! Happy Chanukah!! The third candle has already already been lit in Israel. OneIsrael wishes all of our readers a very happy holiday full of latkes and souvganiot!
The Chanukiah of the Day
IDF soldiers from the 932 Battalion Brigade prepare to light the third candle.
TODAY’S BLOG:
No Christmas in the Palestinian State of Gaza
Inside the beautiful St. Poiphyrus Church in Gaza. The photo gives a hint of the declining population of Gazan Christians.
The history of Christians in Gaza is a tortured one as it is for Christians throughout the Middle East except in Israel.
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In essence, Christianity first came to Gaza between 396-420 CE when St. Poiphyrus engineered the destruction of all pagan temples in the enclave and forced mass conversion. Two hundred years later, the Muslims arrived and most Christians converted to Islam.
In the intervening years between then and the mid 20th century, the Christian population remained relatively stable. However as the PLO and later Hamas began to exert control over Gaza, the population dwindled to about 3000 as of 2009.
According to a recently published newspaper article, the population is now only about 500. In that article Kamel Tarzi, a 60-year-old Christian, said this about Hamas: “As soon as they seized power, they began to persecute us. Destroyed our churches and forced Christians to convert to Islam.”
This year, the Salafists in Gaza have decreed that there can be no celebration of Christmas. Hamas has not disagreed.
By the way, the situation in Areas A and B of Judea and Samaria is not much better. For example, all of the activity in Manger Square and at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is primarily for tourist consumption. Christians in the city have been dramatically declining in numbers because of Palestinian Muslim persecution.
As we all know, the only place where Christians can worship freely without fear of persecution is in Israel–where there are now some 177,000 Christians according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The only glimmer of light for Gazan Christians is that Israel has given permits this year for Gazan Christians to visit Jerusalem and Areas A and B to celebrate Christmas.
Whether Hamas will let them go is open to question.
To all of our OneIsrael readers who celebrate Christmas, your humble servant wishes you a very Merry Christmas!
*This blog today was published at 8:00 pm IST/10 am PST.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.