Bethlehem: The Other Side
Today was a difficult day with lots of information to absorb and hard material to think about and hear. But it was definitely a learning opportunity and such a great experience to hear from many different native people.
When most people think about Bethlehem their thoughts immediately go to Jesus' birth and the Christmas story. While we did focus and sight see around that area, most of our time today we focused in on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. It's something that can be displayed one sided and growing up in the United States I realized I am very naive to the hardship that these people face on a daily basis. And to hear this conflict presented from real people rather than the media was a heart wrenching experience.
So we woke up and went to Bethlehem which is about 5-10 minutes from Tantur where we are staying. Now to get into Palestine it requires a passport because it is a Palestinian region. Israel is currently in the process of building a wall around this whole area on Palestine land to "protect themselves". There are lots of rules of who can come and who can go and honestly I don't remember
it all, but basically Israeli's can go in but Palestinians can't come out. For that reason we picked up our guide right within the walls of Bethlehem. His name is Kamal, and he is a Christian-Palestinian. We drove to the Lutheran church where we had a lecture from Pastor Isaac Munther who talked about the oppression that the Christian Palestinians are facing in particular. Palestine has always had occupation, whether that be currently from Israel or from many other countries before that. The oppression that Palestine is facing from Israel is unreal as the main realities focus on water and income. Some of the numbers that he gave us were unbelievable. For example the poverty water threshold is 50 liters of water/day, whether that be for drinking or daily use. Palestine is currently at 60 liters per day and Israel is at 300 liters per day. Israel controls the supply of water that Palestine gets and many times throughout the summer they turn it off, so Palestinians all live with water tanks on their roofs to store water for when the need it. So what is the justice in this situation? Israel feels as though this is their land, and Palestine feels like it is theirs. That constant violence and tension is present. Some people say the solution is to wait for divine intervention but "God has called us to action- not to wait for divine intervention" (Dr. Munther) "When we walk in Jesus' footsteps when we meet people, when we love people, when we care for people" (Dr. Munther). It was good to hear from one side of the story and as the trip continues we will have the opportunity to hear from the other side as well. I took a lot of notes on this lecture and could go on and on, so if anyone ever wants to talk about it I'd be more than happy to! But.... there's much more that happened in our day that I need to cover :)
Then Kamal led us through the streets of Bethlehem where we looked at shops and toured through the market place. One interesting story that I have to share is one that Kamal told in front of this jewelry shop pictured below. So when a man wants to marry a woman he goes to her father and gives him an
amount for how much he is willing to pay for his future wife. The father can then barter with the man and when they agree on the price the man takes a woman to a jewelry shop and she can buy whatever she wants for the price that was set. The man however stands out front of the jewelry shop with his back towards the shop as to not influence whatever the women is buying inside. He goes in at the end to pay the bill and that gold is what the woman uses throughout her life and if her and her husband are divorced the woman can keep the gold and live off of it. Kamal said that since the church doesn't grant divorces, he knew he would stay married to his wife so him and his father in law agreed on a reasonable price. He said the price did not reflect his wife's beauty in that case. Cute story and a very unique insight to the culture.
From there we went the Nativity Church which is the oldest church and has the place where many people visit to see Jesus' birth spot. The spot of course is not an exact location but people from all religions come far and wide to see it. We did not stand in line to see it due to time but instead we went down to the caves where Kamal gave me a new unique take on the Christmas story. Many times we may read the Christmas story and get to the part where it says "and there was no room in the inn." We may think "Wow, the people of Bethlehem must be so inhospitable to turn away a pregnant woman." However when Mary and Joseph came it was the time of census so the inns were packed full of people sleeping side by side and when a pregnant woman came in who was about to give birth it would've been very inappropriate for her to give birth in a room full of people. It also would've been unclean for the Jewish people as blood is an unclean and impure thing, so Joseph and Mary went as far away as they could in the inn-the stable. Hearing that different and new perspective on the Christmas story was unique. Another interesting fact is that since there are so many different types of religions represented in this area, they can't all gather and celebrate Christmas on the same day. Each religion celebrates on a different day in the course of a month stretching from December through January. So while we sat in this cave all thinking about the Christmas story and the meaning behind it all we sang Away in a Manger. It gave me chills, and I don't think I'll ever be able to sing this song the same again.
Once we left the Nativity Church we walked the road that Mary and Joseph walked from Nazareth to Bethlehem as we made our way to Bethlehem University. At Bethlehem University we got to hear about the programs offered there and the struggles for students who attend this college and are from Israel. One student spoke and said that coming into Palestine from Jerusalem for him each day is not that big of a problem, takes about an hour. But going back to Israel each day usually takes an hour and a half. Then we got to tour the college. The college is 80% female and 20% male, 80% Muslim and 20% Christian. It was an absolutely beautiful campus, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit tempted to transfer ;)
After our visit at the University we went to have lunch in Kamal's home where is mother provided us with a good meal! She walked around encouraging us to eat and threatening to put more food on our plate! She was such a sweet and hospitable woman who told us a little bit about her thoughts of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
After lunch we went to Aida, a refugee Palestinian camp. This camp is surrounded by 6 military bases and there is constant conflict from the military stationed there and the refugees. These refugees were placed in this camp when they were taken from their homes in the Western Bank when Israel created settlements around the area. The key that is at the entrance is what they look to as they hope for the future where they will one day be able to return to their homes. In this camp there are fights between the military and refugees at least once a week. Many have died in this camp and many have been arrested and put into prison. The stories we heard about the violence that occurs was heart breaking. I'm still trying to process it all, seeing young children run and play in the streets and knowing that when those blue doors open at the end of the street, military rush in and chaos and violence begin. Walking by the doors and running my fingers over doors where there are bullet hole marks and trying to imagine what it must feel like to be in those people's shoes was unimaginable. The people of Palestine and the particular people in this refugee camp will be in my prayers and I challenge you to pray for them as well.
Finally we ended at the Wall-the wall that Israel is building to keep themselves "safe". On the Palestinian side, they have painted graffiti to show their frustration and anger at the chaos that this wall is bringing. These words on this wall were powerful and showed the raw emotion that these people are feeling and not afraid to hold back.
Thanks for your continual support and prayers. Luckily today we had a lot of time indoors during this very very hot day so that was a blessing. I'm looking forward to a great day tomorrow!!
When most people think about Bethlehem their thoughts immediately go to Jesus' birth and the Christmas story. While we did focus and sight see around that area, most of our time today we focused in on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. It's something that can be displayed one sided and growing up in the United States I realized I am very naive to the hardship that these people face on a daily basis. And to hear this conflict presented from real people rather than the media was a heart wrenching experience.
So we woke up and went to Bethlehem which is about 5-10 minutes from Tantur where we are staying. Now to get into Palestine it requires a passport because it is a Palestinian region. Israel is currently in the process of building a wall around this whole area on Palestine land to "protect themselves". There are lots of rules of who can come and who can go and honestly I don't remember
it all, but basically Israeli's can go in but Palestinians can't come out. For that reason we picked up our guide right within the walls of Bethlehem. His name is Kamal, and he is a Christian-Palestinian. We drove to the Lutheran church where we had a lecture from Pastor Isaac Munther who talked about the oppression that the Christian Palestinians are facing in particular. Palestine has always had occupation, whether that be currently from Israel or from many other countries before that. The oppression that Palestine is facing from Israel is unreal as the main realities focus on water and income. Some of the numbers that he gave us were unbelievable. For example the poverty water threshold is 50 liters of water/day, whether that be for drinking or daily use. Palestine is currently at 60 liters per day and Israel is at 300 liters per day. Israel controls the supply of water that Palestine gets and many times throughout the summer they turn it off, so Palestinians all live with water tanks on their roofs to store water for when the need it. So what is the justice in this situation? Israel feels as though this is their land, and Palestine feels like it is theirs. That constant violence and tension is present. Some people say the solution is to wait for divine intervention but "God has called us to action- not to wait for divine intervention" (Dr. Munther) "When we walk in Jesus' footsteps when we meet people, when we love people, when we care for people" (Dr. Munther). It was good to hear from one side of the story and as the trip continues we will have the opportunity to hear from the other side as well. I took a lot of notes on this lecture and could go on and on, so if anyone ever wants to talk about it I'd be more than happy to! But.... there's much more that happened in our day that I need to cover :)
One of my favorite quotes from the lecture in regards to the question "What do we do next?"
Then Kamal led us through the streets of Bethlehem where we looked at shops and toured through the market place. One interesting story that I have to share is one that Kamal told in front of this jewelry shop pictured below. So when a man wants to marry a woman he goes to her father and gives him an
amount for how much he is willing to pay for his future wife. The father can then barter with the man and when they agree on the price the man takes a woman to a jewelry shop and she can buy whatever she wants for the price that was set. The man however stands out front of the jewelry shop with his back towards the shop as to not influence whatever the women is buying inside. He goes in at the end to pay the bill and that gold is what the woman uses throughout her life and if her and her husband are divorced the woman can keep the gold and live off of it. Kamal said that since the church doesn't grant divorces, he knew he would stay married to his wife so him and his father in law agreed on a reasonable price. He said the price did not reflect his wife's beauty in that case. Cute story and a very unique insight to the culture.
Kamal in front of the jewelry store
Part of the market place
Banana from Jordan
From there we went the Nativity Church which is the oldest church and has the place where many people visit to see Jesus' birth spot. The spot of course is not an exact location but people from all religions come far and wide to see it. We did not stand in line to see it due to time but instead we went down to the caves where Kamal gave me a new unique take on the Christmas story. Many times we may read the Christmas story and get to the part where it says "and there was no room in the inn." We may think "Wow, the people of Bethlehem must be so inhospitable to turn away a pregnant woman." However when Mary and Joseph came it was the time of census so the inns were packed full of people sleeping side by side and when a pregnant woman came in who was about to give birth it would've been very inappropriate for her to give birth in a room full of people. It also would've been unclean for the Jewish people as blood is an unclean and impure thing, so Joseph and Mary went as far away as they could in the inn-the stable. Hearing that different and new perspective on the Christmas story was unique. Another interesting fact is that since there are so many different types of religions represented in this area, they can't all gather and celebrate Christmas on the same day. Each religion celebrates on a different day in the course of a month stretching from December through January. So while we sat in this cave all thinking about the Christmas story and the meaning behind it all we sang Away in a Manger. It gave me chills, and I don't think I'll ever be able to sing this song the same again.
Once we left the Nativity Church we walked the road that Mary and Joseph walked from Nazareth to Bethlehem as we made our way to Bethlehem University. At Bethlehem University we got to hear about the programs offered there and the struggles for students who attend this college and are from Israel. One student spoke and said that coming into Palestine from Jerusalem for him each day is not that big of a problem, takes about an hour. But going back to Israel each day usually takes an hour and a half. Then we got to tour the college. The college is 80% female and 20% male, 80% Muslim and 20% Christian. It was an absolutely beautiful campus, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit tempted to transfer ;)
The road that Mary and Joseph walked from Nazareth to Bethlehem
Part of Bethlehem University's Campus: See what I mean??
The beautiful flowers that were all over campus and a fountain overlooking the city skyline
After our visit at the University we went to have lunch in Kamal's home where is mother provided us with a good meal! She walked around encouraging us to eat and threatening to put more food on our plate! She was such a sweet and hospitable woman who told us a little bit about her thoughts of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
Some of the yummy couscous and meat that we had today!
The view from the home where we had lunch! It's always so beautiful!
The bullet holes in the doors
The key symbolizing the hope that the refugees one day will have
The names of martyrs who have sacrificed their life in Aida
Thanks for your continual support and prayers. Luckily today we had a lot of time indoors during this very very hot day so that was a blessing. I'm looking forward to a great day tomorrow!!
Relaxing at the end of the day!
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