On November 28, the Terra Sancta School courtyard was filled with Christmas spirit and those present, all together, as per tradition, waited for the lighting of the Christmas tree. Br IBRAHIM FALTAS, ofm Director of the Holy Land Schools "This Christmas tree is the one in Jerusalem. All church leaders in the Holy City are participating in this event. Let us wish and pray that next year will be better than this year and hopefully rid ourselves of this virus that we unfortunately hear about every day." The celebration was attended by: the Patriarch of Jerusalem for the Latins, H.B. Pierbattista Pizzaballa; the Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Francesco Patton; the Director of the Holy Land Schools, Brother Ibrahim Faltas; the Apostolic Nuncio in Israel and Cyprus and Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine, H.E. Mgr. Adolfo Tito Yllana, the Ambassador of Palestine to the Holy See, Issa Kassissieh, the Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem, Giuseppe Fedele and the Regional Director of the Pontifical Mission in Jerusalem, Joseph Hazboun. Representatives of the various religious denominations and congregations and a large number of students also participated. H.E. Mgr. Adolfo Tito Yllana emphasized how important it is to learn from the children to be happy, while H.B. Pierbattista Pizzaballa said that we need these moments to rejoice, adding that the goal of Christmas is in fact Easter, because Christ came to save us. HB PIERBATTISTA PIZZABALLA Patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins "Bethlehem and Jerusalem have always been united and will always remain so. From Jerusalem and Bethlehem we say the same thing: Jesus is our Lord and our King and we want to rejoice and be proud to be Christians and sons of God." Br IBRAHIM FALTAS, ofm Director of the Holy Land Schools "The most beautiful thing is that everyone participates in this event: Christians and Muslims. Everyone is involved in this celebration: this is Jerusalem, a peaceful coexistence in the city of Jerusalem, a place of coexistence between the three religions and that today is being realized before our eyes. Everyone can see this." HALA ANSARI Student Terra Sancta School Jerusalem "I am Muslim and I am proud of it, but today we came to have fun with our Christian brothers. We share the same school with our brothers and they are like brothers to us, we are like a family." IBRAHIM ABU GHARFA Student Terra Sancta School Jerusalem "Lighting the Christmas tree is an opportunity to remind us to love our neighbors as ourselves." Religious and Christmas carols, performances and as guest of honor, Palestinian singer Yaqoub Shaheen. The joy of lighting the Christmas tree at the Terra Sancta School in Jerusalem was a special moment, in the hope of a new and brighter dawn.