Christmas Eve in Bethlehem
by Neve Gordon
Dissident Voice
December 27, 2002
Jerusalem: At
around 9:00 am, the first fifty Israelis passed the military checkpoint and
climbed over the dirt barricade. They were entering Bethlehem, which is
considered “Area A” of the Palestinian territories and therefore out of bounds
for Israeli citizens.
Determined to
meet their Palestinian partners, these Israelis, members of Ta’ayush,
Arab-Jewish Partnership, had decided to defy the law. Christmas Eve, they
thought, was a suitable day for an act of civil disobedience.
In August,
Ta’ayush members had attempted to walk from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, but, when
they reached the checkpoint, they were brutally beaten by the Israeli police
who used water cannons and clubs to disperse the crowd. On December 24, the
activists entered in a roundabout way in order to ensure that this time around
a solidarity meeting would indeed take place.
Bethlehem’s
month-long curfew had been lifted the day before, but the city was in no mood
to celebrate. Children had been locked up in their homes for weeks, parents had
not gone to work, and access to medical facilities had been obstructed. Scores
of residents had been imprisoned, houses had been demolished, and many streets
and sidewalks had been turned to rubble due to tanks, armored vehicles and
bulldozers.
As they made
their way from the barricade to the Church of Nativity Square, the activists
were shocked to see that Bethlehem, which had had a complete makeover just
three years earlier, was in ruins.
The Square
boasted no Christmas tree; there were no lights and no banners marking the
sacred day. It was clear that this was not to be a joyous holiday.
At around noon,
a second group of approximately 200 Israelis and fifty French citizens met at
checkpoint 300, the major entrance to Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
Immediately
after the Latin patriarch’s convoy passed through the checkpoint, at around
12:30 p.m., the Israelis marched forward and demanded that the Israeli military
make way so that they could enter Bethlehem. They brought toys for the
Palestinian children with them, a symbolic gesture meant to brighten just a
tiny little bit the days of those who have lost their childhood. They also had
a truckload of basic foodstuffs for the needy, knowing that over 60 percent of
Palestinian families live on $2 a day.
Probably because
the eyes of world were watching (scores of TV crews were covering the
patriarch’s convoy), the police decided not to interfere and allowed the
Ta’ayush members to cross the checkpoint. The protesters took out signs --
“Happy Christmas? Without Oppression!”; “Peace, Security and Liberty For the
two Peoples”; “Dismantle the Settlements and Make Peace” -- and began marching
the two kilometers to the Church of Nativity Square, chanting: “Down with the
Occupation! Down with the Occupation!” in Arabic and Hebrew.
Residents of
Bethlehem joined the marching crowd, and together they entered the square where
they were met by hundreds of Palestinians as well as by the activists who had
arrived earlier.
It was an
electrifying moment.
In the midst of
the bloody conflict and merely a day after the harsh curfew had been lifted,
hundreds of Moslems, Jews, and Christians, Israelis, Palestinians and
Internationals stood side-by-side demanding an end to the occupation.
The very
existence of such a protest undermines the Israeli government’s claim that
there is no partner with whom to negotiate, and demonstrated once again that
the two peoples have a common cause.
All of the TV
crews witnessed the event, and many of them even filmed it. Yet, while the Arab
Al-Jazeera and Abu-Dabi stations broadcasted the demonstration throughout the
day, CNN, BBC, Skynews and the like decided not to report about this precious
moment of Jewish-Arab solidarity.
Most astonishing
was the Israeli press, which made nothing of the protest, begging the question
of why two hundred and fifty Israelis standing together with hundreds of
Palestinians in the middle of Bethlehem -- in an act of civil disobedience --
was not considered newsworthy.
The answer is
straightforward: the demonstration disrupts the picture the Israeli government
and media have been attempting to paint over the past two years. If the protest
had been covered, the Israeli viewer would have had to confront the fact that
the occupied Palestinians are not the bloodthirsty terrorists they are
frequently portrayed to be, that all they are demanding is an end to the
occupation, and that Palestinians and Israelis can work together towards
achieving this goal.
To be sure, such
a picture would have probably created a dissonance among many Israelis who have
been subjected to incessant propaganda and incitement against Palestinians.
Nonetheless, it is precisely this type of dissonance that is most needed in
Israel if we are to break the current bloody impasse: to show the public that a
different, more humane and peaceful route is possible.
When the religious ceremonies ended, the Israeli
government re-implemented the curfew, knowing that the TV crews had left the
city and no one would document the return of the oppressive regime. In this
cynical world, two days of freedom are apparently enough.
Neve Gordon
teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and is a contributor to The
Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent (New Press 2002). He can be reached
at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il