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“It did not matter in case you are Christian or Muslim. Everybody in Gaza celebrates Christmas.”
![What Omar Mansour misses most about Christmas in the Gaza Strip is the music. Mansour, centre left, poses with his mother and father, second from left, and Father Manuel Musallam, left, and other clergy of the Holy Family School in Gaza at Mansour's graduation in a 2007 handout photo. The last time he was in Gaza with his family on Christmas was 2013.](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/vancouversun/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/cda-israel-hamas-family-20231225.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=cRFITS-mVnj8DOLp7nZYmQ)
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What Omar Mansour misses most about Christmas within the Gaza Strip is the music.
Church buildings, colleges and houses performed Christmas music beginning early December, stated the Vancouver resident, and a everlasting resident in Canada since 2014. The place could be “dressed like a bride” and twinkle with lights, he stated.
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“It didn’t matter in case you are Christian or Muslim,” Mansour stated. “Everybody in Gaza celebrates Christmas.”
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On Christmas Eve, he stated his household would bake bread, make za’atar — a conventional Center Japanese spice mix that’s eaten with the bread, get olives from his tree and different goodies, construct a fireplace in the lounge and discuss concerning the highlights of the yr.
“It wasn’t very chilly however it all the time rained on Christmas,” he stated, reminiscing concerning the holidays. “My total prolonged household would collect in our home and simply discuss and snigger and share tales.”
It was an opportunity for his nieces and nephews to remain up late and watch TV with out being instructed off, he stated.
The final time he was in Gaza together with his household on Christmas was 2013.
On Christmas Day, Mansour stated he would go to the Holy Household Church in Gaza Metropolis. He was a scholar on the Holy Household College in Gaza, which is an institution of the Latin Patriarchate College, and graduated in 2007. The annual go to, he stated was a strategy to meet up with his former lecturers.
“The music on the church … there have been violins and the piano. It was simply, simply so lovely,” he stated.
“We don’t have Michael Bublé. Michael Bublé is like nothing. He sings right here and there some stuff. We have now songs from the unique Bible in Arabic and in Latin. Some actually fantastic prayers and songs.”
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The church and faculty, like others in Gaza, have been sheltering individuals fleeing bombings.
Final week, Pope Francis referred to as for peace, saying “unarmed civilians are being bombed and shot at, and this has even occurred contained in the Holy Household parish advanced, the place there are not any terrorists however households, youngsters and sick individuals with disabilities, nuns.” He spoke after the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem stated two Christian ladies at a church compound in Gaza had been killed by Israeli sniper fireplace.
A British lawmaker, Layla Moran, stated a number of relations had been amongst a whole lot sheltering within the compound. “It is a church. It’s per week earlier than Christmas. That is Introduction. This is a crucial time within the Christian household’s spiritual calendar. And there’s a sniper killing ladies and firing at youngsters,” she asserted.
In discussions between the Israeli navy and representatives of the church neighborhood, nobody reported a strike on the church or civilians being wounded or killed, the Israeli navy stated.
It stated {that a} evaluate of its preliminary investigation had supported that.
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As Christmas Eve fell, smoke rose over the besieged territory, whereas within the West Financial institution Bethlehem was hushed, its vacation celebrations referred to as off.
The conflict has devastated giant components of Gaza, killed roughly 20,400 Palestinians and displaced virtually all the territory’s 2.3 million individuals.
The mounting dying toll amongst Israeli troops — 154 because the floor offensive started — may erode public help for the conflict, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostage.
Mansour stated he isn’t positive how most of his lecturers are doing, or what number of of them are nonetheless alive.
“I do know the instructor who taught me Islam at school was killed,” he stated.
He stated he hopes he can go to the positioning and what stays of his college, and the church someday quickly.
“This time of yr, once I consider Christmas what’s caught in my head and my reminiscence is being within the church on Christmas (Day) with individuals taking part in violin, and the organ,” he stated. “And simply prayer. This was each Christmas time.”
— With information from The Related Press.
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