Weekly THIS AND THAT for December 21, 2008: Reflections on Bethlehem Today

This and That:
Reflections on Bethlehem Today


From my room at the Ecumenical Center for Theological Studies at Tantur (Tantur is Arabic for “hill”), you could see Bethlehem not more than 2,000 feet away. Bethlehem is in the “Occupied Territory,” also called the “West Bank” and separating “us” in Israel from “them” in the West Bank is a 30-foot high concrete wall with even higher lookout turrets and young Israeli soldiers with machine guns slung over their shoulders. The Wall is supposed to be called “the Separation Barrier” since for hundreds of miles it is not a wall, but a fence with barbed wire and 50 feet of forbidden entry alongside its length. It is there to protect Israel from terrorist attacks and suicide bombers. Israelis are not permitted entry into the West Bank, although foreigners are, but you have to show your passport to get in and out.

While the Wall seems to have reduced the number of attacks on Israelis, it was caused undue hardship for the Muslim and Christian Palestinians who live on the other side of it. To just pass through “the Checkpoint,” as it is called to get to a job, it will often take 2 hours of waiting. At other times, if there is what they call a “security alert,” the Checkpoint will be closed for an unspecified time. For some who work with their hands, the fingerprint reader that each Palestinian must pass through may not pick up the print worn down by manual labor and they are turned back. The Wall has separated families in the same town one from another, workers from their jobs, and made travel impossible for so many.

Inside the West Bank, also referred to as “Palestine,” Israel has set up three types of Areas. Keep in mind that Israel is technically “occupying” the West Bank. Areas designated as “A” are under Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Security. Areas designated as “B” are under Palestinian Authority, but with Israeli Security. Areas designated as “C” are under both Israeli Authority and Israeli Security.

Now the vast majority of the West Bank is Area C so, even within the West Bank itself, Palestinians are not free to move about without literally hundreds of lesser checkpoints as you move from one Area to another. To this Israeli presence, we also have the situation of “the settlements.” The settlers who live in these Israeli government built complexes are there either because they believe all the land belongs to the Jewish People or they have a Messianic hope that the Messiah will come in these parts, or finally that they just want a “good buy for the money.” This last category is by far the largest motivator. For example an Israeli Jew can get a newly government built home in a settlement for about $16,000 versus a home of the same quality in Jerusalem for $400,000. Settlers also get tax breaks, special roads built for them to get them from the settlement to employment centers like Tel Aviv, and special Israeli buses to get them through the Checkpoints. On my way home from an Israeli mall the day before I left, some 20 folks got off the bus at my stop and then boarded a special settlement bus to take them safely into the settlement where they live.

At Tantur all two-dozen workers (cooks, housekeepers, maintenance folks, and those in administration) are Muslim and Christian Palestinians. In my three months with them I came to appreciate their gentle ways, sense of hospitality, and warm friendship. They reminded me of my Italian forebears where food, family, and faith were the glue that held us together.

Our studies at Tantur were comprised mainly of three types of input. We had Jewish, Christian, and Muslim presenters for our two classes a day. The afternoons were free to visit local holy sites, museums, and attend lectures. And then there were half-day, full day and full week excursions with special guides to places like Galilee, the Negev, Jordan, and Sinai.

In terms of land area, all of Israel is the size of New Jersey. Living in Israel would be like taking a multitude of different ideologies, religions, political positions, languages (Hebrew, Arabic, and English), and cultures (there are at least a half-dozen different types of Jews in the land), taking them from “sea to shining sea” and squeezing them into New Jersey. Is it any wonder there is so much tension and conflict in this Holy Land and in these two cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem!

I came to Israel three months ago very much a pro-Israeli. After my life here I have come to realize that the situation is not that black and white. I returned home having come to see both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of many issues. Most people from both sides are advocating for a Two-State Solution: An Israel and a Palestine. Israelis need to feel secure; Palestinians need to be treated more humanely. One of our presenters, a Palestinian Christian, told us that when an oppressor has a victim on the ground with one of his boots on the victim’s throat, that both individuals need to be freed for both are in some way “oppressed.” As peace has come to Ireland, South Africa, and East and West Germany, as if by a miracle, my prayer is that a similar miracle take place in this Land I came to love.

Following a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Reverend Phillips Brooks of Philadelphia wrote the words to a very familiar Christmas carol. He was inspired by the view of Bethlehem to write:

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

I had the joy of sharing that same view of Bethlehem from behind a set of sliding glass doors before going to bed each night. My prayer is that “the hopes and fears of all the years” I saw expressed in Israelis and Palestinians will also one day, “meet in thee tonight.”

Fondly,
Father Nicholas