Palestinian spirits sag as coronavirus steals Christmas
Taybeh, the only village in Palestine where the entire population is Christian, is having a dreary holiday season with residents confined at home due to the pandemic.
While visiting Taybeh, a village northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank that is known as the only town in Palestine where all residents are Christan, I found myself outside Zahra Thalji’s grocery shop on the main roundabout in the center of town. Thalji greeted me with a warm smile, until I asked why she had not put up a Christmas tree.
“What celebration? We live in a coronavirus nightmare,” she said.
Thalji, 72, has been working since 1978 alongside her husband in the grocery store in front of their house.
This has been the couple's hardest Christmas season. “Even during the intifada, when young men were hiding from Israeli soldiers, we did not experience moments of fear like these days. For me, the true Christmas is when this pandemic is over,” Thalji lamented, her concern clear on her face.
