By Feroze Mithiborwala
Blessed are those who remember where Christ was born,
for they shall not be deceived by Empire.
Blessed are the people of Bethlehem,
for from their land came the Child of the Poor,
and to their land the eyes of the world must return.
Brothers and sisters,
Jesus Christ was not born in a palace,
but under occupation.
He was not welcomed by Empire,
but hunted by it.
He was not protected by power,
but pursued by soldiers.
He was born Palestinian—
among the colonised, the taxed, the dispossessed.
And this truth has never changed.
Just as Christ was crucified by a colonising Empire,
so today the Palestinian people are being crucified by the Israeli occupation.
They are crucified by bombs in Gaza,
by starvation, torture and siege,
by ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem,
by prisons and checkpoints in the West Bank,
by exile and erasure across the World.
They are crucified not for their sins,
but for their very existence.
And even the stones cry out.
For there are those—drunk on power and false prophecy—
who seek not only to crush a people,
but to erase their history,
to destroy their memory,
to desecrate what is holy.
Woe to those who raise their hands
against the House where Christ was laid.
Woe to those who threaten the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem,
where the Word was made flesh.
Woe to those who endanger the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
where Christ was nailed to the Cross,
where he suffered, died, and rose again.
For these stones are not empty stones—
they are witnesses.
And woe to those who defile Jerusalem’s sacred trust.
Woe to those who storm the courtyards of Al-Aqsa,
who threaten the Dome of the Rock,
who seek to turn prayer into provocation
and holiness into conquest.
These holy places do not belong to the Coloniser and the Empire.
They belong to God.
They belong to the faithful.
They belong to humanity.
To protect the churches of Christ
and the mosques of Jerusalem
is not an act of charity—
it is an act of resistance.
It is a duty.
It is a commandment.
Yet hear this clearly:
the Cross was not the end.
The tomb was not the conclusion.
Empire never has the final word.
For just as Christ arose—
through Resurrection—
so too shall the Palestinian people arise.
They shall be resurrected from rubble,
from mass graves,
from silence and abandonment.
In Jesus Christ lies our salvation.
And in the freedom of Palestine
lies the salvation of all free beings and nations.
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Blessed are the poor of Gaza,
for though they are starved by siege,
they shall inherit justice.
Blessed are the mourners of Khan Younis and Jabalia,
for their tears are counted,
and they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek of the refugee camps,
for though they are pushed from their land,
they shall return.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall not be forgotten.
Blessed are the peacemakers who refuse false peace,
for they shall be called children of God.
Do not believe those who tell you
that neutrality is holiness.
Do not believe those who tell you
that silence is wisdom.
Did Christ remain silent before injustice?
Did he bow before empire?
No.
He overturned tables.
He named oppression.
He stood with the poor.
And for this, he was crucified.
Christ is still under the rubble today.
He is buried beneath collapsed homes in Gaza.
He waits at checkpoints in the West Bank.
He weeps in the streets of Jerusalem.
For whatever is done to the least of these,
is done unto him.
But hear this promise:
Death does not reign forever.
Walls do not stand forever.
Empires do not endure forever.
The Resurrection is God’s answer to tyranny.
Just as Rome believed the Cross would erase Christ,
so today the colonisers believe
that genocide will erase Palestine.
They are wrong.
For every child who learns their history,
there is resurrection.
For every home rebuilt,
there is resurrection.
For every prayer whispered under siege,
there is resurrection.
For every act of steadfastness—Sumud,
there is resurrection.
And after Resurrection comes Salvation.
Not only the salvation of Palestine,
but the salvation of the World.
For a World that accepts genocide is sick.
A World that overlooks and condones apartheid, colonisation, occupation and ethnic cleansing is lost.
A World that denies freedom to one people,
cannot be free itself.
The World will be free,
when Palestine is free.
The freedom of Palestine and the freedom of Humanity are One.
So, on this Christmas Day,
do not ask only where Christ was born.
Ask where Christ is crucified today.
Do not stop at the manger.
Walk to the Cross.
And do not remain at the Cross—
wait for the Resurrection.
For the stone will be rolled away.
The people will rise.
Justice and Liberation will live and prevail.
This is not sentiment.
This is prophecy.
This is the Gospel from Palestine.
Feroze Mithiborwala is an expert on West Asian & International Geostrategic issues. He is the Founder-Gen.
25 December 2025
Source: countercurrents.org