Bethlehem and Jerusalem

Hello there

Well I went to Bethlehem for Christmas Carols with my church. Abbas, President of the PA was there which was very interesting. The service was in both Arabic and English and was also a half political rally.
The Bishop told us about his meeting with the Archbishop and the Prime Minister of England - this land has been ravaged by Herods of the past, and is now attacked by the Herods of today. Peace is not the absence of war and conflict and he spoke about his desire to see not just co-existence but co-living. He also made an attack on the war in Iraq saying that the easiest route to democracy in Baghdad, is through Jerusalem and for this to happen we need to see the outbreak of collective common sense. We should stop building walls and instead build bridges. It was all pretty stirring stuff. The church I'm a member of is very very pro-Palestine.
I then went on to midnight mass in Jerusalem were we said prayers for those humiliated at checkpoints, those who had lost family and friends and those who had been killed in this conflict. And today I've just been to the morning service, a slightly bizarre mix of Arabic and English were people say the prayers in their own tongue and sing the songs in their own tongue at the same time, which makes for some interesting sounds! It all fits together remarkably well.

Going to Bethlehem has been one of the best experiences here but also one of the most depressing. Bethlehem is through a checkpoint but we were waved through, the soldiers gave us sweets and wished us a merry Christmas. They were incredibly polite and we were through the checkpoint in less than 5 minutes. Incredibly different to the experiences I have had and seen in Ramallah, Hebron, Jerusalem and the experiences I know others have had in the North. If one had never visited the West Bank one could wonder what all the fuss was about at the checkpoints. I was half tempted to give my seat on the coach to a Palestinian who have been denied entry to Jerusalem as they would have got straight in.

Bethlehem is a town that has been economically depressed by the Israelis, as with the rest of Palestine no wages have been paid to any government staff for 10 months now as the EU and USA withhold their former contributions due to the democratic election of Hamas. I've not seen begging before in Palestine, one or two kids have asked for a shekel but this was very different and quite depressing. This is pretty much the one time of year that they make any money and you can't blame them for begging or trying to force you to buy things off them.

Anyway I hope everyone at home is having a great Christmas. If you are reading this on Christmas day have a look at this.