Egypt partners with Google to promote 'unmatched diversity' tourism campaign    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Taiwan GDP surges on tech demand    World Bank: Global commodity prices to fall 17% by '26    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    UNFPA Egypt, Bayer sign agreement to promote reproductive health    Egypt to boost marine protection with new tech partnership    France's harmonised inflation eases slightly in April    Eygpt's El-Sherbiny directs new cities to brace for adverse weather    CBE governor meets Beijing delegation to discuss economic, financial cooperation    Egypt's investment authority GAFI hosts forum with China to link business, innovation leaders    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's Gypto Pharma, US Dawa Pharmaceuticals sign strategic alliance    Egypt's Foreign Minister calls new Somali counterpart, reaffirms support    "5,000 Years of Civilizational Dialogue" theme for Korea-Egypt 30th anniversary event    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Angola's Lourenço discuss ties, African security in Cairo talks    Egypt's Al-Mashat urges lower borrowing costs, more debt swaps at UN forum    Two new recycling projects launched in Egypt with EGP 1.7bn investment    Egypt's ambassador to Palestine congratulates Al-Sheikh on new senior state role    Egypt pleads before ICJ over Israel's obligations in occupied Palestine    Sudan conflict, bilateral ties dominate talks between Al-Sisi, Al-Burhan in Cairo    Cairo's Madinaty and Katameya Dunes Golf Courses set to host 2025 Pan Arab Golf Championship from May 7-10    Egypt's Ministry of Health launches trachoma elimination campaign in 7 governorates    EHA explores strategic partnership with Türkiye's Modest Group    Between Women Filmmakers' Caravan opens 5th round of Film Consultancy Programme for Arab filmmakers    Fourth Cairo Photo Week set for May, expanding across 14 Downtown locations    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Ancient military commander's tomb unearthed in Ismailia    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM praises ties with Tanzania    Egypt to host global celebration for Grand Egyptian Museum opening on July 3    Ancient Egyptian royal tomb unearthed in Sohag    Egypt hosts World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Somabay for 3rd consecutive year    Egyptian Minister praises Nile Basin consultations, voices GERD concerns    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Remembering Bethlehem
Published in Al-Ahram Weekly on 25 - 12 - 2012

Fourteen years ago, I went with then president Bill Clinton to Bethlehem where he participated in the lighting of the tree in Manger Square. As we looked out from the square we could see Jerusalem and in between a green hill which was called Jabal Abul-Ghnaim. The Israelis had announced plans to construct a settlement on that land, and despite Clinton's stern protests, the hill was already scarred by bulldozer tracks preparing the way for what was to come.
Today, Jabal Abul-Ghnaim, formerly a part of Bethlehem, is called Har Homa, an Israeli settlement, housing over 17,000 Israelis. It and several other Israeli colonies (19 in total) and a nearly 30 foot concrete wall now separate Bethlehem from Jerusalem and are strangling the little town, inhibiting its growth and the ability of its residents to conduct normal commerce.
Announcements this week that Israel will build another 6,000 homes in these settlements and construct two new colonies in the area around Jerusalem have raised grave concerns in Bethlehem. These developments, when completed, will completely cut Bethlehem off, not only from the Holy City, but also from the northern part of the West Bank. This will cause irreparable damage to the Palestinian inhabitants of the land and to the future of peace. It is, one might say, a cruel and terrible way to commemorate the Christmas season.
The Obama administration has, of course, protested, calling these Israeli actions part of a “pattern of provocation”. But we've seen this play out before. Israel will pocket the protests, as they have done for decades, and continue to build. Unless international protests are followed by some decisive action, by next Christmas these settlements will be completed, destroying lives and the hopes and the aspirations of so many that yearn for freedom and justice.
It is a tragic irony that when we, in America, sing this Christmas of “the little town of Bethlehem,” what comes to mind is not the living, breathing, suffering, and real Palestinian city; rather it is a Bethlehem that exists only in our imagination. A few years back we conducted some polling here in the US in an effort to understand what Americans understood about Bethlehem. Most, it turned out, didn't know where it was. Six in 10 thought it was an Israeli city, populated by Jews. Only one in seven knew it was a mixed Palestinian Christian/Muslim town. Most Americans believed that Bethlehem should be protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, but there was no public outcry when Congress cut UNESCO funds last year as punishment for the Palestinian Authority gaining membership in that world body so that they could push, over Israeli objections, for this recognition for Bethlehem.
Americans also don't know that the city is literally corralled by a huge and oppressive concrete wall or that most of its surrounding lands have been stolen and used for Jewish-only housing projects. And they don't know that there are in Bethlehem today, hundreds of unemployed skilled craftsmen who were once world-renowned for their olivewood carvings and mother of pearl artistic creations. They have been idled by occupation, the blockade of their city, and their lack of access to export markets.
The lack of understanding in the West for the plight of Bethlehem and our silence in the face of its suffering is a metaphor for the entire Palestinian situation. In our mind's eye we can clearly see Israel and our imagined Bethlehem, but the Palestinian people of today do not exist. They remain an abstraction or simply a problem to be solved on Israel's terms.
As I have noted before, it might a good thing for all of us to resolve this Christmas to come to know the real Bethlehem and the real people of that town — Christians, who have been living there since the time of Jesus, and Muslims — the lives they live and what might be done to ease their burdens. If we do, we might be able to join the heavenly hosts that we are told greeted the birth of Jesus singing “peace on earth, good will to men” and help bring some of each to the people of the land of Palestine.

The writer is president of the Arab American Institute.


Clic here to read the story from its source.