Our team has just returned from a protective presence walk through Palestinian farms in the windswept hills south of Hebron. The rocky, hilly landscape is not so different from the area around Bethlehem. As we walked we passed many caves, some being used even now as shelters for farmers and their animals alike. It was easy for us to imagine the setting of that first Christmas.

“Bethlehem” and “Christmas” – these two seem to be linked in favourite carols and Scripture readings and in the popular imagination at this time of year. These links are more immediate and tangible for me this year as I continue my time as an ecumenical accompanier in Palestine and Israel. If the situation in our various placements and in Bethlehem itself is “quiet enough” the EAPPI teams from their various placements around the West Bank will celebrate Christmas with Palestinian Christians in the town of Christ’s birth.

The current high state of tension in Israel and Palestine may mean there will be fewer pilgrims and other visitors to Bethlehem this year but the local Christian and wider Palestinian communities have sent a Christmas greeting to those in Bethlehem and beyond.

As the photo shows, this message is conveyed in the seasonal colours of red and green painted in large letters on the 8-metre-high separation barrier (twice the height of the Berlin Wall) that circles and strangles Bethlehem. In a dramatic and defiant reversal of intent, a wall that was built as a tool of separation and division is being used as a sign board for a message that, like the long ago “star of Bethlehem,” is a shining light to the world from the darkness of oppression. People who have so many reasons to be afraid and dejected are courageously shouting a joyful greeting to their brothers and sisters in Christ and to the wider world.

In December 2015, “Happy Christmas, from Bethlehem.”