Between Israel’s genocidal war on people in Gaza and near-daily Israeli assaults on Bethlehem and other cities across the occupied West Bank, Palestinians have endured great suffering over the past two years. They have had little to celebrate, and for the past years, all public Christmas celebrations were cancelled.

But Saturday brought a glimmer of hope to the crowds who gathered in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, outside of the Church of the Nativity, to watch the Christmas tree there be lit for the first time since 2022.

The lighting of the Christmas tree “was really some cheer that everybody needed”, said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Bethlehem.

“I haven’t seen the square filled in quite a long time, and it was filled to the brim. Families were here, dignitaries, people who ca

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