Walking through San José’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez, there’s all the sparkle and gleam of the holidays: brightly colored bulbs, shimmering ornaments and the familiar melody of Christmas music.
But as you snake through the paths of community-decorated Christmas trees and light displays for the city’s annual Christmas in the Park, there are two trees with a deeper message.
“It’s a non-threatening way to learn about Palestine,” said Dina Saba, a Palestinian Christian resident of San José. She’s standing in front of two Christmas trees she and a group of 15 volunteers decorated to highlight the ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
The first, dedicated to Gaza, is covered with ornaments showing pictures of smiling, happy children, all of whom have been killed.
“It’s devastating to see the children’s faces before they were killed,” she said. “They’re just beautiful faces. We wanted to honor them.”
Not far away is their second tree, dedicated to the West Bank, with images of the wall between Israel and Palestinian territories, ornaments with Palestinian traditional dress and an olive branch at the top.
She and the volunteers spent a month preparing ornaments and printing out images to adorn the trees to honor those who have died and shine a light on continuing violence.
“I felt that it was actually imperative to recognize, honor and raise awareness on what is actually happening in Gaza — which is a genocide,” Saba said. The United Nations found Israel’s warfare in Gaza “consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians.”
Violence in the region worsened after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led cross-border attack into Southern Israel — killing more than 1,200 people and taking approximately 240 hostages, according to the Israeli government.
“It’s emotional for us because these are our people and our families,” Saba tears up looking at the tree honoring Gaza. “I have relatives in Gaza that have been killed.”