Christmas in Bethlehem

I was very lucky to have attended Christmas in Bethehem twice while I was still living in Israel. The first time was in 1970 when I was just out of high school and had absolutely no preconcieved notions of what Christmas in Bethlehem might be like. I found out that in order to attend I needed to have official permission from the Israeli government, which was not a problem. I also found that upon boarding a bus with quite a few friends, once we arrived in Bethlehem, we had to walk up to the old part of the city in order to get to Manger Square. Once we arrived in the Square, we were surprised to see that most of the tourists were in fact Americans. There was a huge tour group from Texas that was part choir and part preachers. They performed on the square stage while the other tourists walked around looking in the shops, buying very large white candles to be carried around, and waiting in long lines to get into the Church of the Nativity and the 'actual' manger. I couldn't claim that it was a religious experience for me, being Jewish and all, but it was interesting.

The second trip was much like the first, only it was packed with reporters as well as American Southern Baptists. It was a very commercial experience, just as my initial visit had been. But I can't say that I didn't come away from either visit with a bad taste in my mouth. In fact, I had an appreciation for the importance of this pilgrimmage was to Christian tourists.

However, Christmas in Bethlehem has changed drastically in the past few years. This year, all is quiet in Bethlehem. On Manger Square, the Church of the Nativity stands in the pale gloom of dusk, its doors open to passing pilgrims.But inside, the nave is empty of visitors and the collection boxes depleted of coins.In the candlelit grotto downstairs, a silver star marks the spot where Jesus is supposed to have been born. It is one of the most sacred sites in Christendom, but there are no tourists queuing to see it.

Just 500 yards down the road, Joseph Canawati is not looking forward to Christmas. The expansive lobby of his 77-room Hotel Alexander is empty and he says: "There is no hope for the future of the Christian community. "We don't think things are going to get better. For us, it is finished."

Life for Palestinian Christians such as 50-year-old Joseph has become increasingly difficult in Bethlehem - and many of them are leaving. The town's Christian population has dwindled from more than 85 per cent in 1948 to 12 per cent of its 60,000 inhabitants in 2006. There are reports of religious persecution, in the form of murders, beatings and land grabs......The sense of a creeping Islamic fundamentalism is all around in Bethlehem.

A mosque on one side of Manger Square stands directly opposite the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, while in the evening the muezzin's call to prayer clashes with the peal of church bells. Shops selling Santa Claus outfits and mother-of-pearl statuettes of the Virgin Mary have their shutters painted a sun-bleached green, the colour of Islam. And in the Al-Jacir Palace, Bethlehem's only luxury hotel, there is a baubled Christmas tree in reception and a card showing the direction of Mecca in the rooms.

George Rabie, a 22-year-old taxi driver from the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, is proud of his Christianity, even though it puts him in daily danger. Two months ago, he was beaten up by a gang of Muslims who were visiting Bethlehem from nearby Hebron and who had spotted the crucifix hanging on his windscreen. "Every day, I experience discrimination," he says." "It is a type of racism. We are a minority so we are an easier target. Many extremists from the villages are coming into Bethlehem."

Jeriez Moussa Amaro, a 27-year-old aluminium craftsman from Beit Jala is another with first-hand experience of the appalling violence that Christians face. Five years ago, his two sisters, Rada, 24, and Dunya, 18, were shot dead by Muslim gunmen in their own home. Their crime was to be young, attractive Christian women who wore Western clothes and no veil. Rada had been sleeping with a Muslim man in the months before her death. A terrorist organisation, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, issued a statement claiming responsibility, which said: "We wanted to clean the Palestinian house of prostitutes."

Jeriez says: "A Christian man is weak compared to a Muslim man. "They have bigger, more powerful families and they know people high up in the Palestinian authority."

This isolation was heightened when, last year, Bethlehem found itself behind Israel's security wall, a 400-mile-long concrete barrier which separates Jewish and Palestinian areas and is designed to stop suicide bombers - in 2004, half the Israeli fatalities caused by such attacks were committed by extremists from Bethlehem. Last year, tourists trying to get to the town were forced to line up for hours as their papers were checked, while Bethlehem inhabitants going the other way must now apply for an infrequently granted permit to visit Jerusalem, barely ten minutes away by car.

"It is like living in a prison," says Shadt Abu-Ayash, a 29-year-old Roman Catholic shopkeeper. The Roman Catholic Mayor of Bethlehem, Dr Victor Batarseh, says: "The political situation in Lebanon and the instability of politics in Palestine has affected tourism and pilgrimage. "Hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops are owned by mostly Christians so it affects them badly. "We have 65 per cent unemployment and about 2,000 bedrooms in hotels that are empty."

Soon, there will be no tourism left in Bethleham. Christians will be unable to visit their holy places as Muslim fundamentalists force Christians away from Bethleham. Peace does not appear possible. Life continues to spiral downward for Christians in Bethleham.

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Christmas in Bethlehem

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