Derry group unveils Gaza Nativity scene

A Derry group has created a Christmas crib showing how the Nativity scene would look if it took place in today's Palestine.

It shows what the 180 babies born in Gaza everyday endure, with baby Jesus Christ surrounded by rubble and wrapped in a Palestinian scarf known as the keffiyeh. The 180 figure comes from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) data, which also shows there are 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza.

The Nativity will tour multiple Derry schools as well as Galliagh Community Centre on Thursday and Shantallow Community Centre on Friday during vigils for Gaza.

Catherine Hutton of the Derry Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) said the scene is inspired by one in The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church.

“The Lutheran Church in Bethlehem said that they were not having their Christmas festivities this year because of the genocide in Gaza,” she said.

“The minister of the church was on Al Jazeera and brought them in to show what they did with their crib this year. They had filled the crib with rubble and put the figure of baby Jesus into it with some figurines and candles. Basically what they said was if Jesus was born, today, he'd be born in Gaza in the middle of all the rubble, you know, so we were really inspired by that.

“With it being Christmas time everybody is so focused on toys, presents and everything. We just wanted to kind of remind people what's been going on. We're not trying to kind of scare people or anything but it's just to let people see this is the reality of what's happening.

It's not just the Lutheran Church that has cancelled Christmas plans in Bethlehem this year. Last month Palestinian leaders of Christian denominations came together and made a unanimous decision to cancel public celebrations.

“Bethlehem is such a focal point for Christians both Palestinian Christians and people from around the world and this year people are just devastated. They're seeing their Christian brothers and sisters bombed and killed in Gaza as well as their Muslim brothers and sisters,” Catherine said.

“They probably feel a bit helpless because like us they're looking in and the only thing they could say is, no, we're not going to continue doing the things we normally do. We're not going to pretend everything's okay and there's nothing happening.

“I'd say coming up to Christmas now it's going to be tough for them. The Christian community in Gaza would have been small anyway but now they've been decimated – the church they were sheltering in has been bombed.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera Lutheran Pastor Munther Ishaq said their crib scene is meant to demonstrate the meaning of Christmas is God’s solidarity with those suffering.

“Christmas is the solidarity of God with those who are oppressed, with those who are suffering, and if Jesus is to be born again this time, this year, he will be born in Gaza under the rubble in solidarity with the people of Gaza,” he said.

“Usually it's Jesus in the manger surrounded by the shepherds, surrounded by the holy family and the Magi who came from the East. Here we wanted to say it's as if they are looking for Jesus in the midst of the rubble.

“We wanted to send a message to the world, while it is celebrating Christmas in festive ways, here in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, where Christmas originated from, this is what Christmas looks like to us.”

Meanwhile, according to CNN, Christians seeking refuge in Gazas Christian churches are ‘Beyond desperate’. Two Christian women, an elderly mother and her daughter, reportedly were killed by IDF snipers within the grounds of a Catholic church in Gaza City according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem on December 17.

The patriarchate said that no warning was given before the shooting started and added that 'they were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish'.

The IDF has refuted the claim, stating there were 'no reports of a hit on the church, nor civilians being injured or killed'.

IDF tanks also targeted the convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa, part of the church’s compound that also houses 54 disabled people, the patriarchate said. The building’s generator, fuel resources, solar panels and water tanks were also destroyed, it added.