The scene of a destroyed manger cave symbolizes the plight of Christ’s family – and today’s Palestinians.

Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – This year Bethlehem is dark and quiet. There is no Christmas tree and it exists no holiday lights or tourists To see you.

Instead, the city of Jesus’ birth – located in the middle of a war zone – celebrates Christmas with a powerful and poignant message: solidarity with Palestine.

The Cave of the Holy Family is a sculpture depicting a harrowing tableau: a bombed out version the traditional manger cave, which many Christians traditionally believe to be the place where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Today the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem stands here.

The new mural draws a comparison to the journey of Christ and his family as they fled Bethlehem to Egypt under an oppressive ruler two millennia ago before returning to Nazareth.

Surrounded by rubble and barbed wire, the Virgin Mary embraces the baby Jesus while Joseph comforts him. On one side of the family, the Three Wise Men hold up a white shroud. On the other side, the fourth shepherd carries a bag, a symbol of the expulsion of the Palestinians.

Angels floating around the rubble represent the souls of children who have been victims of massacres on Palestinian land throughout history: the murder of children in Bethlehem by Herod at the birth of Jesus; various colonial attacks against the Palestinian people and their ancestors; and current massacres by Israel in Gaza.

Around the crime scene, multilingual signs call for a ceasefire and an end to the massacre of the Palestinian people.

Hana Hanania, the mayor of Bethlehem, said the sculpture aims to show the suffering of Palestinians everywhere. Churches, clergy and civilians in Gaza are being bombed and a blockade is being imposed in the West Bank, particularly in Bethlehem.

The sculpture, with its political, religious and national symbolism, draws a comparison between what happened more than 2,000 years ago and what is happening today, she said. Just as Christ was tortured and children were killed by King Herod, today children and women are being slaughtered in a clear act of genocide.

On the roof of the cave is a geographical map of Gaza. Its shape, together with the depiction of an explosion, forms a star, inspired by the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to the birth of Jesus. This conveys a message of hope.

Artist Tarek Salsaa explained that the scene cannot fully express the immense destruction and systematic genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation. What Palestine is going through today is reminiscent of the years of colonialism with all its allies throughout the centuries and different historical eras, he added.

“This year, Christmas is approaching and we are living in the most difficult and challenging circumstances due to what our people are enduring in the besieged Gaza Strip and in all towns, villages and camps in the West Bank and Jerusalem.” The ongoing Israeli aggression against our people,” said Rula Maayaa, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities.

“As we launch this symbolic initiative in Bethlehem… our people are confident that the Christmas message sent by the Messenger of Peace will triumph over injustice and tyranny,” Maayaa said.

“We are in constant mourning, especially during the days of mourning for the martyrs,” said Father Ibrahim Feltz, the Holy Land’s deputy administrator. “We have never seen such a scene in the square and we have never seen the city in this condition. Bethlehem has never been so sad.”