GAZA: As pilgrims from around the world flock to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth for Christmas, members of Gaza’s Christian community wait to hear whether Israel will grant them a travel permit.
This year, Israeli authorities have approved travel for nearly 600 Palestinian Christians in Gaza, according to COGAT, a unit in Israel’s defense ministry that coordinates civilian issues with Palestinians.
But Palestinians say Israel’s permit allocations deny many families a rare opportunity to leave the strip and travel together because permits are not always granted to all family members.
“It is a tragedy when the mother or the father gets a permit and not the children or the opposite. That means there is no travel and there is no celebration,” Suhail Tarazi, director of Gaza’s Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
“Such suffering happens to many families and it is repeated every year,” Tarazi told Reuters during a tree-lighting celebration in Gaza City on Dec 10.
COGAT said the accusations were an “absolute lie” and that it had denied about 200 applications from Christians this year on security grounds.
Gaza’s 2.3 million population comprises an estimated 1,000 Christians, most of whom are Greek Orthodox who celebrate Christmas in January.
Gaza is run by the Islamist Hamas group. Citing security concerns, Israel restricts the movement of people and goods and maintains a naval blockade of the densely-populated coastal strip, where unemployment and poverty are high. Egypt also maintains some restrictions along its frontier with the territory.
“I got a permit, but neither my wife nor my son did, therefore, I won’t be able to travel and enjoy Christmas in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus,” Majed Tarazi said. He is not related to Suhail, the YMCA director.
For journalist Samer Hanna, the situation is reversed. He has been denied permits for the last 15 years on security grounds, while his wife and two children can travel.
“They get upset when they go and I am not with them, and if they stay here because of me, they still wish they could go to the West Bank or Jerusalem,” Hanna said.
Even though Bethlehem is only a 90-minute drive away, the travel ban has prevented him from reconnecting with extended family and friends in the West Bank.
“It is a big problem when I see people from all over the world going to Bethlehem easily and I can’t travel with my family,” he said.
Gaza Christians say travel curbs separate families at Christmas
https://arab.news/n6fy5
Gaza Christians say travel curbs separate families at Christmas
- This year, Israeli authorities have approved travel for nearly 600 Palestinian Christians in Gaza
- Palestinians say Israel's permit allocations deny many families a rare opportunity to leave the strip and travel together
Iraqi army fully takes over key base following US withdrawal
BAGHDAD: US forces have fully withdrawn from an air base in western Iraq in implementation of an agreement with the Iraqi government, Iraqi officials said Saturday.
Washington and Baghdad agreed in 2024 to wind down a US-led coalition fighting the Daesh group in Iraq by September 2025, with US forces departing bases where they had been stationed.
However, a small unit of US military advisers and support personnel remained. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in October told journalists that the agreement originally stipulated a full pullout of US forces from the Ain Al-Asad air base in western Iraq by September. But “developments in Syria” since then required maintaining a “small unit” of between 250 and 350 advisers and security personnel at the base.
Now all US personnel have departed.
Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah oversaw the assignment of tasks and duties to various military units at the base on Saturday following the withdrawal of US forces and the Iraqi Army’s full assumption of control over the base, the military said in a statement.
The statement added that Yarallah “instructed relevant authorities to intensify efforts, enhance joint work, and coordinate between all units stationed at the base, while making full use of its capabilities and strategic location.”
A Ministry of Defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly confirmed that all US forces had departed the base and had also removed all American equipment from it.
There was no statement from the US military on the withdrawal.
US forces have retained a presence in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and in neighboring Syria.
The departure of US forces may strengthen the hand of the government in discussions around disarmament of non-state armed groups in the country, some of which have used the presence of US troops as justification for keeping their own weapons.
Al-Sudani said in a July interview with The Associated Press that once the coalition withdrawal is complete, “there will be no need or no justification for any group to carry weapons outside the scope of the state.”
