In downtown San Jose, two Christmas trees make space for the community’s grief

Strolling through San José’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez, you can feel all the sparkle and splendor of the holidays: colorful light bulbs, shimmering ornaments and the familiar melody of Christmas music.

But as you wind your way through the paths of community-decorated Christmas trees and light displays for the town’s annual Christmas festival, there are two trees with a deeper message.

“It’s a safe way to learn about Palestine,” said Dina Saba, a Palestinian Christian from San Jose. She stands in front of two Christmas trees that she and a group of 15 volunteers decorated to raise awareness of the ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank.

The first is dedicated to Gaza and is covered in ornaments depicting images of smiling, happy children, all of whom were killed.

“It’s devastating to see the children’s faces before they were killed,” she said. “They are just beautiful faces. We wanted to honor her.”

Not far away is their second tree, dedicated to the West Bank and featuring images of the wall between Israel and the Palestinian territories, ornaments depicting traditional Palestinian clothing and an olive branch at the top.

She and the volunteers spent a month preparing ornaments and printing out pictures to decorate the trees to honor those who died and shine a light on the ongoing violence.

“I felt that it was actually essential to acknowledge, honor and raise awareness about what is actually happening in Gaza – what is a genocide,” Saba said. The United Nations found that Israel’s warfare in Gaza “is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with numerous civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions deliberately imposed on Palestinians.”

Violence in the region intensified following the Hamas-led cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and about 240 hostages were taken, according to the Israeli government.

“It’s emotional for us because these are our people and our families,” Saba cries when she sees the tree honoring Gaza. “I have relatives in Gaza who were killed.”