11 - 17 April 2002
Issue No.581
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 11 - 17 April 2002 Issue No.581 |
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Ghost town Bethlehem
Not only Bethlehem but also Beit Jala and Beit Sahour have been transformed into ghost towns where the only sign of life is the garbage piling up on the streets. Michael Jansen reports from the West Bank
The standoff between Palestinians and Israelis in the Church of the Nativity at the heart of Bethlehem, which began on 2 April, made hostages of the inhabitants of the little town as well as the citizens of neighbouring Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and the three adjoining refugee camps. Entering Bethlehem from Beit Jala means driving fast in a local taxi through empty streets lined by shuttered houses and shops.
These formerly prosperous hill towns have been reduced to beggary by Israeli blockade, closure and siege during the 19 months of the Intifada, and village residents have been confined to their homes by Israel's latest offensive. The 70,000 people who live here have disappeared from sight.
The standoff began when 150-200 Palestinians took shelter in the church, a traditional place of sanctuary. The group included 40 clerics, the local Palestinian governor and security chief, 40 Palestine Authority policemen and civilians. During exchanges of fire between the armed police and security men and Israeli troops, the bell ringer was killed and one of the church doors damaged.
Israel claimed that "Palestinian terrorists" were holding priests and civilians hostage, Palestinian spokesmen inside the church said the people who had taken refuge in there were afraid to venture out because it was surrounded by Israeli troops. Policemen had good reason to be afraid because Israel has targeted many of their number since the Intifada erupted. At least nine were reported to have been executed during the recent fighting in Ramallah.
The Israelis brought out four Franciscan priests on 5 April and two Greek Orthodox priests, a nun and an elderly woman and her daughter on the following day, apparently from adjacent buildings. Early in the day on 8 April, a fire broke out in the courtyard of St Catherine's Church, the Latin house of worship next to the Greek Orthodox Nativity Basilica. A Palestinian policeman, who was trying to extinguish the blaze, was shot dead by an Israeli sniper. Two Israeli border police were wounded in the exchange of fire. According to Father Ibrahim Faltas, a Franciscan priest inside the church, the fire consumed the available water supply. The pump for the well is inoperable because of the power cut. The fire damaged the kitchen, meaning that bread cannot be baked with the remaining flour. There were 12-13 injured people inside the church, one in serious condition, and one body.
Father David Jaeger, spokesman for the Franciscan Custodians of Catholic sites in the Holy Land, said he had been told that the blaze had started when Israeli troops began firing on the church. He stated, "This is an act of indescribable barbarity. It is a violation of every law of humanity and civilisation. It is a violation of the explicit and repeated public and diplomatic guarantees of the State of Israel with consequences that will be long- term and incalculable."
Smoke pours out of the compound of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem (photos: Reuters)
The Vatican was more diplomatic. It told Israel that respect for holy sites was an "absolute priority." A Vatican statement said the Holy See was following events in Bethlehem with "extreme worry."
When, on 7 April, Christians of Bethlehem were called to attend Sunday services in the Latin and Orthodox churches, Israel tightened the already stringent curfew on the town. Thus, for the first time since the fourth century, Sunday prayers were not performed in the Church of the Nativity.
The curfew has been eased only briefly since Israel reoccupied the towns and refugee camps near Bethlehem. Food in many Palestinian households is in short supply. Water and electricity can also be a problem because pipes have been damaged during exchanges of fire and by the incessant rumbling of tanks and armoured vehicles.
On Monday I walked into Bethlehem in the company of Bassem Eid of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and three other print journalists. We linked up with television teams in flak jackets and radio and photo journalists while making our way along Pope Paul VI Street which leads to the embattled Nativity Church. Walking these dangerous routes we journalists rely on the old adage: "Safety in numbers." As we descended the narrow cobbled street we squeezed between cars gutted by heavy gunfire. On either side stand houses where the windows had been shot out.
A large Palestinian woman in a headscarf and long dress invited us to inspect the damage to her home. Ibtisam Masalneh, her husband, Yasser, and their 10 children inhabit a set of rooms in a two-storey stone house shared by several other working class Palestinian families. Water and power have been cut to some flats, but not to all of them, so people share. Ibtisam showed us the room where her family sleeps, its paneless windows blocked by mattresses. "We have no food," she said, "we had a carton of eggs but they are all gone." Two men from the house were taken away on Sunday night; their wives said they are being held at Manger Square. Identity cards were confiscated. Random searches take place at any time of day or night.
A few steps down the street we paused at the Peace Fountain. An elderly lady hailed us from her balcony, asking us to accompany her to the handicraft centre run by the Arab Women's Union. The door was open and the stock of delicate Palestinian embroidery had been ransacked. We went on, pausing on the steps above the Omari Mosque located opposite the Church of the Nativity on Manger Square. The solid stone mass of the church with its tiny black door was only 150 metres away, across the wide expanse of the square, bathed in bright sunlight. Taking shelter next to the wall we sidled down the steps until half a dozen heavily armed Israeli soldiers emerged from a doorway. "You must stop. You must go back." We halted a few metres above the movable metal barriers normally used to block cars from entering the square which had been reserved for pedestrians. "You don't belong here," the head of the unit stated. The soldiers formed a line across the street, forcing us to retreat.
Back at the point where visitors exchange Jerusalem cars for Beit Jala taxis to make the dash to the hospital in Beit Jala, pickup trucks were transferring cauliflower to relieve the hunger pangs of the families who could afford to buy the vegetables.
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