Palestine – आवारा मुसाफिर

Bethlehem rebounds from pandemic, lifting Christmas spirits

December 24, 2022560 Views

The biblical town of Bethlehem marked what was shaping up to be a merry Christmas on Saturday, with thousands of visitors expected to descend upon the traditional birthplace of Jesus as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism is the economic lifeblood of this town in the occupied West Bank, and for the past two years, the pandemic kept international visitors away. This year, visitors are back, hotels are full and shopkeepers have reported a brisk business in the runup to the holiday. People gather in Manger Square, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) “We are celebrating Christmas this year in a very much different way t...

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Gaza war survivor commemorates victims in paintings

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

May 26, 2022753 Views

A Palestinian woman artist who lost 22 of her extended family in an Israeli air strike in last year's war, has used art to release sorrow and despair at her loss, drawing paintings to commemorate the victims' first anniversary. Among those Zainab Al-Qolaq lost when a series of Israeli airstrikes destroyed buildings and roads in Gaza City on May 16, 2021, were her mother and three siblings. Palestinian health officials said Israeli strikes killed 42 Gaza civilians, including 10 children in Qolaq's neighbourhood that day. Zainab al-Qolaq, 22-year-old Gazan artist, exhibits her paintings in in Gaza City May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem The Israeli military said the civilian casualties were unintentional. It said its jets attacked a tunnel system used by militants, which colla...

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Holy Fire lights up Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 24, 2022628 Views

With processions, chants and ululations, thousands of Christian Palestinians and pilgrims celebrated the Holy Fire ceremony at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday, the first to be held since Israel imposed new restrictions on attendance. Citing public safety, Israeli authorities sought to limit participation to 1,700 worshippers, a move criticised by church leaders as an infringement of the right to freedom of worship. It was subsequently increased to 4,000. Metropolitan Fenidictus, the Patriarchate of Bethlehem, attends the Holy Fire ceremony, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma The mysterious, millennium-old ceremony, which celebrates Jesus's resurrection, has drawn over ten thousan...

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Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre ‘resurrected’ for Palm Sunday mass as pilgrims return

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 10, 2022220 Views

Prayers in Arabic and Latin echoed in the rotunda of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday as Christians from around the world were once again able to attend Palm Sunday mass after two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions. Around 500 worshippers passed through the huge wooden doors of the church that is the focus of the most important festival in the Christian calendar as the site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and resurrected. "After two years of COVID, of restrictions, of closed churches, today we are in a normal atmosphere. We have a lot of pilgrims, a lot of local Christians. We are very happy. For us, it's a kind of resurrection," the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told Reuters. Father Rami Asakriyah sprinkles holy water ...

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Thousands gather at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa for prayers

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 9, 2022839 Views

Tens of thousands of Muslims flocked to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque on the first Friday of Ramadan for noon prayers, which passed peacefully despite concerns about a repeat of Israeli-Palestinian violence that erupted during the Muslim holy month last year. From early morning, residents of cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank lined up at Israeli checkpoints to visit Al-Aqsa. After two years of COVID restrictions, Israel has allowed some Palestinians from the West Bank who hold a travel permit to enter Jerusalem. Muslim women walk in front of the Dome of the Rock, on the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem's Old City, April 8, 2022 REUTERS/Ammar Awad But...

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Bethlehem celebrates muted Christmas with few pilgrims to bring cheer

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 25, 2021778 Views

The bells of Bethlehem rang out under grey skies on Christmas morning across streets whose closed pastel or green shutters were like an Advent calendar that nobody had turned up to open. Shopkeepers and hotel owners in the Palestinian city reported far lower business than the years before coronavirus closures halted the arrival of wealthy foreign tourists, devastating the economy of the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Worshipers attend Christmas morning mass at Saint Catherine's Church, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma In Manger Square, hundreds of Christians - mostly those who live, work or study in Israel and the occupied West Bank - gathered near the tree and crib to sing carols and bring s...

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Hoping Omicron won’t wreck Christmas, Bethlehem lights up tree

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 5, 2021236 Views

Residents lit up a giant Christmas tree outside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity on Saturday, hoping that a new coronavirus variant doesn't ruin another holiday season in the traditional birthplace of Jesus. The Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was all but closed last Christmas, losing its peak tourist season to the pandemic. Palestinians light a Christmas tree at Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma This December has seen Israel shut out foreign travellers for 14 days to try to prevent the Omicron variant taking hold, and the hope is that the ban will end as scheduled, in time for Christmas travel. In its last pre-pandemic winter, in 2019/20, Bethlehem hosted ...

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Last Christmas was grim, Bethlehem hopes this year will be better

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 24, 2021341 Views

The trickle of tourists is sometimes scarcely enough to fill a manger, let alone an inn, but Bethlehem's Palestinians are hopeful that numbers will rise in the month before Christmas. The traditional birthplace of Jesus was all but shuttered by the pandemic last year, ravaging the tourism-dependent economy and leading some hoteliers to consider selling up. But this year Israel has eased curbs on foreign tourists in time for Christmas, although everyone remains wary of a winter coronavirus wave. Foreign tourists stand in Manger Square as they visit the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 18, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma While grateful for the return of some foreign tourists and Christian Palestinians from the West Bank and Israel, it is a f...

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Huge restored mosaic goes on display in Jericho

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 28, 20211162 Views

One of the largest mosaic panels in the world has been unveiled after a $12 million multi-year restoration project at Hisham’s Palace in Jericho in the occupied West Bank. A Palestinian visits Hisham's Palace that has one of the largest mosaic panels in the world after it was opened to the public, in Jericho, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank October 25, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Sunday unveiled the Umayyad-era mosaic, a total of 38 carpet-like mosaic panels covering 827 square metres. Elevated platforms were built to assure that the visitors can enjoy the site of the mosaic without treading on it. Located 36 kilometers east of Jerusalem, Jericho is on the road to Amman and at the junction of the highway to the Galilee. ...

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Dark Times: Both Holy sides of conflict wall gearing up for dismal Christmas

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 2, 2020463 Views

On both sides of the West Bank Barrier the signs are dismal for the coming festive season. Its dark and gloomy over the region what normally used to be beaming with tourists at this time of the year so close to Christmas. While Jerusalem is yet to come with the terms with the new normal, Bethlehem has announced that it is ‘not going to cancel its Christmas.’ As night grips Jerusalem’s walled Old City, its ancient alleyways become a ghost town of haunting shadows and light. Mornings used to reveal bright picture-postcard scenes of tourists from around the world stopping to buy souvenirs at Palestinian shops as they made their way to biblical sites holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians. A man closes a shop at night amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, at a market in J...