Nazareth’s Muslim Mayor Ali Salam told Reuters on Saturday that Christmas celebrations will continue as planned, though three singers who were supposed to perform will not appear. He did not explain why they wouldn’t appear.
Salam told Reuters,
“I don’t know why people thought that there would be cuts to the celebrations.”
It may have been connected to his press conference on Thursday, where he said,
“… I saw that it is appropriate to cancel all the celebrations organized by the municipality of Nazareth.”
Al-Arab, an Israeli-Arab newspaper based in Nazareth, published a video of Mayor Salam announcing the cancellations of all the Christmas celebrations at a press conference. [Video below.]
“…I saw that it is appropriate to cancel all the celebrations organized by the municipality of Nazareth, An inseparable part of this steadfast people, who are tormented by the wretched Trump in the holiness of his holiness. “
“The municipality’s activity is limited to commercializing Nazareth from the commercial side of the economy in the interest of the commercial interests of the city, which we are accustomed to hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors this season…” [Translation by Google]
Al-Arab reports that an clarification was later issued by the municipality indicating that all the outdoor artistic performances and music festival have been cancelled, but the commercial outdoor shopping market, traditional procession and lighting of the tree will still take place.
In Palestinian Authoirty controlled Bethlehem, all the Christmas lights in the city were turned off on Wednesday in protest of Trump’s Jerusalem proclamation.