RIYADH: In continuing with a tradition that began in December 2022, Arab News extends a heartfelt Merry Christmas to our Christian readers and all who celebrate. This year’s special edition spotlights Christmas across the Middle East, emphasizing interfaith harmony, resilience and cultural integration. All wrapped with a special, and sincere, message of hope that we see peace spreading across the region in 2026.
Leading our coverage is an exclusive column from renowned scholar Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League and president of the Organization of Muslim Scholars. His message clarifies a vital principle: “There is no Shariah text that prohibits congratulating non-Muslims on their religious holidays, including Christmas.” He frames this goodwill not as a dilution of faith, but as its strength; one that affirms human dignity and fosters the social harmony desperately needed today.
This theme of solidarity amid suffering is echoed from Bethlehem, where Palestinian pastor Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac explains that Palestinian Christianity is inseparable from national identity. In response to Gaza’s devastation, his congregation erected a nativity scene from rubble, the infant Jesus wrapped in a keffiyeh. “It was a message of faith,” he states. “Christ stands in solidarity with the suffering ... because he was born into suffering.”
From this depth emerges stories of renewal. In Damascus, festive lights return as Syrians of all faiths embrace a fragile peace. In Lebanon, celebrations pierce through political gloom with moments of joy. Jordan’s public spaces glow with trees and Fairouz’s Christmas hymns, while the UAE’s multicultural diaspora erupts in bustling, festive unity.
The historical and intellectual depth of the region’s Christian heritage is underscored by Dr. Abdellatif El-Menawy, who notes Egypt’s indispensable role in shaping Christianity from a spiritual message into a civilization. This legacy of deep-rooted faith finds vibrant, modern expression.
Here in Saudi Arabia, the festive season is acknowledged with innovative hospitality, as chefs reimagine Christmas menus through a lens of local flavors and creative culinary identity.
This special edition paints a picture far richer than simple seasonal cheer. It reveals a Middle East where different faiths deepen their own roots by extending respect to others, where celebrations are woven with threads of historical endurance, and where the message of Christmas — one of hope, peace and shared humanity — resonates with cheer and confidence.
Hallelujah! This Christmas, join us as we wish for peace across the region
https://arab.news/ckmkn
Hallelujah! This Christmas, join us as we wish for peace across the region
Israel aims to bring ‘permanent demographic change’ to West Bank, Gaza: UN
- UN rights chief Volker Turk says Israeli military operation in West Bank’s north has displaced 32,000 Palestinians
GENEVA: Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip seem aimed at creating “permanent demographic change,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Thursday.
“Taken together, Israel’s actions appear aimed at making a permanent demographic change in Gaza and the West Bank, raising concerns about ethnic cleansing,” Turk said in a speech before the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Turk pointed in particular to an ongoing, year-long Israeli military operation in the West Bank’s north that has caused the displacement of 32,000 Palestinians.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, entire Bedouin herder communities have been displaced by increasing harassment and violence from Israeli settlers, including near Mikhmas to the east of Ramallah, and Ras Ein Al-Auja, in the Jordan Valley, since the start of the year.
In addition to roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.
Israel has approved a series of initiatives this month backed by far-right ministers, including launching a process to register land in the West Bank as “state property” and allowing Israelis to purchase land there directly, in a move condemned by several countries as well as Hamas.
Israel’s current government has accelerated settlement expansion, approving a record 54 settlements in 2025, according to Israeli settlement watchdog NGO Peace Now.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
‘Maximum land, minimum Arabs’
In the Gaza Strip, most of the territory’s 2.2 million inhabitants have been displaced at least once since the start of the war sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
“Intensified attacks, the methodical destruction of entire neighborhoods and the denial of humanitarian assistance appeared to aim at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza,” the UN human rights office said in a report last week.
Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also vowed to encourage “emigration” from the Palestinian territories in February.
“We will finally, formally and in practical terms nullify the cursed Oslo Accords and embark on a path toward sovereignty, while encouraging emigration from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the Biblical term for the West Bank.
“There is no other long-term solution,” added Smotrich, who himself lives in a settlement in the West Bank.
“They want maximum land and minimum Arabs,” Fathi Nimer, a researcher with Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka, told AFP, referring to a commonly used phrase used to describe Israeli settlement tactics.
