--- title: Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas | TIME description: The city where Christians believe Jesus was born is a complicated place, where Christians, Jews, Muslims and tourists all maneuver to worship at the holy sites canonical: https://time.com/video/wv8KzmX7/ og:title: Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas og:description: The city where Christians believe Jesus was born is a complicated place, where Christians, Jews, Muslims and tourists all maneuver to worship at the holy sites og:url: https://time.com/video/wv8KzmX7/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wv8KzmX7/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas twitter:description: The city where Christians believe Jesus was born is a complicated place, where Christians, Jews, Muslims and tourists all maneuver to worship at the holy sites twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wv8KzmX7/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas [Watch (HLS stream): Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wv8KzmX7.m3u8) (8:26)  _Published 2008-12-27. The city where Christians believe Jesus was born is a complicated place, where Christians, Jews, Muslims and tourists all maneuver to worship at the holy sites_ --- Jul 27, 2023 1:04 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Cory Booker to DHS Secretary: 'Your Silence and Your Amnesia Is Complicity'](/video/ETWwGdWk/) ### Cory Booker to DHS Secretary: 'Your Silence and Your Amnesia Is Complicity' [Kim Kardashian's Second Pregnancy Was Filled With Complications](/video/EC2mFrJW/) ### Kim Kardashian's Second Pregnancy Was Filled With Complications [Steel to Slots: Bethlehem's Casino Bet](/video/EqDWF1ya/) ### Steel to Slots: Bethlehem's Casino Bet --- ## Transcript >> According to Christians, the son of God was born in a manger on one of these hills. More than two millennia later, upwards of 30, 000 people have come to celebrate the birthday of Jesus in the city of His birthplace, Bethlehem. Like many areas in Israel and the West Bank, Bethlehem, holy to all three monotheistic faiths has been wounded by the political conflict. Under Palestinian law, the mayor of Bethlehem must be a Christian. Dr. Victor Batarseh, the current mayor, is a Roman Catholic. >> This wall of separation that the Israeli authorities built. And we are just in front of the main entrance, historical entrance of Bethlehem City, the city of peace. The city where the Prince of Peace was born. >> But peace has been elusive in Bethlehem. As recently as last March, Israel shot dead four suspected militants. This is a poster of a Christian militant killed by Israel in 2006. >> Whenever there is problems, wars in the region, tourists will disappear. The first thing to be affected is tourism. We had there, as you see, where there are building, we had all their shops, fruit shops, butchers, a grocery. There, we had cafés, we had night clubs down there. This was one of the busiest streets in Bethlehem. Now it's-- as you see, it's a dead street. >> The mayor believes that this structure is to blame. This giant 20- foot concrete wall has been jutting out of the landscape since 2005. Israeli officials claim it to be strictly for security. Residents here think differently. >> So, Israel aim of the war is not to-- only to prevent suicide bombers. This is maybe 10 percent. The main reason is to steal as much of land and to cut the access of Palestinians to the farming land. >> Jack, like the majority of Bethlehem residents, makes his living from tourism. His business is making religious- themed olive wood products for pilgrims to purchase. With tourism on the rise, this has been a rebound year for Jack's business. But he still feels frustrated spiritually. >> As a Christian living in Bethlehem, we lost a lot of our Christian traditions because of these wars, the freedom of access-- the Christians of Bethlehem is forbidden to go anytime in the year and pray in Jerusalem. >> Jack is part of Bethlehem's dwindling Christian population that has gone from 90 percent to around 30 percent since 1948. >> Muslims are now the majority in Bethlehem. Today is Friday, the Muslim holy day. And this line is filled with people trying to pray at the Al- Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, just a few miles up the road. Many will wait for hours. Some will be denied entry altogether. >> Freedom of religion is that you can go and pray wherever you want, whenever you want, anytime you want. As you see, there's no freedom of religion. >> This young lady by the name of Sandrine has the opposite problem. She is a Palestinian Christian who lives on the Israeli side of the wall, and is thus forbidden from entry of Bethlehem without a permit. >> It's frustrating just to enter Bethlehem and to see just the wall in front of you. It's something that breaks my heart. >> Sandrine's family has lived in the old city of Jerusalem for hundreds of years. She's a committed Christian, often visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre just down the street. >> I'm-- as a Christian believer, I believe and I'm-- that Jesus, it was His last station here. And it's a place where He was buried. And we respect that. >> As part of the Jerusalem- based choir of the custody of the Holy Land, she's allowed to travel once a year to Bethlehem to sing at midnight mass there. These are Jewish Jerusalem residents also making the short trip to Bethlehem to reach their holy site, Rachel's Tomb. It is customary for pregnant women or women who would like to become pregnant to go pray there. They are able to take a bullet- proof public bus from downtown Jerusalem directly to the tomb. -[ Foreign language ] >> I expect to give birth soon. I came here to pray through my Holy Mother Rachel that God will give me an easy childbirth. >> The tomb has recently been exposed. Inside, men and women pray separately. On the outside, it resembles a military base, fortified on all sides by the wall. >> The people that come here need to feel safe. And before this wall was built, it was very dangerous here. >> The wall blocks all chances of viewing Bethlehem's Aida Refugee Camp just behind it. As the Jewish pilgrims were at the bus back to Jerusalem, the Muslims of Aida have their cult prayer. Back in Manger Square in Bethlehem City, Muslims prostrated towards Mecca while Christmas trees were being adorned with star- shaped lights. A few days before Christmas, the Square begins filling up with tourists from all over the world. This group is from Indonesia, and is visiting the Church of the Nativity, arguably the holiest site in the world for Christians. >> This is the spot where Jesus was born, okay? You can see down there the star. And this is where we believe the place was, okay? >> The group's bishop is on his second pilgrimage day. >> It's a [ unk ] gift from God that we can celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. >> The irony is that it might be easier for this man to come to Bethlehem from Indonesia than for Sandrine and her family to come from Jerusalem. But on Christmas eve, they have special permission to join the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem and his motorcade as they travel on the old historic Jerusalem- Bethlehem road. As night falls on Christmas eve, Manger Square lights up. At midnight, the lucky pilgrims with tickets file into the church for mass. For the devout, this is an experience of a lifetime. -[ Foreign language ] Gloria in exelsis Deo. Gloria in exelsis Deo. >> For TIME. com, this is Jaron Gilinsky in Bethlehem. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bethlehem's Complicated Christmas","description":"The city where Christians believe Jesus was born is a complicated place, where Christians, Jews, Muslims and tourists all maneuver to worship at the holy sites","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wv8KzmX7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2008-12-27T14:23:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wv8KzmX7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/wv8KzmX7/","duration":"PT8M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/wv8KzmX7/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```