`O Little Town of Bethlehem'

(Map of Bethlehem today, bounded by the Wall on three sides and a no access settler road on the other)
This article appeared a year ago, yet nothing has changed. The Bethlehem of old is gone. So too is its image as a Christian religious site. Did Israel make a mistake? That is really something it will have to consider.

`O Little Town of Bethlehem’ Barrier Wall choking Palestinian community in birthplace of Christ

12/20/2006
Catholic Relief Services
By Elizabeth Griffin and David Snyder

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Catholic Relief Services) – Just over 2,000 years ago, the Holy Family made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem to prepare for the moment that would change history forever. If they were to take that same route today, however, they would be greeted by a 25-foot barrier wall, armed guards, and a huge steel gate resembling those found on nuclear shelters.

They could also be harassed for their identification papers, their belongings could be searched and it’s quite possible they could be turned away, never allowed to enter Bethlehem. How different the story could be.

But it is not.

In Bethlehem, the barrier wall has created a prison-like existence for the dwindling Christian population there. The residents are beleaguered, and the merchants we spoke to feel the world does not understand their plight. Others blame fellow Christians overseas for not doing enough on their behalf.

(snip)

Here’s what Bethlehem looks like today, through pictures from Stop The Wall Org. Read their article, The Ghettoization of Bethlehem: Destroying Palestinian Land, Life and History, which was published by The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign on May 10th, 2005.

The pictures tell all.

(Immediately south of Jerusalem, construction of the Apartheid Wall around Bethlehem is almost complete. The Wall cuts the city from its surrounding lands, annexing land into the Occupation municipal boundaries in Jerusalem and sealing Bethlehem into a tiny ghetto.)

(PALESTINIANS WALK IN FENCED LANES BESIDE ISRAELI SECURITY FENCE – Palestinians walk in fenced lanes beside the 30-foot-high Israeli security wall at the entrance to Bethlehem in the West Bank Dec. 19. The wall has created hardship for Palestinians, who must obtain a special permit to cross the Israeli-controlled check point into Jerusalem. Israel maintains that the wall is needed to ensure its security.)

(Occupation Forces seal off the main road through Bethlehem as they construct the Wall through the heart of the city. Homes and shops along the streets surrounding Rachel’s Tomb/Bilal Mosque have been forcibly evacuated during the construction which will annex 28 dunums from the city.)

(Occupation Forces deploy Caterpillar machinery and teams of “technical” experts on a daily basis to level, destroy and raze Bethlehem for the Wall. This area runs alongside a residential area just a few minutes walk from central Bethlehem. It is being annexed to make an Israeli car park for Rachel’s Tomb/Bilal Mosque, an area now inaccessible to Palestinians and stolen for the expansion of the Occupation.)

(A young boy looks towards northern areas of Bethlehem now cut off for Palestinians. Eight houses are enclosed by the Wall here and will become totally isolated from the rest of the city. These families are left in a tiny prison hell-hole completely shut off from their community. However, all residents of Bethlehem are affected from the permanent scars of the Apartheid Wall, as it cuts them off from their lands and the rest of the West Bank.)

(Faith-based organizations throughout the Bethlehem District have joined the call of the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign for boycotts, sanctions and divestment of Apartheid Israel. These are measures by which international solidarity can find concrete and effective means to end international complicity, support and financing for the Wall.)

(Bethlehem residents find their neighborhoods ruined by the Apartheid Wall and its rubble. This community has been shattered by the Wall which has been constructed over the last two months.)

(The Apartheid Wall snakes around the rim of the city. A solitary olive tree remains standing in an area that was once thriving. Over one million olive trees have been destroyed by bulldozers in the last 4 years, many to make way for the Apartheid Wall.)