We're just coming out of that time of year when many people will get together to celebrate the birth of a wee baby born in Bethlehem. I hope all those who observe Christmas had a wonderful time, and all those who don't just had a lovely week.

Regardless of what celebrations we participate in, in this part of the world we are able to sit around tables with access to food and clean drinking water, to gather in unbombed houses and go to sleep fully expecting to see tomorrow.

For most of us, the structural integrity of our homes, communities, and lives will remain intact, while on the other side of the world people are experiencing unimaginable horror. Every passing day brings more tales of death, trauma, the destruction of ancient monuments, the desecration of religious and cultural sites, and the irreparable damage done to the Palestinian people and their communities.

It has become overwhelmingly apparent that nowhere is safe for the people of Palestine: not the schools where children can now learn only of suffering, the religious sanctuaries subjected to unholy desecration, the hospitals where both patient and doctor bleed as one, and not the homes, a visual reminder of the displaced, the occupied, the wounded and the dead.

What were once thriving hubs of community and vitality have been reduced to rubble and ash, transformed into graves, silent and solemn. This year, it feels hollow to sing of peace on earth, joy to the world or indeed the little town of Bethlehem as for many people actually living in Palestine right now, things like peace and joy have been replaced with war and misery.

The images coming out of Palestine are horrific, but........

© Herald Scotland