Bethlehem's season of grieving


Father Issa Thaljieh, a 40-year-old Greek Orthodox parish priest at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, kneeling at the spot where tradition says Jesus was born. — Photos: MARCUS YAM/Los Angeles Times/TNS

IT isn’t subtle. Nor is it intended to be.

Instead of a pastoral-looking Nativity scene, the creche features baby Jesus wrapped in a checkered Palestinian kaffiyeh, surrounded by jagged chunks of stone – evoking bombed-out buildings in the Gaza Strip and children buried beneath them.

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Christmas , Gaza war , Bethlehem

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