Christmas Eve in Bethlehem: a Better Year? And a Look at Last Year

Christmas Eve greetings; let's talk about Bethlehem and its problems today.

Bethlehem (Beth Lechem in Hebrew, "house of bread," and the cognate Bayt Lahm in Arabic, "house of meat," from a presumed Semitic root that meant something like "staple food": bread for an agricultural population, meat for a pastoral one) is a pretty town set in the Judean hills a dozen miles or so south of Jerusalem. It has some spectacular views out across the hills and desert towards the Dead Sea, and the "Little Town of Bethlehem" is a crowded city these days, where Muslims and Christians share the town; Muslims are in majority, but the Mayor is, under Palestinian Authority rules, always a Christian.

According to the Old Testament, Bethlehem was the home town of King David, and thus Messianic prophecies became associated with it. Tradition says that Jacob's wife Rachel is buried there, though there are conflicting traditions. But Bethlehem's real claim to fame is of course known to every Christmas caroler: the only two Gospels that describe Jesus' birth agree it was in Bethlehem, despite their many differences in details.

There are reports ahead of tonight's Big Night in Bethlehem that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's efforts to increase tourism to the Palestinian Authority are making this a more optimistic year for the West Bank city, whose primary tourism season is, of course, Christmas. I hope they're right. It's been a rough period for Bethlehem, which is pretty much a one-industry town, or maybe two: pilgrimage and olive wood. If you're not interested in the olive wood manger scenes or crosses, the craftsmen can pull out olive wood crescents, stars of David, or even Menorahs, but religion and olive wood are about the whole economy.

Last year, and most recent years, have been more awkward. The Israeli separation barrier, the Wall, not only blocks the pilgrimage route between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, slowing down pilgrimages, but runs right down one side of the main street into town, or what used to be, due to the Separation Wall dividing Bethlehem from Israeli-controlled Rachel's Tomb runs right down what was formerly the road; the satellite view in Google Earth shows just how bizarre the wall is in this part of its course. I haven't personally been there since the wall was built, and from the video and other views I've seen, I think I'm glad.

And Rachel's Tomb is one of Bethlehem's Holy Places. Being Jewish, it is separated by a wall from the Christian ones.

I don't intend to get into all the arguments about the wall here; I do believe with Robert Frost that "Something there is that doesn't love a wall," but I also understand why the Israelis built it. On the other hand, its impact on Bethlehem has been pretty devastating.

A Time video from last year:



And an AlJazeera English video, also on last year's Christmas, on the way the separation fence and other tensions have hurt tourism:



A Palestinian video showing celebrations, demonstrations, confrontations, and parties at home:



Mahmud ‘Abbas at the Church of the Nativity last Christmas:



And on the subject of the wall, there's this video and song I also posted last year, using as background a song by Canadian Christian singer Garth Hewitt:



There'll be one more Christmas post before the weekend, so stay tuned.