The not so little town of Bethlehem

Bbbbbrrrrrr, its cold in Ramallah, icey rain trying to turn to snow. I made an executive decision to work from home today because there is no heating in my workplace and hasn't been now for almost two weeks. Yet another consequence of the political situation. The office is in a building occupied by some government ministries, who because of the moratorium on financial aid are unable to work, hence they also have no money for fuel and as we are all on a shared, central heating system- those of us who continue to work are forced to endure Arctic conditions. C'est la vie on the West Bank.

Christmas was a mixture of memorable moments of hope, anger, uncertainty, generosity, beauty and of absences. Bethlehem was a revelation of pretty hilltop townships, Beit Sahour, accepted site of the angel's appearance to shepherds as they watched their flocks to inform them of the birth of the Jesus child. A kilometer futher up the hill, Bethlehem his birthplace, a town of 30, 000 people strung with lights and shining in its position nestled beneath Beit Jala perched atop it and all of this looking out on a landscape as old as time.

But something is dreadfully wrong in Bethlehem as with all of the West Bank but perhaps more acutely felt at this time of celebration and commemoration for many. The Wall, that indelible scar of unmitigated inhumanity and oppression snakes its painful way around Bethelehem overshadowing everything. The once thriving businesses, restaurants, small hotels and homes close to the site of the wall stand boarded up and abandoned and yet their location would once have been highly prised, providing views and an experience of the whole area.

Christmas lights, frosty nights and a sense of arrival notwithstanding, Bethlehem struggled under the weight of the burden of Israeli Ocupation this festive season. I watched the colourful, energetic parade of Palestine's youth scouts on Xmas eve as they displayed their musical and formation skills to the hundreds of onlookers in Manger Square in the build up to the arrival of the Patriarch in the mid afternoon. The Patriarch, better recognised outside Palestine as a catholic bishop was flanked by rows of altarboys, Franciscan brothers and priests- there's obviously no shortage of vocations in this part of the world. As we waited for his arrival outside the Church of the Nativity, three impressive figures dressed in ceremonial Ottoman costumes of brocade jackets and pantaloons, scimitars and fezs acted as his advance guard for the short walk to the Church portal. There was much stamping of feet amongst the long patient crowd to keep warm but then as the call to prayer came from the mosque opposite the church, I was informed that the ceremony would begin when the last cry had rung out. Pacing the rooftop of the Peace Centre that occupies almost one side of the square, heavily armed and flak jacketed sharpshooters kept their own watch. By the time the Patriarch drew parallel with the waiting crowd, he was all but drowned in a 3 deep ring of police locking arms around him in a security ring. I was struck by the fact that most of those who protected the leader of the Catholic Church in Palestine were Muslims.

I had woken on Xmas eve and gone outside in bright winter sunshine to listen to the sound of singing coming from the Greek Orthodox church in Beit Sahour and to enjoy the panorama afforded by my hillside location and my host's generous invitation to spend another night with her family. The landscape had an entirely different beauty in the morning light but I found myself lamenting the absence of greenery, I have been missing green. As the singing subsided, another refrain resonated across the hills of Bethlehem, the mosque call to prayer and I marvelled at the symmetry and co-ordination that accommodates these two evocations of different religious ritual and tradition.

Bethlehem works hard at respecting the religious and cultural traditions of its residents and is perhaps the most populated area by non- Muslims with up to 30% Christian. But the unity that so many invest in is threatened by the actions of some Christian churches who have sold of plots of land to the avaricious Israeli settlements that surround the area, facilitating the annexing of even more Palestinian territory to an Occupier who shows respect to no one.