Friday, December 20, 2019L i f e s t y l e | Fe a t u r e

Friday 21

Along the ancient walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, a mandressed as Santa Claus tries to raise holiday cheerfrom atop a camel by offering free Christmas trees

to residents. The man behind the beard is Issa Kassissieh, aPalestinian Christian who has in recent years distributedboth Christmas spirit and trees, provided by the municipal-ity, in a city sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians alike.His mission, he says, is “to bring joy and love and peace tothe Holy Land”.

This year, as ever, those qualities are badly needed. Fivemiles (eight km) down the road in the Israeli-occupied WestBank, on the other side of a towering Israeli concrete mili-tary barrier, is the center of the biblical story of Jesus’sbirth, the Palestinian town of Bethlehem. The town is enjoy-ing its busiest tourist year in two decades, with foreign pil-grims coming in large numbers, taking advantage of arelative lull in Israeli-Palestinian tension. But this Christmas,Israeli authorities have barred the 1,000 or so Christiansliving in the Palestinian Gaza Strip from visiting either Beth-lehem or Jerusalem, citing security reasons. — Reuters

Santa on a camel delivers Christmas trees in Jerusalem

The “Jerusalem Santa”, a Palestinian dressed up as Father Christmas (Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus), greets Eastern Orthodox nuns as herides a camel in Jerusalem’s Old City yesterday. — AFP photos

The “Jerusalem Santa” holds a potted plant as he rides the camel.

The “Jerusalem Santa” uses a phone to take a selfie.

The “Jerusalem Santa” walks atopJerusalem’s Old City walls.