Where Christmas Was Born

by · December 24, 2024

Pixabay

I haven’t been to Bethlehem for a long time. Even when I was there in the 1980s, there were armed lookout posts keeping an eye on the place, illegally occupied by Israel since 1967. And now this West Bank Palestinian town is hemmed in and its inhabitants under pressure from Israeli “settlers”.

Bethlehem is synonymous with Christmas, and no doubt its name will be heard all over the Christian world in the coming days.

But that Bethlehem of old seems to have little in common with the Bethlehem of today. The former is a symbol of hope and peace… the latter a symbol of despair and conflict.

Perhaps we could at least keep both Bethlehems in our thoughts and in our hearts this Christmas.

The West Bank wall                                               Pixabay

 

 

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Nigel Summerley

Nigel Summerley retired from The Oldie magazine to return to freelance journalism. He previously held executive staff jobs at the London Evening Standard, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Express before freelancing for 20 years for newspapers including The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Guardian and the ‘i’ paper, plus a wide range of magazines. He continues to write about music, travel and health, to freelance for the Financial Times and The Oldie magazine, and to edit selected books. He blogs at www.nigel-summerley.blogspot.com.

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