Christians accounted for about 10% of the population in 1920 but constitute just 1% to 2.5% of Palestinians in the West Bank as of 2024, because of emigration. Christians in the West Bank belong to multiple denominations, including Greek Orthodox, Catholic and various Protestant denominations.

Thousands of Palestinians rely on the pilgrims and tourists who come to Bethlehem every year for their livelihoods. Two million people visit Bethlehem annually, and more than 20% of local workers are employed in tourism. Another important local industry is carved olive wood handicrafts. In 2004, the mayor of Beit Jala, which borders the city of Bethlehem, estimated 200 families in the area made their living from carving olive wood. Christians around the world have olive wood nativity sets or crosses carved by Palestinian artisans, a tradition that has been passed down through generations.

The neighborhoods of the occupied West Bank have been fragmented by the building of over 145 illegal Israeli settlements. Both Christian and Muslim Palestinians face huge barriers to accessing holy sites in Jerusalem.

Bethlehem is encircled by several Jewish-only settlements, as well as the separation wall built in the 2000s, which snakes around and across the city. Across the West Bank, over 500 checkpoints and bypass roads designed to connect settlements have been built on Palestinian lands for the exclusive use of settlers. As of Jan. 1, 2023, there were over half a million settlers in the West Bank and another 200,000 in East Jerusalem.

The highways and bypass roads cut through the middle of towns and separate families. It is a system that former President Jimmy Carter and numerous human rights groups have described as “apartheid.” This system severely restricts freedom of movement and separates students from schools, patients from hospitals, farmers from their lands and worshipers from their churches or mosques.

Additionally, Palestinians have a different license plate color on their cars. They can’t use their vehicles to access private roads, which restricts their access to Jerusalem or Israel.

Going far beyond separate roads, Palestinians in the West Bank are subject to a separate legal system – a military judicial system – whereas Israeli settlers living in the West Bank have a civilian court system. This system allows indefinite detention of Palestinians without charge or trial based on secret evidence. All of these restrictions on freedom of movement disrupt the ability of Palestinians of all faiths to visit holy sites and gather for religious observances.

The barriers to celebrating Easter, especially this year, are not just physical but emotional and spiritual.

As of March 25, 2024, the number of Gazans killed in the war had surpassed 32,000 – 70% of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel has arrested 7,350 people in the West Bank, with over 9,000 currently in detention, up from 5,200 who were in Israeli prisons before Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel bombed the world’s third oldest church, St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church, in Gaza in October 2023, killing 18 of the more than 400 people sheltering there.

Christian Palestinians in the West Bank suspended celebrations for Christmas in 2023 in hopes of bringing more attention to the death and suffering in Gaza. But the situation has only worsened. An estimated 1.7 million Gazans – over 75% of the population – had been displaced as of March 2024, half of them on the verge of famine.

Many Palestinians have long turned to their faith to endure the occupation and have found solace in prayer. That faith has allowed many to hold on to the hope that the occupation will end and the Holy Land will be the place of peace and coexistence that it once was. Perhaps that is when, for many, Easter celebrations will be truly joyful again.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

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Extinguishing lights and a great big bang: the ancient sights and sounds of the pre-Easter tenebrae service

Ramadan will be difficult for those in Gaza or other war zones – what does fasting mean for those who might be already starving?

Roni Abusaad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.