We now open our Christmas celebrations with the traditional Islamophobic message from the Prime Minister's Office: While Prime Minister Netanyahu is using the holiday to present his tea-party talking points against anything Muslim, it's a good time to remember that roughly 200,000 more than 170,000 Palestinian Christians are living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank, without proper political representation, freedom of travel, equality before the law, and many other civil and human rights. Unlike the Israeli prime minister, the occupation doesn't know the difference between a Muslim and a Christian.

Immigration authorities announced a halt to arrests during the holidays. But just before the announcement went into effect, and as holiday preparations and celebrations got underway in south Tel Aviv, asylum seekers found themselves under arrest and at risk of deportation. By Rami Gudovitch Friday was a rainy day in Tel Aviv. The head of the immigration authorities, Amnon Ben Ami, had issued a press release promising to cease all arrest operations for the duration of the Christian holidays and New Year’s Eve. The Levinsky Park multi-lingual library, an open library located at the center of the park, was closed…

Dear +972 readers, Christmas – it all began here – and today, it hides around the holy land in some unexpected places. This December, +972’s resident travel writer Yuval Ben-Ami will find the smells, sounds, customs, and lives that go unnoticed at the heart of a holiday celebrated by billions around the world, and bring them to you. He’ll spend 10 days traveling Israel and the West Bank looking for Christmas: Israeli Christmas, Palestinian Christmas, the Christmas of pilgrims, of monks and nuns, Christmas in the Galilee, Christmas in the desert, Christmas in Bethlehem, Christmas in Tel Aviv. Christmas in…

Nazareth, Jesus's hometown, is today a bustling city of over 70,000 people. The people of Nazareth are termed "Arab citizens of Israel" or "1948 Palestinians," depending on one's politics. About a third of Nazarenes are Christians, the rest are Muslim. On the hill rising above the dense town and its imposing Basilica of the Annunciation, lies Upper Nazareth (Hebrew: "Nazareth Illit"). This community was founded by Israel in 1957, a Jewish town situated so as to overlook the country's largest solidly Arab community. However, realities in the Galilee transcend nationalist aspirations. Families from Nazareth proper have been moving over the…