It would seem like a no-brainer that the West Bank of Israel, which is Palestinian-controlled, would celebrate Christmas. After all, the little town of Bethlehem sits squarely within it.

News accounts, however, said they weren't, and it was for the first time ever. 

According to the leftist website Middle Eastern Eye:

This year, there will be no Christmas lights in Bethlehem, no festive parades in Jerusalem or elaborate decorations in Israel. 

In Gaza, Palestinians are mourning the loss of over 17,000 killed in Israeli bombings. Bodies are being pulled out from under the rubble, while people continue to search for their missing loved ones amidst wide-scale destruction. 

The war, which started on 7 October, has come at a time when Christians would usually be preparing for the festive season. 

However, for the first time since the start of modern celebrations of Christmas, Jesus's birthplace and the Manger Square tree in Bethlehem will not be decorated. 

Which is sad, and mainly for religious reasons. Surely, the people running Palestines, mostly Muslims, of course, and the Christians who celebrate the holiday could keep it all reverently joyful and focused on the event celebrated.

But cancelling to make a political point was easier, and for the fanatics siding with Hamas, obviously something they like. Either cheer the terrorists, or no holiday for you.

Now via Twitter map maven Simon Kuestermacher (this fellow likes to collect and share maps), we see what exactly that means on a global map:

Image: Office Holidays // screen shot of shareable map

It puts into perspective just how draconian this prohibition on Christmas really is.

What do we see here? A red zone where nobody's surprised Christmas isn't celebrated, generally -- some are genuinely nasty places, such as China and Iran and Libya and Somalia and Afghanistan.

Others are genuinely connected with their own religions such as Thailand and Laos, which practice Buddhism.

But there's also a lone red spot showing that the West Bank doesn't celebrate Christmas, but most of the surrounding areas do, even if they have only small Christian minorities.

Iraq gets Christmas, Syria gets Christmas. Wow.

Officially Israel doesn't, but they certainly don't interfere with Christians celebrating Christmas in that country -- they are, after all, the Jewish state.

Others, including countries with very low Christian head counts, often Muslim-majority countries, still get Christmas.

Muslim-majority Indonesia gets Christmas, Muslim-majority Malaysia gets Christmas, Muslim Pakistan gets Christmas. Buddhist Burma and Buddhist Nepal get Christmas, India gets Christmas. A few of the countries on the map, such as Turkey, celebrate Christmas by custom on January 1. A few others celebrate it unofficially in a big way, as Japan and Taiwan do.

But somehow, the West Bank has put itself in the red zone, joining Afghanistan and Iran, going for the Christmas-free look during the holiday, going mullah-style or Taliban about it.

What a sad and wretched picture that is. Nobody in their geographical neighborhood shares that prohibition. They choose darkness when everyone else has light.  

Image: Office Holidays, shareable map screen shot