Resources > 2006 Bethlehem Program
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Christmas in Bethlehem:
An educational program offered by CJME - This is the season in which we celebrate the birth of Christ in the small town of Bethlehem. We sing carols and give gifts because of it, yet how many of us are aware of what is going on today in that little town of Bethlehem we sing about? How many of us know that today Christians in Bethlehem live in a virtual prison and, with other Palestinians, lead lives of increasing poverty hardship and hopelessness. United Nations and World Bank statistics indicate that half the population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip now live on less than $2 a day.
Who are the Christian Palestinians? They are often called "The forgotten faithful" because many Christians, especially Christians in the United States, do not even know that there is an indigenous Arab Christian population in the Holy Land.
photo: For Palestinian residents of Bethlehem, the Wall is the latest of a series of restrictions, including dirt mounds, road gates, checkpoints and roadblocks that have been implemented over the past decade. (Arjan El Fassed)
> Clck here to request brochures or speakers - Fill out a form to order bulk copies of the brochure or request a speaker for your group or faith community. |
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Message to Church Leaders and Administrators:
During the Christmas season we celebrate the arrival of Jesus Christ and reflect on his birth in Bethlehem. The Holy Land is the vital center for Christianity, as well as the home to millions of Palestinians and Israelis. What a shame so much tension and suffering occurs at the sacred center of Christianity and other faiths.
To focus attention on the Middle East, Citizens for Justice in the Middle East has prepared the brochure "Christmas in Bethlehem," which we hope you'll distribute in your church sometime this Christmas season. It presents some basic facts about the plight of the Christian Palestinians in the Holy Land, who, along with other Palestinians, are suffering from the hardships of the Israeli military occupation.
Several Christian denominations actively address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and are committed to a just peace for both sides. Yet they are concerned for the deplorable conditions of Palestinians. Some denominations, such as Presbyterians USA, Evangelical Lutherans and United Church of Christ, have gone so far as to consider divesting from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories.
Accordingly, we provide some elementary information about the Christian community in the Holy Land and what readers can do to help.
Our common commitment is to a just and equitable end to the conflict that will include security and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians, based on respect for human rights and international law.
"Blessed are the Peacemakers" is a familiar biblical phrase. American Christians have a role to play as peacemakers, but peacemaking requires understanding. Our brochure and speakers program is a step in that direction. Contact CJME by calling 816-729-9102 or complete the Bethlehem web form to schedule a speaker or distribute the brochure. |
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Introduction: Christmas in Bethlehem 2006
This is the season in which we celebrate the birth of Christ in the small town of Bethlehem. We sing carols and give gifts because of it, yet how many of us are aware of what is going on today in that little town of Bethlehem we sing about? How many of us know that today Christians in Bethlehem live in a virtual prison and, with other Palestinians, lead lives of increasing poverty hardship and hopelessness. United Nations and World Bank statistics indicate that half the population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip now live on less than $2 a day.
Who are the Christian Palestinians? They are often called "The forgotten faithful" because many Christians, especially Christians in the United States, do not even know that there is an indigenous Arab Christian population in the Holy Land.
These Christian Palestinians in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth and other places are Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians. They are not immigrants. They are not converts from Judaism or Islam. They are the descendants of those who first believed in Jesus Christ. They are the living church in the land where Jesus was born, died and was resurrected, and they are in peril.
In 1948 when the state of Israel was declared, the Christian population of the Holy Land was 18 percent. Today it is less than 2 percent, and that number is rapidly shrinking. Because the punishments and privations imposed by the Israeli military occupation have escalated during the last three years, Christian Palestinians are emigrating in great numbers from the land that their families have occupied for centuries.
Hanna Nasser, the mayor of Bethlehem and a Christian, has asked for the support of American Christians, observing that if conditions don't improve, in 20 years there will be no Christians left in Bethlehem.
Unfortunately, the mainstream media in the United States seldom report what Palestinians suffer on a daily basis under Israeli military occupation: the confiscations of their homes and land, the closures of schools, curfews that keep the population confined to their homes 24 hours a day for days at a time, limited employment opportunities, the inability to travel even for religious purposes.
Many, if not most, of these measures violate international law. The wall Israel is building threatens to make the situation even worse. The wall is dividing Bethlehem. In a statement on the separation wall issued August 26, 2003, the Heads of the Jerusalem Churches specifically mentioned the wall in Bethlehem and said "The consequences will be devastating to the Christian Community."
Please pray for the Christians in the Holy Land. Write your representatives in Congress and tell them you are concerned about the breach of international law occurring there and the suffering of the Palestinian people.
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| Testimonial by Mitri Raheb It is the time of Advent. Christmas is fast approaching. In Bethlehem, in Palestine, it is quiet, very quiet. The streets of Bethlehem are deserted, very unusual for such a season. A strange silence overshadows the area. It is a silence crying loud towards heaven. The silence is disrupted every now and then with the sounds of two Israeli military tanks roaming the streets and announcing curfew: “Mamnou’ attajawul..” “Moving is forbidden…leaving home is forbidden…” In other words, “You are prisoners. Stay where you are or otherwise you are violating the holy military rules…you will be put in prison.” For more than three weeks, a 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Bethlehem. No one is allowed to leave his/her home. Children are prevented from going to school, workers cannot go to work, and even pregnant women are often denied access to hospitals to deliver. Unborn children are considered to be a threat to the “security of the state of Israel.”
— Mitri Raheb, senior pastor, The Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church and general director of The International Center of Bethlehem. This is a passage taken from Rev. Raheb’s book, Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope at Times of Fear published in March 2004 by Augsburg Fortress
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| The “Separation Wall” in Bethlehem by Brother Jack Curran
— Brother Jack Curran, FSC, vice-president for development at Bethlehem University
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What You Can Do This Christmas Season…
Get the 2006 "Christmas in Bethlehem" program brochure…
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Resources on Bethlehem
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The
children of Bethlehem want to play. But playing is dangerous. Many Palestinians
killed by the Israel troops during this second intifada are children. Occupation
is not only taking their lives but their childhood and souls. They are forced to
play what they are experiencing on a daily basis: War. They are imitating the
Israeli soldiers. They see what Israeli tanks are doing and the power they have.
They feel how weak they are, how weak their parents are and they want to be as
powerful as their oppressors. Many families are worried about their children’s
aspirations. They are afraid that their children will grow up to believe that
the fire of might is stronger than the light of right, that there is no justice
in this world, that the world community applauds the oppressor, and that the
tanks are the decision makers in the end. The parents in Bethlehem are worried
about the souls of their children. They still want them to hold on to the notion
of justice, to the vision of reconciliation and to the path of non-violence.
Although everything around them speaks an altogether different language, they
still cling strongly to the good news of Christmas that God became child in
Christ so that all children of the world might have life, and life abundantly.
A
faculty member from Bethlehem University recently invited me and another newly
arrived Brother to accompany him on a brief tour of some of the sights of
Bethlehem one Sunday morning. At the end of our tour, we went back to the house
of this faculty member's parents. One of the interesting things about their home
is that right outside their front yard stands the famous "apartheid wall” or
“separation or security fence" — whatever you call it. A segment of this long,
sinful line is already constructed and stands at the edge of their front yard.
They once owned some olive trees, for revenue and livelihood, across the street
from their yard, but now these trees are no longer, as the wall and the
adjoining roads on both sides of it have removed their trees. 