In Gaza, a somber Christmas after permits row

With a shining tree, tinsel, and Santa miniatures, Hanadi Missak’s apartment is all ready for Christmas, yet she still feels sad about spending the holiday at home.

The 48-year-old is one of hundreds of Christian Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who applied for Israeli permission to travel to Bethlehem in the West Bank to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Church leaders say the normally straightforward process has this year been incredibly difficult, with only around one in five applications approved.

With time running out until the celebrations begin, Missak gave up on traveling.

“I was hoping to go to Bethlehem, but the circumstances did not allow it,” Missak, who is deputy principal at a Christian school in Gaza, told AFP.

“There is the real celebration — the prayers, decorations in all the streets and the church,” she said. “The midnight mass is wonderful.”

‘Still hope’

There are barely more than 1,000 Christians in all of Gaza, where two million people live crammed into a territory only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long and a few kilometers wide.

It is geographically separated from the West Bank — the Palestinian territory where Bethlehem is located — by Israel, and crossing from one area to the other requires hard-to-get Israeli permits.

A few hundred Gazan Christians have traditionally been granted permits to attend Christmas festivities in Bethlehem and Jerusalem each year.

This year, Israel initially did not announce any permits, prompting criticism from church groups and media.

On Sunday, a statement from COGAT, the Defense Ministry body responsible for the permits, said some would be granted, “in accordance with security assessments.”

Gaza is ruled by the Islamist terror group Hamas, which Israel accuses of abusing the permit system to plan attacks against its citizens.

Wadie Abunassar, an adviser to and spokesman for church leaders in the Holy Land, told AFP Monday that out of 951 applications so far, 192 had been granted.

“We still hope there will be more to come. We were promised by many Israeli bodies… but Christmas begins tomorrow,” he said. “We are saying this is a basic human right that should be respected.”

Missak said she had traveled to the West Bank multiple times before for Christmas and did not know why the permit was not granted this year.

COGAT did not respond to multiple requests for comment regarding the number of permits awarded or Missak’s case.

‘Try to make joy’

AFP reached out to a number of Palestinians from Gaza who were able to leave the enclave, but none wished to speak, for fear that they would jeopardize future chances of getting permits.

Nabil al-Salfiti and his wife Fatten were among those lucky enough to receive permits, but ultimately decided not to travel when their son’s application was denied.

They also cited financial constraints for their decision.

Israel maintains a crippling blockade of Gaza, which it says is necessary to isolate Hamas and curb its efforts to smuggle weapons into the enclave which it then uses to attack the Jewish state.

Israel and other critics of the Islamist group, which along with its allies has fought three wars with the Jewish state since it took over Gaza in 2007, accuse it of persecuting minorities.

Local authorities in Gaza used to hold a large celebration for Christmas, but it was stopped after Hamas seized control of the Strip.

“People come offer us congratulations and we offer congratulations to them,” Fatten said, but, he added, “There is not much joy — the real joy is in Bethlehem where Christ was born.”

Despite not traveling this year, Missak is determined to enjoy Christmas.

Hanging on the wall in her apartment is a stitched “Merry Christmas” sign, while the banisters are covered in fake holly.

Missak said Muslim friends and neighbors would pass by the house to take part in the festivities.

“Despite all the misery in Gaza, I try to make joy and celebrate Christmas.”