For Immediate Release:

Contact:

Stephan Miller, Advisor to Mayor Nir Barkat

Office of the Mayor of Jerusalem

miller@jerusalem.muni.il

Jerusalem Municipality Prepares for Christmas!

* Festive Lights* Intensified cleaning * Christmas trees offered free of
charge*

* The Mayor will visit the heads of the Christian Communities to wish them a
Merry Christmas*

Jerusalem, Israel, December 13th 2011 – The Jerusalem Municipality is
getting ready for the Christmas festivities and is greeting its Christian
residents in honor of the upcoming holidays. The city is welcoming Christmas
with festive Christmas lights, cleaning up specific neighborhoods, including
the Christian and Armenian Quarters and the Christian Holy sites. Mayor Nir
Barkat, will honor the Heads of the Christian communities and various
congregations in Jerusalem, and wish them a Merry Christmas.

In honor of the upcoming holidays, the municipality will decorate the
pilgrims' road leading to Bethlehem, along the Hebron Road starting at the
Pillbox Intersection, as well as in the Old City.

In addition, the Sanitation Department of the Municipality will upgrade its
cleaning operations by cleaning and washing the Christian Quarter, the
Armenian Quarter, the access roads to the Old City from the New Gate, the
Lions' Gate and the Jaffa Gate. Special garbage collections and cleansing
will also be carried out in the Christian neighborhoods, the Mount of
Olives, Gethsemane, Via Dolorosa, and the Holy Sepulchre area.

On December 21, 2011 the Municipality will offer free Christmas trees to its
Christian residents who are celebrating Christmas. The tree distribution
will take place in the Jaffa Gate Square, between 9:00 and 12:00. The Mayor
will also visit the Heads of the Christian Communities to wish them a Merry
Christmas, including the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, the Latin Patriarch, the
Armenian Patriarch, the Franciscan Custos, and others.

On January 24, 2012 the Mayor will hold a traditional reception for the
heads of the different communities in Jerusalem (Jewish, Muslim and
Christian) to welcome the New Year. Every head of community will lead its
own procession from Bethlehem to Jerusalem (on 25.12.11 – Latin Catholic, on
7.1.12 – Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian, Coptic, and Seriane, on 18.1.12 –
Armenian).

The Jerusalem Municipality wishes all its Christian residents a Very Merry
Christmas!

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