ZGram - 12/25/2002 - "Saddest Christmas Ever in Bethlehem"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Thu, 26 Dec 2002 11:06:01 -0800
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
December 25, 2002
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
We were snowed in for two days as we spent a very quiet, happy
Christmas in a special hideaway. Therefore, I did not have access to
my computer. I must admit that I felt some apprehension
intermittently - since, knowing how the enemy hates anything
connected to Christ and Christianity, I feared that something ugly
would occur to mar the most important holiday celebration in the
Western world.
Luckily, it did not happen. Upon returning to my desk, I found two
articles I'll send to you for your reflection while we are still in
the "holiday spirit" - one for the missed ZGram yesterday, and the
usual ZGram for today.
[START]
'Saddest Christmas Ever' in Bethlehem
Wed December 25, 2002 05:04 PM ET
By Mark Heinrich
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinians marked what some called
the saddest Christmas ever in the biblical city of Bethlehem, walking
to Mass through cold rainy streets bereft of holiday cheer after
weeks of Israeli military occupation.
Hundreds of Palestinians and a few hardy tourists and pilgrims
attended Christmas Day services in the ancient Church of the
Nativity, the reputed site of Jesus's birth but found little joy from
an Israeli army pullback for the occasion.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli troops killed two
Palestinians, including a senior militant.
Manger Square was a brightly lit hub of religious pageantry with a
towering Christmas tree in happier days. But the only color this time
came from trinkets in the arms of roving vendors and in the windows
of empty souvenir shops.
Two years of Israeli-Palestinian violence have scared off most of the
thousands of pilgrims that once flocked to the rose-hued West Bank
city, and Palestinian residents have been largely stuck in their
homes under military curfew for a month.
"It is the saddest Christmas ever for us here," Estella Mubarak, a
60-year-old grandmother, said in the 1,700-year-old shrine built
where Christians believe Jesus was born. "The worst thing is we
cannot afford to buy any presents for our children."
There were no Yuletide lights or ornaments to usher in the season,
but some Palestinians said such gloom was appropriate because to
dress up Bethlehem now would have glossed over the harsh effect of
Israeli occupation in the eyes of the world.
Israeli tanks and troops reoccupied Bethlehem on November 22 after a
Palestinian suicide bomber from the city killed 11 Israelis on a bus
in nearby Jerusalem.
Other West Bank cities have been under the Israeli army's thumb for
months in response to a Palestinian militant campaign for statehood
in territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and now
fragmented by Jewish settlement.
ATMOSPHERE OF DECAY
Most of Bethlehem's souvenir shops have gone out of business and
hotels have closed for lack of guests. Uncollected garbage litters
the winding, narrow streets. Unkempt children beg foreign visitors
for money around Manger Square.
"We have no choice but to come here to pray for peace and freedom but
I see no hope for the near future," said retired academic Elias Maria
as he emerged from the Nativity church's grotto where Mary is said to
have given birth to Jesus.
"We're all very sad. We prayed to God simply to help us. We still
hope peace with justice will come some day, since without hope there
is no life," said Linda Liddawi, 42, a widowed mother of two who said
her house was smashed by Israeli rocket fire. Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat was but a ghost of Christmas past at Midnight Mass in
the Nativity church, his empty chair draped with a checkered
Palestinian headdress symbolizing his struggle for an independent
homeland.
Israel for the second straight year barred him from making the short
trip from his half-demolished West Bank headquarters in Ramallah. It
accuses Arafat of fomenting violence in the Palestinian bid for
independence, an allegation he denies.
After Vatican pleas, Israel said troops would stay out of Bethlehem
during the Christmas holiday but whether this meant two days or the
traditional 12 days of Christmas was unknown.
Many of the thousands who crammed into St Catherine's Catholic church
within the Nativity compound for midnight mass were foreigners but
the Christmas morning rite was a mainly local affair.
The compound still bears perforations from Israeli gunfire in a
40-day siege of armed militants who slipped inside last spring during
an Israeli offensive that followed suicide bombings.
RELIGIOUS APPEAL TO ISRAELIS
The Latin Patriarch in the Holy Land made strong appeals in sermons
at both masses for an end to strife and freedom for Palestinians from
Israeli domination.
"We say no to violence, no to terrorism and no to oppression, but we
ask you (Israelis) to understand the reason for the violence and this
is occupation," Michel Sabbah said.
"Blood has been flowing in your cities and streets, but the key to
solving this conflict is in your hands. By your actions so far, you
have crushed the Palestinian people but you still have not achieved
peace."
Violence did not let up elsewhere on Christmas Day. Israeli soldiers
killed a senior militant from the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas in
the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to Palestinian and
Israeli sources.
In the Gaza Strip, military sources said soldiers killed an armed
Palestinian as he approached an army outpost near the Jewish
settlement of Nezarim. Palestinian officials could not immediately
confirm the death.
At least 1,738 Palestinians and 671 Israelis have been killed since
Palestinians launched an uprising in September 2000 after
negotiations on Palestinian statehood hit an impasse.
[END]
===
( Source:
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=1960641 )