By Paula Bernabéu
Nazareth (EFE).- Nazareth, the biblical city of the Annunciation and childhood home of Jesus, is preparing for Christmas in the shadow of two difficult years marked by war, collapsing municipal services and a surge in organized crime.
Once a magnet for pilgrims, the city has seen its tourism sector collapse, its streets filled with uncollected garbage and its businesses shut down, problems residents attribute to persistent state neglect of this Arab city, with a large Palestinian population in northern Israel.
“The last two years have been very hard for us,” said Nabil Totry, founder of Mawkib, the civil organization responsible for Nazareth’s Christmas parade and seasonal events.
He hopes festivities can help revive activity in the city, where 20% of residents are Palestinian Christians and 80% Muslims.
Tourism plummeted after the Oct. 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent offensive in Gaza. Since then, crime has soared and businesses have increasingly been forced to pay criminal groups for protection.
“People drive with fear of what might happen. Businesses especially, many must pay for protection,” Totry told EFE.
The municipality itself plunged into a severe financial crisis.
According to Haaretz, Nazareth’s debt reached 200 million shekels (about 53 million euros), leaving the city unable to pay public employees or maintain basic services like waste collection. Garbage still piles up around overflowing bins, even in central streets.
Dua, owner of a hotel near the Old City, said the street outside her inn has no public lighting. “Someone burned the pile of trash in the container, and the cables were damaged,” she explained.
Israel’s interior minister Moshe Arbel removed Mayor Ali Salman in September, replacing him with a committee of government officials tasked with stabilizing the city.
Arab cities say state neglect fuels crisis
Totry says tourism recovery is impossible without equal state support.
“Visitors come early to see the Basilica of the Annunciation and then go straight to Tiberias or other places the Government funds,” he said. “If you compare Nazareth with Tiberias, Haifa, Eilat or Jerusalem, you understand the enormous gap in budgets.”
Many Palestinian communities inside Israel, whether in Galilee, the center or the Negev, face the same structural neglect, said Amal Ziada, from the Israeli environmental NGO Adam Teva V’Din.
“The Government claims it doesn’t fund Arab towns because of municipal corruption,” she told EFE. “We say this corruption stems from the Government’s abandonment of Arab society.”
Ziada said funds for waste management rarely reach Arab municipalities, and accused National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of turning a blind eye to growing criminal networks.
Crime rates soar as residents seek collective solutions
On Nov. 10, a man in his 40s was shot dead in Nazareth, becoming one of more than 220 victims of crime in Arab Israeli society in 2025.
A 2020 report by youth organization Baladna found that homicide rates in Arab-Palestinian communities inside Israel were already eight times higher than those of Jewish Israelis and three times higher than those in the West Bank.
“Israel tries to frame what we face as an individual problem,” said Nidaa Nassar, director of Baladna. “We believe the solution must be collective.”
Baladna’s youth center sits in a narrow alley of the Old City, surrounded by shuttered shops.
From a café overlooking Nazareth’s government-run city hall, Totry says Christmas events remain the community’s best hope: “We’re trying to offer people a little happiness.
After two years of war, we’ve decided Dec. 2025 will be the moment Nazareth begins to change.” EFE
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