Sombre reminder
▶ Region is not having an easy time this year, but better tidings are on the way
A Christmas tree decorated with the names of those who died in the Beirut port explosion in August is seen close to the site of the blast. More than 200 people lost their lives when tonnes of stored ammonium nitrate stored at the port exploded.
Today marks the anniversary of a story that began 2,020 years ago in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem. It was a very different Middle East from the one we live in this Christmas. But the communities in Palestine and elsewhere who are inspired by the birth and life of Jesus endure.
This year, they have endured a great deal. Bethlehem suffers from a lack of visitors due to Covid-19 and continued Israeli occupation. In Damascus and Beirut, economic crisis has cast millions into poverty. In the former, the proximate cause is civil war. In the latter, it is a failure by state institutions trapped in the swamp of sectarianism.
A Christmas tree erected last week in Beirut, which has the largest Christian population of any Arab capital, bears the names of victims of an explosion of a store of ammonium nitrate in August. The blast killed nearly 200 people, and injured more than 6,500 others. The city’s historic Christian quarter, along with several churches, was left in ruins.
Iraq’s Christians, whose population has plunged from 1.5 million to 400,000 in the past 20 years, have seen other hardships. One is the struggle to revive the city of Mosul. It was emptied of Christians when ISIS invaded in 2014. Mosul is free now, but barely 100 have returned.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Christmas is rendered more difficult not by war and politics, but by circumstance. A chance mutation in the coronavirus caused the closure of borders in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Israel this week. Hopes for many in these countries of Christmas with loved ones abroad are dashed.
In Jordan, home to 600,000 Christians, a weekly lockdown is enforced every Friday, including today. In Egypt, where the mutant strain has been detected, has banned New Year’s Eve celebrations. Its Coptic Christians, who along with Orthodox groups celebrate Christmas on January 7, worry that the situation will persist.
The story of Jesus, however, for Christians and Muslims alike, has always been one of hope. And there is much to be hopeful for this Christmas. Beirut’s houses of worship were rebuilt after devastating wars in previous decades, and they will be rebuilt now as Beirutis find solidarity with one another amid a growing popular movement for change. In Mosul, the rebuilding has already begun, with the UAE having partnered with Unesco to restore its ancient churches. Mosul will also be on the itinerary of Pope Francis’s historic visit to Iraq in March.
And as Prof Ugur Sahin, the scientist behind the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, told The National this week, he is highly confident that the inoculation will prove effective against the new mutation.
On Monday, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 75/200, declaring February 4 to be an International Day of Human Fraternity. Inspired by the signing in Abu Dhabi of the 2019 Human Fraternity Document by the Pope and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar Mosque, UN members hope that the day will promote tolerance and an end to religious discrimination. It is a worthy mission to bear in mind this Christmas, and in all of the Christmases to come.