On Saturday, December 13, 2025, the youth of the displaced Palestinian village of Kafr Bir’im organized a Christmas market and tree-lighting ceremony on the ruins of their destroyed village in northern Israel. The event drew wide participation from first, second, and third-generation villagers, affirming their enduring attachment to their ancestral home and their unwavering commitment to the right of return.

Hundreds of former residents and descendants gathered among the remnants of stone houses that once formed one of the Galilee’s most prominent Christian villages. The celebration, held at the site where Israeli forces demolished the village in 1953, included musical and artistic performances, poetry readings, and activities for children. It marked the first Christmas celebration in Kafr Bir’im in two years, following a hiatus caused by the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

For nearly two decades, the youth of Kafr Bir’im have led efforts to maintain a living presence in the village. Over the past 19 years, they have organized summer camps, Christmas celebrations, and annual Nakba commemorations, aiming to strengthen the connection of younger generations to their village and to keep alive the demand for justice and return.

Kafr Bir’im lies approximately four kilometers from the Lebanese border and was historically the only Palestinian village with a Maronite Christian majority. Its residents were forcibly displaced in 1948, during the early months of the Arab-Israeli war. Israeli military authorities ordered the villagers to leave temporarily, citing security reasons, and explicitly promised that they would be allowed to return within weeks. That promise was never honored.

In 1951, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the villagers’ right to return to their homes. Despite the ruling, the state failed to implement the decision. Instead, on September 16 and 17, 1953, the Israeli Air Force bombed Kafr Bir’im, destroying all of its buildings except for the church and the school. The destruction was carried out in full view of the villagers, who were forced to watch from a nearby hill roughly two kilometers away.

Since then, the residents of Kafr Bir’im have lived as internally displaced persons, with many resettling in nearby towns, such as Jish (al-Jish), while others have emigrated abroad. Although they are Israeli citizens, they remain barred from permanently returning to their village. Authorities allow access to Kafr Bir’im only on limited occasions, such as religious holidays and commemorative events.

Today, the church and cemetery of Kafr Bir’im continue to serve as focal points for community gatherings, prayer, and remembrance. Each Christmas, the lighting of a tree amid the ruins stands as a powerful symbol of resilience — a declaration that displacement has not erased memory, identity, or the demand for justice.

For the people of Kafr Bir’im, Christmas is not only a religious celebration. It is an act of peaceful resistance, a reaffirmation that the promise made to their parents and grandparents in 1948 remains unfulfilled, and that the right of return is not a relic of the past but a living claim carried forward by new generations.