Foreign

Nazareth cuts back Christmas celebrations to protest Trump’s Jerusalem move

December 14, 2017

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ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-JERUSALEM-RELIGION-CHRISTIANITY — Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli (L), the new Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine and Nuncio to Israel and Cyprus delivers a speech on December 14, 2017 at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem?s Old City during his solemn entry procession. / AFP PHOTO / GALI TIBBON

Nazareth, the Israeli Arab city where Jesus is thought to have been raised, has cancelled some Christmas celebrations in protest at U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, an official said.

Trump announced the move last week, reversing decades of US policy and recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, jeopardising Middle East peace efforts and upsetting the Arab world and Western allies alike.

Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel with a Muslim and Christian population of 76,000, is one of the Holy Land’s focal points of Christmas festivities.

“We have decided to cancel the traditional Christmas singing and dancing because we are in a time of dispute, because of what Trump has said about Jerusalem,” city spokesperson Salem Sharara said.

Nazareth is traditionally thought to be where Jesus grew up. The imposing Basilica of the Annunciation in central Nazareth is built on a site which many Christian faithful believe was the childhood home of Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Sharara said the town’s market stalls and the traditional Christmas church services would be held as they are every year.

Within an hour of the announcement, the Palestinian towns of Bethlehem, Jesus’s traditional birthplace, and Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank briefly switched off their Christmas lights in protest.

There was no word from the Bethlehem municipality whether it was also weighing a cutback on its celebrations at a crucial time of year for the town’s tourist trade.