Israel's use of work and travel permits to control the Palestinian population in the West Bank is a year-round exercise in psychological harassment that puts lives and livelihoods at the mercy of a bureaucrat's stamp. But it is at this time of year, when the system is used to deny pilgrims access to a site central to their faith, that the perverse and arbitrary nature of the permit regime becomes most apparent. Bethlehem is a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of thousands of Christians from around the world, who come together at Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus and worship at the Church of the Nativity. Yet for the estimated 1,100 Palestinian Christians who live on the Gaza Strip, access to one of the holiest sites in Christendom is dependent on a lottery that has seen more than 100 worshippers banned this year from making the short but all-important journey. Many have family in Bethlehem, from whom they are separated for much of the year.
To prevent reunions at Christmas is a particularly heartless form of the bureaucracy to which Palestinians have become wearily resigned. The permit system, by which thousands who travel to work in Jerusalem are constantly under threat of losing their livelihoods, is matched in cruelty by the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip. They perpetuate a vicious circle of economic uncertainty and increase Arab-Israeli tensions. But beyond the day-to-day misery the permit system imposes, this exercise in social engineering has deeper consequences for a region central to the faiths of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In serving to erode Gaza’s Christian community, the permit regime is undermining the historic cultural plurality of the region and tearing apart a rich social fabric woven by centuries of tolerance and interfaith harmony.
A similar Christmas story is unfolding in Arbin, Syria, some 240 kilometres northeast of Bethlehem. Here, the war-scarred Greek orthodox church of St George stands in mute testimony not only to the destruction wrought in the battle by the Syrian regime to retake the region, but also to the ease with which centuries of peaceful co-existence can be destroyed. Before Syria's war, Arbin was home to 3,000 Christians. Today, their homes lie in ruins and only a handful have dared to return to try to pick up the pieces. They have found a shattered and silent church that until 2012 had echoed every Christmas for generations to the sounds of joyous worship. For those in Arbin and the West Bank, and wherever religious intolerance is inflicted, there will be a particularly painful resonance in the words of a Christian hymn written by an American priest in 1865: "O little town of Bethlehem ... the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight".
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Major honours
ARSENAL
BARCELONA
- La Liga - 2013
- Copa del Rey - 2012
- Fifa Club World Cup - 2011
CHELSEA
- Premier League - 2015, 2017
- FA Cup - 2018
- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
- European Championship - 2008, 2012
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
360Vuz PROFILE
Date started: January 2017
Founder: Khaled Zaatarah
Based: Dubai and Los Angeles
Sector: Technology
Size: 21 employees
Funding: $7 million
Investors: Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, Plug and Play, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Racecard
6.35pm: The Madjani Stakes – Group 2 (PA) Dh97,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
7.10pm: Evidenza – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,200m
7.45pm: The Longines Conquest – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 2,000m
8.20: The Longines Elegant – Conditions (TB) Dh82,500 (D)
8.35pm: The Dubai Creek Mile – Listed (TB) Dh132,500 (D) 1,600m
9.30pm: Mirdif Stakes – Conditions (TB) Dh120,000 (D) 1,400m
10.05pm: The Longines Record – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,900m
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
