Nothing personifies quite the mission of Suffragio — to make world politics less foreign — than this photo of Bethlehem’s central square, where Christian and Arab Palestinians work, relax and worship day in and day out.

A Christmas tree adorns the square, just out of view of the Church of the Nativity, built by Constantine originally in the year AD 326, where Jesus Christ is alleged to have been born.  On the opposite side of the square lies the Mosque of Omar, a 19th century mosque named after the caliph who conquered Jerusalem in the 7th century. 

However and whatever you celebrate, here’s wishing a happy one.