Editor comment

This compelling story by veteran correspondent Bob Simon, reveals the pressure placed on CBS by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, before this story was even aired.   This interview is contained near the end of the report.   Bob Simon stated  ”Mr. Ambassador, I’ve been doing this a long time. And I’ve received lots of reactions from just about everyone I’ve done stories about. But I’ve never gotten a reaction before from a story that hasn’t been broadcast yet.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57417408/holy-land/?tag=currentVideoInfo;videoMetaInfo

Video 2

(CBS News) The exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians could eventually leave holy cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem without a local Christian population, Bob Simon reports. Why are they leaving? For some, life in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become too difficult.

60 Minute report – Christians of the Holy Land

The following script is from “Christians of the Holy Land” which aired on April 22, 2012. Bob Simon is the correspondent. Harry Radliffe, producer.

Christianity may have been born in the Middle East, but Arab Christians have never had it easy there, especially not today. In Iraq and Egypt, scores of churches have been attacked, hundreds murdered. In Syria, revolution seriously threatens Christian communities. The one place where Christians are not suffering from violence is the Holy Land: but Palestinian Christians have been leaving in large numbers for years. So many, the Christian population there is down to less than two percent, and the prospect of holy sites, like Jerusalem and Bethlehem, without local Christians is looming as a real possibility.

This is what the Holy Land looks like today. Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Nazareth, where he grew up. Jerusalem, where he died and where Christians believe he was resurrected. Nazareth is inside the state of Israel. Bethlehem is on the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Christian section of Jerusalem is also under Israeli control.

We know the area well — know that it is arguably the most fought over piece of real estate in the world, sacred to half of humanity. Still, when we decided to do the story last year, we did not realize our story would become so controversial.

Our story begins in Bethlehem, where it all began. We went to Saint Catherine’s in the Church of the Nativity.

For local Catholics, this is their parish church. The day we went, a confirmation was underway. Father Marwan Dides, a Franciscan, led one child after another up to the altar, watched by proud parents. The church was so crowded it was difficult to believe that Christians now makeup only 18 percent of what was for centuries an overwhelmingly Christian town.

Father Dides: We are the living stones of the Holy Land. From here, it all started. And it had to continue. It’s a must. It must continue. If there is no people, no Christians here, it will never continue.

Here in Jerusalem, the numbers are even bleaker than in Bethlehem.

Theophilos the third, the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox, has lived through the decline. His church, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, is the most sacred site in Christendom. He took us up to the roof. You’ve got to know a patriarch to get here.

Theophilos: Come in. You are inside the Holy Sepulcher. Just inside here is the tomb.

That is the tomb which covers the site of the resurrection.

Bob Simon: When you first came here in 1964, what was the percentage of Christians in the old city?

Theophilos: There were around 30,000 of– Christians living in the Old City.

Bob Simon: And now how many are there?

Theophilos: Very few.

So few, some 11,000 Christians out of a population of almost 800,000 — just one and a half percent.

Religious leaders are afraid Jerusalem could become a museum, a spiritual theme park, a great place for tourists and pilgrims, but not for the Arab Christians whose roots date back to the church’s very beginnings.

Mitri Raheb: Christianity started here. The only thing that Palestine was able to export so successfully was Christianity.

Mitri Raheb is a Palestinian, a Christian and a Lutheran minister from Bethlehem. He runs schools, cultural centers and health clinics.

Mitri Raheb: Christianity has actually on the back a stamp saying, “Made in Palestine.”

Palestinian Christians, once a powerful minority, are becoming the invisible people, squeezed between a growing Muslim majority and burgeoning Israeli settlements. Israel has occupied the West Bank for 45 years.

Mitri Raheb: If you see what’s happening in the West Bank, you will find that the West Bank is becoming more and more like a piece of Swiss cheese where Israel gets the cheese that is the land, the water resources, the archaeological sites. And the Palestinian are pushed in the holes behind the walls.

Israel built the wall over the last 10 years, which completely separates Israel from the occupied West Bank. The wall was built to stop Palestinian terrorists from getting into Israel. And it’s worked. Terrorism has gone down 90 percent.

At the same time, the wall completely surrounds Bethlehem, turning the “little town” where Christ was born into what its residents call “an open air prison.”

Bob Simon: Do you remember the day they put up the wall?

Christie Anastas: Yeah. Actually, it was in 2003 and I was about 14 years old. I went to school one day and came back and found the wall surrounding the house.

Christie Anastas lives with her mother Claire, her father, brother and sister, in this house which is surrounded on three sides by the wall.

The Anastas' house

Bob Simon: How do you live with this?

Christie Anastas: Well, it’s not easy, actually, but you get used to it. Because you have to.

The Anastas family lives on the third floor. This is the view from the kitchen, from the master bedroom and bathroom. The children’s room has a good view of this Israeli guard tower.

The family runs a souvenir shop on the ground floor, sells Christian artifacts on what used to be the busiest commercial street in town. Now, it’s a dead end.

Anastas home as seen from AlHaq Virtual tour

Bob Simon: Members of your family have already left?

Claire Anastas: Yes.

Bob Simon: And they have asked you to leave too?

Claire Anastas: Yes.

Bob Simon: What do you say to them?

Claire Anastas: I tell them, we have to stay. We need to stay and struggle and fight. This is our cross.

For all Palestinians, just leaving Bethlehem is a struggle. Getting to Jerusalem, only seven miles away, whether it’s to pray, go to a doctor, visit family members, or work, means going through this Israeli checkpoint. That can take hours but before Palestinians can get even this far, they need a permit from the Israelis which can take weeks or months to obtain and is frequently denied.

Michael Oren: We regret any inconvenience caused by the security precautions. But it’s their inconvenience, it’s our survival.

Michael Oren, who used to be Israel’s director of Interreligious Affairs, is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

Michael Oren: We have to protect our country. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to survive.

For Palestinian Christians, the survival of their culture is in danger. In towns like Bethlehem, which used to be distinctively Christian, Muslims now are a clear and growing majority. The veil is replacing the cross. But inside Israel, in Christian towns like Nazareth, Arabs are Israeli citizens and, according to Ambassador Oren, they’re thriving. The reason Christians are leaving the West Bank, he says, is Islamic extremism.

Michael Oren: I think that the major problem in the West Bank as in elsewhere in the Middle East is that the Christian communities are living under duress.

Bob Simon: And this duress is coming from Muslims, not from the Israel occupation?

Ambassador Michael Oren: I believe that the major duress is coming from that.

[Zahi Khouri: Great selling point. Easy to sell to the American public.]

Zahi Khouri is a Palestinian businessman. He owns the West Bank Coca-Cola franchise.

Zahi Khouri: I’ll tell you I don’t know of anybody and I probably have 12,000 customers here. I’ve never heard that someone is leaving because of Islamic persecution.

Ari Shavit, one of Israel’s most respected columnists, believes Christians have become collateral damage.

Ari Shavit: I think this is a land that has seen in the last century a terrible struggle between political Judaism and political Islam in different variations.

Bob Simon: And the Christians are being squeezed in the middle between the Jews and the Muslims?

Ari Shavit: Absolutely.

Bob Simon: Should Israel be concerned about that?

Ari Shavit: I think we should all be concerned about it. Political Judaism and political Islam are rocky. They are harsh. And the friction, the clash between them is very violent.

In 2009, this group of Christian activists did something unprecedented. They published a document called Kairos Palestine, criticizing Islamic extremism and advocating non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation which they called a sin against God.

It was endorsed by the leaders of 13 Christian denominations including Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican.

Michael Oren: These are denominations who have been exceedingly critical of the State of Israel. And sometimes to the point of going beyond legitimate criticism. And so–

Bob Simon: What does that mean to go beyond…

Michael Oren: Well, I think–

Bob Simon: –legitimate criticism?

Michael Oren: Accusing of us– of crimes that would be very, I think, historically associated with anti-Semitism. And it was actually so inflammatory, Bob, that we didn’t– many of us didn’t even bother responding to it.

Mitri Raheb: They are fearful of this document because they are afraid this might influence the Christian world.

Reverend Raheb, who helped write the document, says it’s anything but anti-Semitic.

Mitri Raheb: This document is– doesn’t ask for violent. It doesn’t ask for revenge. The most powerful thing in this document actually is that asking for hope and love and faith.

Bob Simon: Do you think the Israeli government ever thinks of the fact that if Christians aren’t being treated well here, and America is an overwhelmingly Christian country, that this could have consequences?

Ari Shavit: Israel is not persecuting Christians as Christians. The Christians in the Holy Land suffer from Israeli policies that are a result of the overall tragic situation. And this, of course, has consequences for everybody.

For Israel, there could be serious economic consequences. According to Israeli government figures, tourism is a multi billion dollar business there. Most tourists are Christian. Many of them are American. That’s one reason why Israelis are very sensitive about their image in the United States. And that could be why Ambassador Oren phoned Jeff Fager, the head of CBS News and executive producer of 60 Minutes, while we were still reporting the story, long before tonight’s broadcast. He said he had information our story was quote: “a hatchet job.”

Michael Oren: It seemed to me outrageous. Completely incomprehensible that at a time when these communities, Christian communities throughout the Middle East are being oppressed and massacred, when churches are being burnt, when one of the great stories in history is unfolding? I think it’s– I think it’s– I think you got me a little bit mystified.

Bob Simon: And it was a reason to call the president of– chairman of CBS News?

Michael Oren: Bob, I’m the ambassador of the State of Israel. I do that very, very infrequently as ambassador. It’s just– that’s an extraordinary move for me to complain about something. When I heard that you were going to do a story about Christians in the Holy Land and my assum– and– and had, I believe, information about the nature of it, and it’s been confirmed by this interview today.

Bob Simon: Nothing’s been confirmed by the interview, Mr. Ambassador, because you don’t know what’s going to be put on air.

Michael Oren: Okay. I don’t. True.

Bob Simon: Mr. Ambassador, I’ve been doing this a long time. And I’ve received lots of reactions from just about everyone I’ve done stories about. But I’ve never gotten a reaction before from a story that hasn’t been broadcast yet.

Michael Oren: Well, there’s a first time for everything, Bob.

This land has seen just about everything over the centuries. The ritual in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher the day before Easter hasn’t changed in more than a millennium.

We went into the church with Patriarch Theophilus and watched thousands jostling to get as close as they could to the tomb from which they believe Christ was risen.

Pilgrims have been coming here since 1106 AD to wash themselves in the holy fire, to celebrate the founding miracle of Christianity. They will certainly continue to do so. But how many will be coming from the neighborhood? That’s not a religious question anymore. It’s political.

See also

Uniting Church in Australia take up the call of Kairos Palestine

A Prayer for Peace, November 2011

Follow- up to this story

The following message is from Jessica Morrison, Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) Executive Officer, on 26 April 2012:

As with anything that voices a Palestinian perspective, there has been coordinated and ferocious response.  Before the report had even been completed, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren (who had participated in the program) complained to chairman of CBS News and asked for the program to be withdrawn – without even knowing what would be aired!  A group Christians United for Israel reports that they alone have coordinated 29,000 complaint letters about the program.

We ask you to support CBS’s decision to air the program despite the pressure not to, and pave way for future balanced reporting on the situation across the USA….

we invite you to sign the following petition in support of 60 Minutes.

++sign and promote the Jewish Voice for Peace e-petition.

SIGN THE JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE PETITION

For more information see:

Professor Juan Cole’s Top Ten Reasons Israel tried to censor Bib Simon’s report on Palestinian Christians

’60 Minutes’ profiles Palestinian Christians, Michael Oren falls on his face (Mondowiess)

Netanyahu was briefed on efforts to stop ’60 Minutes’ report on Israel’s Christians (Haaretz)

Easter Sunday 8 April 2012
Brother Peter Bray
Vice-Chancellor Bethlehem University

Greetings from this holy city of Jerusalem where again I have had the opportunity to gather with others to reflect on the Easter mystery. It is indeed a privilege and an inspiration to walk the streets of the Old City and to reflect on what happened here some 2000 years ago.

I have had the opportunity to gather with locals as well as many pilgrims to reflect and pray. To see the international nature of the gatherings reminds me of how far what Jesus began here has travelled. The message of God’s love and of the need for peace and justice has been heard in the farthest ends of the earth. However, it is distressing for me to realize that some of the people with whom I work at Bethlehem University, and many others in that city, cannot join me in these ceremonies. They live some seven kilometres away but because they are Palestinian Christians they could not get permission to come into the Old City to be part of the ceremonies. In spite of the fact that many of these families trace their origins back to the earliest Christians, they cannot easily come to worship in the places where their ancestors worshipped down through the centuries.

This situation brings to mind the article by Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the USA. He claimed in the March 12 Wall Street Journal article, “Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians,” that Israel is providing a supportive environment for Christians and that the Christians are leaving the Holy Land because of the pressure from Muslims. This contradicts what Christians are saying and experiencing.  For more information on this you might like to see the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-l-esposito/getting-it-right-israel-a_b_1345786.html

The Palestinian Christians along with Palestinian Muslims are treated by the Israelis as Palestinians. Thus the Palestinian Christians are restricted in all sorts of ways because they are Palestinian. If they live behind the Wall they need special permission to go into Jerusalem. Israel claims it gives thousands of permits to Christians for special feast like Christmas and Easter. However, of the estimated 50,000 Christians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories only about 3000 get these special permits, but this is arbitrary. In speaking recently with one member of staff at Bethlehem University I discovered that over the past two years she received permission to go into Jerusalem on two of the four times she applied. Her three daughters had also applied and received permission on two occasions. However, there was never an occasion when they were able to go and worship as a family, as there was always someone without permission.

Even those Christians with permits cannot always get through. On Palm Sunday groups of people trying to get to Jerusalem for the procession coming from Ramallah, Nablus, Taybeh and elsewhere in the West Bank spent over two hours at the checkpoints and so gave up and returned home because they would have missed the procession anyhow.

This restriction on travel has an impact in many ways. I was speaking with one of our second year student before Christmas and he mentioned he had never set eyes on the sea or been to Galilee because he couldn’t get permission to go through the Wall. Many of our Christian students from Bethlehem have never been to the Galilee to see Nazareth or the Sea of Galilee or Mount of Beatitudes etc. We have tried all sorts of ways to get visits there but have never been able to get permission for them. So I can go and can take visitors to all these holy places, but people whose ancestry goes back to the early Christians cannot.

Pressure on Christians who occupy land the Israelis want is intense. Israel has systematically put pressure on Palestinians who possess land that Israelis wants. Daoud Nasser, for example, is on his family land just near Bethlehem. He has had to fight the Israeli government and military in the Israeli High Court to retain his land, even though it has been clear from the beginning that he has the documentation to show that it is his ancestral land. This was a very costly exercise. When the government and military could not win in the court they tried restriction. They would not allow any water, electricity, services, building permits and so on for the property. In addition, neighbouring settlers harassed him and his family in an effort to force them off the land. They have not succeeded. Daoud has founded the “Tent of Nations” where he seeks to educate people to what is happening and talks about his approach. He refuses to regard the soldiers, settlers or government as his enemy and acts accordingly. I have been to the site a number of times and I am always impressed with the determination to resist non-violently but to act in a Christian way. This confounds the Israelis at times but is a continual challenge for Daoud to live this approach. So far he has been able to survive through some ingenious moves, but it is a constant strain for him and his family. Many people are not prepared to go to these lengths so give up and leave.

The constant pressure on Christians is evident in restrictions, abuse at checkpoints, economic pressure, unemployment, unpredictable invasion of homes by Israeli military, insecurity and being in an open air prison. All these lead many of them to seek an alternative. So to say Israel is providing a supportive environment for Christians is contradicted by the evidence of what people have to endure.

It is in the midst of this situation that Bethlehem University continues to reach out to Palestinians and particularly Palestinian Christians. In a country where less than 2% are Christian, Bethlehem University has a student population where some 30% are Christian. We are ever looking for better ways to reach out and be supportive of them. There are many challenges facing us in doing this, but the resilience of the students is amazing and inspiring and makes the efforts involved so worthwhile. During the recent visit to Bethlehem University by Brother Alvaro, the Superior General of the Brothers, I felt so proud as I watched and listened to our students engage with him and those with him in a very confident, articulate and informed way.

For almost forty years Bethlehem University has been reaching out to provide university education. Over the past year or so I have been working with people to explore additional ways Bethlehem University could more effectively respond to the needs of the Palestinian people. We have come up with several options and at present we are in negotiations to purchase a property a few hundred metres from our present campus, which is about a third the size of it. To gain this will provide Bethlehem University with an excellent base from which to develop what is needed for the next twenty years. However, finding around $19 million to purchase, renovate, landscape and set up the new programmes is a big ask in the current international economic climate. So please keep us in your prayers that many people will be generous enough to enable us to more adequately respond to the needs of the Palestinian people.

Part of this challenge, and one of the most difficult aspect, is to keep hope alive in the midst of all that people face. Bethlehem University over the years has proved to be a beacon of hope for our students and we continue to reach out to find ever better ways to keep hope alive. This hope is not so much some vague idea that things will be better. Rather at this time of Easter it is good to reflect on Jesus’ victory over death. Against this backdrop our hope is that there is a victorious meaning to what is happening, no matter what the outcome. It its this type of hope that enables us to live our lives in the midst of oppression. This hope gives us the courageous to face whatever comes with a confidence that arises from knowing that we continually live in the presence of our loving God.

It has been a great thrill for me to have a number of visitors from Australia and New Zealand pass through the Holy Land and visit Bethlehem University. For so many of them engaging with our students is the highlight of their visit to the Holy Land. It is one thing to visit churches and holy sites, to see ruins etc., but to engage with students who live in this land and whose roots go back so far is something special. So if you are intending to come to the Holy Land make sure you ask the travel agent or tour organizer to put Bethlehem University on the itinerary! I would love to welcome you on campus and have you engage with some of our students. In May it will be a great please for me to welcome to campus Bishop Owen Dolan from Palmerston North in New Zealand. He follows in the footsteps of his namesake Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, who was with us recently on the same day we had Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited us. However, Bishop Dolan will be given even more favoured treatment in coming from New Zealand!

Tomorrow I walk to Emmaus with a group from Jerusalem. It will again be an opportunity to walk the journey the disciples walked and reflect on what happened in Jerusalem. I will walk and reflect on what happened to Jesus, but also on what is happening to the Palestinian people who would love to walk with me but cannot because they cannot get permission to come through the Wall.  I will remember you as I wander and become even more aware of Jesus being with me on my journey.

I pray God’s blessing on you and a deep peace as you take in the meaning of this Easter season. Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to respond to God’s call. Thank you for your interest in and support for Bethlehem University.

Best wishes as the year continues to unfold for you.

Brother Peter Bray

Tel:  +972-2-274-1241

Fax: +970-2-274-4440

Email: pbray[at]bethlehem[dot]edu

Link 2.

Bethlehem University
http://www.bethlehem.edu/index.php

Brother Alvaro Rodriguez’s visit to Bethlehem University, 22 March 2012

Link 3. – For more information on Peter Bray see the following:

Peter Bray,  ”Peter Bray”, Uploaded by Eureka Street Online  18 May 2011

Peter Kirkwood, “Good News From Palestine”, Eureka Street Magazine, Vol 29: no. 9, 19 May 2011 http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=26404

Unlike most media reports from Israel/Palestine, this interview relates a good news story from that strife-torn region. And the interviewee is a very unlikely advocate for the Palestinian people.

Till two years ago, De La Salle Brother Peter Bray’s career consisted of teaching and education administration in Australia and New Zealand, doctoral studies in the United States, and some lecturing at university level in a number of countries around the world.

Then, because of the sudden illness of the vice-chancellor of Bethlehem University, out of the blue he was asked to fill the unexpected vacancy. He took on this role with determination and vigour, and it opened his eyes to the suffering of the Palestinians.

The idea of establishing a university in Palestine was first mooted during the 1964 visit of Paul VI to Israel. Christian Palestinian leaders were concerned about the number of young people drifting away from the area in order to pursure university education, many never returning. They asked the Pope for assistance in setting up a Catholic university in their homeland.

So, under the auspices of the Church, and partly funded by the Vatican, Bethlehem University opened its doors in 1973. It now has 3000 students from various faith backgrounds, and since its foundation has educated 12,000 graduates.

It has schools offering courses in five subject areas: Arts, Business Administration, Education, Nursing and Science. It also has three institutes specialising in hotel management, community partnership and leadership training.

Even though it has been closed down 12 times by order of the Israeli military, the longest period for three years from October 1987 till October 1990, classes have been held continuously on and off campus since the university opened.

Since then the De La Salle Brothers have administered the university, providing some of its lecturers and the vice-chancellor. Peter Bray of the latest to fill this role, and is well qualified for the job.

Born in New Zealand, he has been principal of three De La Salle schools in Australia and New Zealand, and for 11 years immediately prior to going the Bethlehem he was director of the Wellington Catholic Education Centre in New Zealand.

He has a doctorate in leadership from the University of San Diego, and has lectured in this field in universities and other tertiary educational institutions in New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Ireland, the Philippines, England, Turkey and a number of European countries.

He is well placed to lead Bethlehem University through the next phase of its story which its website outlines as ‘people committed to pursuing their higher education — with perseverance and courage in the face of adversity and injustice — working together in hope of an ever widening circle of colleagues to build a better future’.

Transcript of Mayor of Bethlehem’s speech to Australian Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA tour group

Mayor of Bethlehem Dr Vic Batarseh
Recorded by Cathy Peters, January 2012, Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

Listen to an excerpt of the Mayor of Bethlehem’s speech to Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA (mp3), January 2012

Mayor of Bethlehem, Dr Vic Batarseh, January 2012

About two months ago we received [1, 2], I should say one month ago, we received about $10,000 as help to continue constructing many football [playgrounds] for the children of Bethlehem and we are promised maybe another $10,000 that will help us to go on with this complete constructing this football playground for the children in Bethlehem. You are most welcome to the city of Bethlehem and you are most welcome to the Palestinian National Authority. I hope you’ll enjoy your time and I hope you will see for your own selves, see, hear, ask and get answers for the real position and how we live as Palestinians under occupation and what are the obstacles and how you can help the Palestinian people to be released from this occupation from this wall of separation.

As you see we have entered Bethlehem. This checkpoint from where you entered you see actually is not the main historical entrance of Bethlehem. The main northern historical entrance of Bethlehem was just a few about 100 metres from where you entered but has been closed by the Israeli authorities by this wall of separation and there is an iron door that is opened only during Christmas time and for the passage of President or the Prime Minister and so on. So the main entrance to Bethlehem has been closed completely. This wall has affected, if you remember when I was in Sydney in Marrickville [Channel 9 News 31/8/07, SMH 20/6/07, Marrickville Council].

The media used to say that it is not a wall and there was Good morning it’s like Good Morning America Good Morning that lady does it in Sydney on the TV – Kerrie Ann – so I had a good photo of this wall you see just behind me, I told them this is the wall that they say is not a cement wall and so it was I mean and now we have seen that it is a cement wall and sometimes they say barbed wire, that’s what they used to say the media there. So this wall really surrounds the city of Bethlehem [See Anastas home], that made Bethlehem City a big prison for its citizens. Bethlehem used to be 31 square kilometres in diameter now due to the building of 22 Israeli settlements with 87,000 settlers living in these settlements due to the building of this wall that snakes into the city of Bethlehem between the houses of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is now only 5.7 square kilometres from 31 to 5.7. All our agricultural land has been confiscated to build these 22 settlements and this wall. Just 4-6 weeks ago, they confiscated 7,000 rows of olive trees that were that contains all of the olive trees 7,000 rows just behind the wall that belongs to 180 families from Bethlehem it has been confiscated and now it is they call it within the boundaries of Jerusalem.

Location of Anastas family home (A) showing location of Green line (Israel) and the Annexation Wall (Blue line)

Anastas home as seen from AlHaq Virtual tour

So you see all our agricultural land has been confiscated now, there’s no more and this was one of the main sources of income really agricultural land. The second source of income is employment in Jerusalem. This has gone down to 10-15% of the normal because any citizen who wants to go to Jerusalem should get a special permit from the Israeli authorities and this is very hard to get so only about 15% of the normal number of employees who used to go to work in Jerusalem get this permit, this is the second main source of income.

Now the third source of income is really pilgrimage and tourism. Until the year 2005 …………… was almost nil but since the year 2006 things have been getting better and better every year, there are more tourists coming in, we have more tourists who are sleeping in our hotels, this is the main thing. Those who sleep in our hotels, eat in our restaurants because this give us back and improves the economy of Bethlehem City. Unemployment rate was before 2005 about 30%, now its due to the increase of this pilgrimage and tourists sleeping in our hotels has gone down to 18% but it is still the highest unemployment rate in the Palestinian National Authority and the West Bank. Bethlehem has the highest unemployment rate in the West Bank and families in Gaza have highest unemployment rate in Gaza city.

We are preparing to build more hotels so that more tourists will sleep in our hotels so that we get the benefit from these pilgrims and tourists. Actually now last year we had about 1.5 million during the year coming in but a small number sleeps in Bethlehem. We had about 5,000 sleeping beds and we have around 10 or 11 hotels that are being built newly. This will go up to 10,000 sleeping beds. What we need is 15,000 sleeping beds really to get the benefit of the tourists. Tourism and Israel gets the most of the benefit from these tourists about 92%, we get about 5-8% of benefit of this number of tourists coming in only. Well there’s a hindrance to tourism due to this checkpoint, you know coming in is not very difficult but going out of Bethlehem if they sleep over you have a queue usually of tourist buses about that sometimes have to queue for about 1 hour to get out of the city and this is bad from the travel agents you see because in this way it will take more time for them to go around you see.

Many of them get packages, if they’re not sleeping over, they get the packages from their Israeli hotels where they live and even get the drinks with them you see. The water is so we don’t get anything we out of these tourists.

Now this wall not only affects the colouring of the city, it’s the wall and the occupation. We do not have any freedom of mobility either persons or for trade you see. And this has a very bad effect on the citizens of Bethlehem. This has a bad effect on the health of the citizens of Bethlehem too because we don’t have specialised cardiac centres and neurological centres in Bethlehem. We all have to go to Jerusalem for this or to Oman or Israel and you cannot leave here unless you get this permit from the Israeli authorities even an ambulance carrying a case of my father ………………………with cerebral palsy in a Palestinian ambulance – this ambulance has to stop at the checkpoint, they have to carry this patient on a stretcher to an Israeli ambulance which is very hazardous to the health of this patient. It has a very bad effect on the psychology of our children living in an enclosed area as I said 5.7 square kilometres in diameter they cannot go out for sports, schooling, conferences and so on you see unless they get a special permit, even to go to pray in the Holy Sepulchre or in the mosque for the Muslims you have to get this special permit and Christians are given this permit only through the church during the Holy Days Christmas, Easter and so on and not all Christians are given this permit. So really we’re living in a big prison that you cannot move out of the city without a special permit from the Israeli authorities. This has a very bad effect on the citizens, this has caused a lot of families to immigrate outside of the city, this has changed the demography of the City of Bethlehem. Before 1948, 92% of the citizens were Christians, now Christians only account for 35% of the citizens of Bethlehem. There is immigration of Muslims too from our Muslim brothers but its not so apparent like the Christian immigration from the city and this is all due to the bad economic situation with the pressure of living under occupation.
This is how the city lives. We in the Bethlehem municipality we have 15 members in the Council, 8 Christians and 7 Muslims and by special Presidential decree the Mayor of Bethlehem even by elections should be Christian as well as in the other 9 cities in the Palestinian National Authority. It is by a special presidential decree. Given the special character of these ten cities, there is a history of our Lord Jesus Christ in this part of the world.

The cities are Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala in this governorate okay and other cities are all over the Palestinian National Authority. Muslims and Christians are very good neighbours in this community and in all over Palestine we are a model really of co-existence between the two communities. We do not have any problems at all even in the Municipal Council everything goes on very smoothly because we work as one body for the benefit of the citizens of the city. The City of Bethlehem have 32,000, the Governorate of Bethlehem is 180,000 and in the Governorate of Bethlehem we have about 29 local authorities, either small ones or big ones you see. We have what we call the joint service council for solid waste management for the whole governorate. I am the Chairman of this solid waste management joint services. It applies for all the governorate of Bethlehem for 180,000 people. We own as Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour we own the water supply for the cities and for the dirty water, waste sewage, Beit Jala, Bethlehem and Beit Sahour. We own as Bethlehem 5 out of 11 roads, Beit Sahour holds 3 and Bet Jala 3. This is as far as the city.

Now if you want to talk about the political issue. The political issue is this. We seek peace in a peaceful manner. Our President always talks about this because we want peace, we need peace as well as the Israelis need peace by the way. Our President and Prime Minister always talk about peace, they want to have peace and we have accepted the two state solution on the 1967 borders which gives us 22% only of our historical Palestine but unfortunately until now Israel is not willing to accept this peace. Israel is still building new settlements in the Palestinian part where supposedly this area should be given to the Palestinians to establish a viable Palestinian State on. We have over 150 settlements with about half a million settlers living in them in the Palestinian part where we should establish our Palestinian State on. This eventually building these settlements will eventually give us only 13% of historical Palestine with the cities disconnected you cannot have a viable Palestinian State and that is why for the past year our President was not willing to sit and talk peace until they stop building these settlements and they accept the 1967 borders for the State of Palestine but unfortunately until now Israel is not willing to stop building these settlements, they’re building more and more every day so that within a year or two we’ll have no more land to establish a viable Palestine state on. Very simple as that. If the world, the free world will force Israel to implement UN resolution 242, 181, 194 believe me we will have peace within 24 hours.

We are against killing any human being on this planet whether Muslim, Jew or Christian. We are a peace seeking people, we love peace, we need peace and we are trying to get this peace in a peaceful manner but unfortunately as you have heard there were talks in Amman in Jordan for the past month with no result at all. Israelis are not willing to stop building these settlements and these settlements are impediments to peace because you cannot have so many settlements in the Palestinian side dividing the Palestinian cities, it will never be a viable Palestinian State. This is our position as far as the political solution but our President still even today says we want peace, we are ready to sit and talk peace but unfortunately for the past 18-20 years bilateral talks lead to nothing. The US and the Europeans and Australia, everyone are not willing to make pressure on Israel unfortunately. They do not have the courage to stand and tell Israel enough is enough. We need peace in the world, why not force Israel to implement UN resolutions as it has been forced everywhere in Afghanistan, in Lebanon, in Iraq, everywhere but when it comes to Israel everyone is afraid. Unfortunately. This is our position. I mean if things remain like this, believe me we’ll have extremism all over the world. Once we have peace here, we’ll have peach all over the world. And as you have seen what’s happening around us in the other Arab countries around us, well you know they say it’s the Arab Spring but unfortunately this Arab Spring brought governments all over the world that are built on religion, the Muslim brotherhood governments whether in Libya, Libya is not, there are still many, many troubles in Libya, Libya, Tunisia, which was open to everyone Tunisia is now going to be governed by the Muslim brotherhood, Egypt you see what’s happened too, they got 70% of the vote, Syria is on the way and if Syrians, we are against dictatorships but at the same time we don’t want to get worst dictatorships built on religion which will be more extremist. I’ll tell you very frankly this ………………….. has been I mean the turning point is now really helped by the US and the Europeans are standing with these regimes that will not be very helpful, I hope they’ll be democratic but I cannot see a government or a state built on religion can be democratic. To me I believe any statement on the …………………. would be undemocratic, the only democracy that can be is if its stays with, to be a secular state that you do not mix religion with statehood, like in Australia, like in the States, all over Europe but what’s happening around us is exactly the opposite. Where it will reach nobody knows because I don’t believe there will be a true democracy in these governments. Any statement of religion, in Egypt you have about 10 million Christians between the 80 million inhabitants, in Syria you have many Christians. See what’s happening in Iraq, burning churches, killing Christians. In Egypt it has happened too, burning churches and so on so really the Christian community in the orient are now a little bit afraid of what’s going to happen. We hope that because there are many I mean Muslim brothers here who look for democracy for building, for example in Palestine 70% of the Muslims in Palestine want a secular democratic state, they don’t want a state built on religion. Even the Muslims want this.

But what’s happening around us doesn’t look brilliant like our state in Palestine. Our government is more open to the world you see. Egypt was open to the world, Tunisia was but now what will happen we don’t know. I hope that we’ll have democracies there too, it will take some time, it will take some time but we hope that they’ll be open and we’ll have some democracy there. This is how it is here for the conflict, the Israeli Palestinian conflict really can be so very easily if we can implement UN resolutions and the only way to make Israel implement UN resolutions to me now since we don’t say use force but you can use the same thing like has been done in South Africa, boycott. This is the only way to force them to come to the table and make peace by cutting Israel, it’s not enough that NGOs and persons to boycott all firms but there should be a boycott by governments and this is the way as I see it is farfetched because the US is not willing, the Europeans are not willing to boycott Israel to make Israel implement the UN resolution. This is the only way, I mean you cannot use force against Israel to make them implement UN resolutions but this is a peaceful manner to make Israel come to peace. And I think it’s for the benefit of Israel to make peace nowadays with what’s happening nowadays in the Arab world as you see. Well this is our position and we still hope, we hope for peace because we love peace and from Bethlehem this is our message, a message of love and peace, we should build bridges of love and understanding between the people, not build walls of cement which prevents people from having contact with each other.

Thank you for coming and if you have any questions I will ………………..

Question and Answer Session

Question: Thank you very much for your invitation and talk. The question I have today is if in Egypt and the surrounding Arab countries there is a Muslim brotherhood or a Muslim or religious based organisations coming into power, what effect will that in the longer term do you think will have on Israel?
Answer: Well I mean the Israelis should think about this. That’s why I say the sooner they make peace the better. To me Israel is asking for an Israeli-Jewish state, okay. Now the highest percentage of the states around Israel is Muslims. That’s why they are now asking for Muslin-Arab States and if religion interferes in statehood there’ll turn out to be accidents, whether Israelis or Arab states. That’s why I say there should be democratic secular states in this part of the world as it is all over the world, it would be easier to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Who knows what will happen, nobody knows, we cannot foresee what the States will look like in a few years, maybe now they say okay we recognise what has been signed between Egypt, Jordan and Israel but the longer you cannot foresee what would happen if things are not solved I tell you very frankly we’ll have more accidents.

Question: How much is the question of alliance between Fatah and Hamas a key to putting pressure on the European Union, Australia and the United States to tell Israel to stop its cruelty and to implement the UN resolutions?
Answer: I think the Arabs States have the power to make US and Israel come to peace but unfortunately now the Arab world are not using this power really because they are linked with the American foreign policy most of the rulers in the Arab States before were linked and I would say they were puppets to the American policy but that’s what I have said this is in relation to nobody knows with the change of the States and the governments of these Arab countries will continue to be puppets in the hands of the US and the Europeans.

Question: What about the alliance between Hamas and Fatah?
Answer: It will be more effective if there is an alliance between Fatah and Hamas and all the Palestinian people definitely it will be if you talk as one body you will be stronger you see in front of the whole world and in front of Israel too, in front of Israel but you need I mean the US mainly because the Europeans actually follow what the US wants unfortunately though they are a strong body as the European Union they could have their own idea and since they are closer to us to the Holy Land here the Europeans they could have a special, their own ideas, their own political view and not linked to the US but unfortunately until now whatever the US says they follow up, they don’t have their own political view they know better than the US what’s happening here.

Question: You mentioned earlier that with the hotels and the desirability of that increasing, who’s building the hotels and who’s running them, private entrepreneurs or
Answer: The hotels are run by local people really. Until now it’s by local people.

Question: And who’ll be running them, are they going to be like?
Answer: We have you know they run them because we have hotel management school at the Bethlehem University here and we have people who are really fit to run these hotels.

Question: So the money that’s made out of that goes back to the community rather than being siphoned off somewhere else?
Answer: Yes it’s back in the community and this is how the unemployment rate really went down because its circular, it’s a circle that goes around you know, they have to buy more vegetables, more food, more people working, washing, taxis, restaurants. This is a circle that goes around that makes everyone work you see and tourists coming in they fool around there, all shops, not only the souvenir shops work even normal shops you know and you have some internal clothes from Arabs inside Israel now, they come every weekend here too, they stay in the hotels, they go around even these people give more to the community because they go around buy clothes, buy food and so on you know.

Question: …………………….
Answer: We meet Israeli Mayors outside the country but they cannot come here because their government prohibits them from coming here, it’s not our government it’s the Israeli government prohibits them to come to the Palestinian side and we cannot go there because you are not given a permit to go, so it’s the Israeli side that is prohibiting this dialogue you see. As you said before for 10 years there were no rules, they used to come over here , eat in our restaurants, sleep in the hotels, we could meet each other you see but this has been cut since the establishment of this wall possibly.

Question: I think every member of our parliament in Australia should receive an A4 colour photograph of this actually even worse than the wall the gate that we saw on the way in with the Palestinian people being herded through like cattle. If you could get us some photographs of that
Answer: Workers go and queue from 4am, those who’ve got the permit have to queue from 4am okay to pass into Jerusalem. I myself as a Mayor in my age I get a permit only because I’m a deputy chairman of the Jerusalem Electric Company to go for our meetings you see I get it through the Electric Company only because I’ve not will be given any permit to go to Jerusalem otherwise. You have to go and queue and pass through. Take off my jacket, my shoes, my belt.

Question: And workers now also have fingerprints taken.
Answer: I have to put the fingerprint yes.
Question: When the workers go at 4am how long is that, is that because it takes 4 hours to get through?
Answer: Because all the southern area pass through this checkpoint only from Hebron and all the villages of Hebron, Bethlehem, villages of Bethlehem, all pass through this checkpoint only that’s why it takes time you see.

Question: So there’s a huge queue every day?
Answer: Yes there’s a huge queue every day. There is people from outside that watch the checkpoint and they have a, every month I get , I just got last month how many people pass there, they go and watch them how they treat the people and so on. We have some foreigners who come over here and watch them and I get every month the list of how many people every day pass through checkpoint, whether women, men or old men and so on.

Question: Who does that? Who watches the checkpoint?
Answer: They are NGOs from Europe.

Question: What kind of NGOs are operating in Bethlehem?
Answer: Many NGOs, I cannot name them because we have many NGOs operating either in Bethlehem or in Ramallah but the main NGOs are really in Ramallah because now Ramallah is considered to be, it’s not the capital but it works as the capital of Beit Sahour because the President is there, the government is there you see, that’s why Ramallah is flourishing and there are no walls really near Ramallah that encircle Ramallah itself, its more open. Bethlehem is the worst that’s why we have the highest percentage of unemployment because it is encircled within this wall.

Question: Could I ask you a devil’s advocate question which is about the idea that gets trotted out by Jewish groups around the world and by Israelis is that we only do this because every time we move towards peace Hamas fires a rocket into defenceless people. I don’t believe that for one minute but that’s what we’ll get when we go back, that’s what the right wing press will say, that’s what the whole of the American Senate Congress is saying. How do you respond to that?
Answer: This is untrue actually because you know when ever, I mean these rockets are even useless rockets that’s what we say why should they I mean fire them at Israel because until now nobody dies from these rockets and taking this as a reason you know they have attacked Gaza City you know three years ago and they’ve attacked Gaza by aeroplanes, by cannons, by tanks, they’ve killed more than 1,500 people, children, women, they have injured thousands, they have destroyed thousands of houses in Gaza. I mean you cannot compare these useless rockets you see with the war machinery that Israel has. And there were no rockets fired for last 40 years because they had talks with Hamas you see in Gaza and whenever this proves to you that when there are talks we can have because they have the Israeli government has invited talks with Hamas that’s why all the rockets stopped I mean over the past 2 or 3 years after that war you see. That is no reason for not making peace. The minute you make peace there’ll be no more rockets and these are useless rockets we know this, all the world knows this.

Question: Can I follow up on that please could you explain and I’m sick of tired of you saying this well that’s the reality but the propaganda victory is ………………… You know the story …………………. including our federal politicians, I’ve had an opportunity to speak to them, they will always cite the rockets and they don’t cite the facts which you correctly said. The question is how to change the perception and to fight the propaganda which is so successfully run with essentially lies about what the realities are?

Answer: Unfortunately, the media is biased all over the world. It is governed by the Zionist lobby, even I mean, the US foreign policy is really done by the Zionist lobby in the US, APAT, if you know is APAT, and by the Zionist Christian community, they have the fundamentalist Christians who are pro Israeli, not 100% they’re more Zionist than the Israelis themselves because they believe actually the Old Testament that we should have the kingdom of Israel at the end of the world and then all the Jews will become Christians. This is what they believe. I’ve been with……………………… so they believe in this but I tell them are you a Christian, I’m a Christian, well since you are a Christian, talk as a Christian God is not a man who sells land or he’s not as you know a salesman he’s no different ………………………………… his sons and daughters, we’re all sons of God so don’t tell me that, this is nonsense I mean, actually the Zionist lobby are using them and unfortunately they use what we call anyone who stands and talks about Israel, not about Judaism is labelled as anti Semitic and that’s why the world is afraid of them, unfortunately but I think nothing will be solved unless we have a statesman who’ll be courageous enough to stand and talk and say the truth.

Question: Mr Mayor, you mentioned earlier the need for secular democratic governments in this region, do you have any thoughts on why these extreme Muslim brotherhood type governments or movements are starting to come about at the moment at the very time that there’s a shift in world opinion about the situation here in Palestine. You think it’s too convenient that the Americans may have quite a lot to do with promoting these extremist brotherhoods?
Answer: I think they do it because the Muslim brotherhood are the only group that has been working with the lower class and the middle class, they’re spending money in schools, hospitals, educational centres, sports centres, they have, it’s like what Hamas has been doing here that’s why they got the last elections, they got the upper hand and they are the only group you see that are well organised as a political group. I think the States and the Europeans think maybe they could, if they come to power they could work with them and make them try to be more democratic. Unfortunately we don’t know, let’s hope so. Let’s hope so but I don’t believe so.

Question: Mr Mayor, would you be able to talk a little bit about civil society and the BDS call because a lot of people here, some people here are not aware of it and how it is authorised by the Palestinian people?
Answer: Well the BDS has been you know governed by and has started from the Christian community in Palestine and we as Christians of the Orient you see, we have a place in this society, we are the original citizens of the Holy Land. Even our Muslim brothers say this so though we are smaller in number but our actions are very powerful and they have decided since 2 years you see to say plainly to all the world that we need peace in this part of the world. As a civil society we can live together as two communities Christians and Muslims and if there is peace Jews too. And as I said before they found that the only way to reach to peace is by making Israel implement UN resolutions in a peaceful manner which is the boycott sanctions against Israel and this is the message of the Christians of the Orient, not only in Palestine and it was sent to the Vatican and its going on now all over the world. The Kyros? don’t know if they heard about the Kyros too. It’s like the South African message yes okay. I think we could manage if they are saying things to get to some of the books about it. The message of the Kyros which is the message of the Christian Orient through the world about the Israeli Palestinian conflict.

Question: We understand that 170 organisations in civil society have endorsed the call for BDS.
Answer: Yes, around the world, especially many many Christian churches are calling for it and I think this is the only way as I said before which BDS is boycott, divestment and sanctions, BDS, boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel and this is the only way as I said before to make Israel come to a peaceful solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
When we talked outside about peace and that we should talk together, we should work together for peace as Mayors for Peace, a city diplomacy, unfortunately they do nothing about it. They’re afraid to stand for their government and tell them this is wrong. I told them this the last time we had a meeting just a few months ago in Cologne you know with the European Mayors and Israeli Mayors and I told them I think this is the last time I’m ready to come and talk because unfortunately we’ve been meeting in a big forum, I mean not only Israelis, European Mayors too, sometimes from the US and we talk here but unfortunately what happen happens when we’re back home, you don’t stand for your government and tell them this is wrong. And what’s the use of coming and talking and since you are not able to stand, you represent as Mayors, elected Mayors, the people of your cities. If you don’t have the courage to stand up and talk about peace, stand up and talk to your government what it does something wrong to the Palestinians, what’s the use of meeting people, it’s like the ………….. approach that I’m going on, I mean. They do not want to stand for the government and tell them this is wrong. I mean if these Mayors really that are elected you know political figures are not standing up to tell their government we want peace, you should go and make peace, you should stop building these settlements, if you really want peace what’s the use of meeting here.
Question: What do they say to you when you challenge them, these Israeli Mayors?
Answer: We cry, we curse over we cannot talk everything even when I talked about the water supply, I mean they are taking our water, we cannot talk about it, they’re afraid to talk about anything unfortunately.

Question: Just on the water supply, I know we have to wrap it up soon, but could you tell us a little bit about the problems that Council faces?
Answer: This is one of the most important really problems that we have in Bethlehem, not only in Bethlehem, all the Palestinian Authority. We get only 17% of our water, our own water, they get 83% from our wells to the settlements. The settlements do not have collecting tanks for their water because they get their water for 24 hours a day, we get our once every 15-20 days for 2 days or 3 days. The settlements get their water all the day all the year around every minute, every second, they don’t have collection tanks to keep the water because they get it all over the day while we as Palestinians, especially here in Bethlehem in the southern part, we get the water only once every 15 to 20 days for a couple of days, that’s why we should have water collection tanks to keep the water and most of the time it’s not enough. And with the increase of citizens this agreement has been signed since Oslo, that’s about 20 years ago, the same amount is given, we have more citizens you see, we have more pilgrims and tourists coming, we have more hotels and it’s a really big problem, one of the biggest problems we have is our water supply.

Question: And the water source, the water here, is coming from where?
Answer: The water is coming in, they collect it from here and from there and they resell us our water. And we are not allowed to dig for water to get water unless they give you the licence and the depth they give you only, you cannot dig any well.
Finally, the European Parliament wrote something about the water and they said this is an unhuman what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. Finally just last week.
Formal presentation made to Mayor

Cathy Peters
15 March 2012

Editorial note – Cathy Peters is a Greens Councillor for Marrickville Council. She has written the following after returning to Australia from her January visit to Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine. She is writing this as a private person.

Driving into Bethlehem isn’t easy. But any movement around the West Bank is curtailed by checkpoints that work to thwart, frustrate and intimidate anyone seeking to travel even very short distances. The huge omnipresent Separation Wall combines with these checkpoints to constantly enforce the permanency of the Occupation – shocking in its scale and shocking in its mute imprisonment of an entire population.

Banksy's Peace Dove, Bethlehem wall, Occupied Palestine

Finally we get through and drive past the iconic graffiti and art works on the Palestinian side of the Wall. These works speak loudly of the injustices lived daily by all Palestinians.
The Wall has made Bethlehem a prison for it’s citizens and deterred many thousands of tourists. It’s resulted in Bethlehem registering the highest unemployment in the West Bank and hundreds are now are forced to cue for hours at checkpoints waiting to travel short distances to work outside the city. In the city, only a few tourist retailers are open and most businesses are boarded up.

Bethlehem Wall, Occupied Palestine

Bethlehem Wall, Occupied Palestine

A couple of boys sell coffee in the cold in the car park – they don’t bother to smile when we ask to take their photo – we’re offering nothing that will change their lives and they know it.

Palestinian boys selling coffee, Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

Bethlehem originally extended to 31 square kilometres in diameter but now only spans 5.7 square kilometres as settler land theft and the expanding Wall perimeters have continually eaten away Palestinian territory.

There are some 22 Israeli colonies ringing this historic city and these house about 87,000 illegal residents who use Jewish only roads and attend Jewish only schools and shops and use up to 82% of the available water resources.

And according to Bethlehem’s mayor, Victor Batarseh, all the city’s agricultural land has been confiscated. Land that was owned by hundreds of families from Bethlehem and land that provided a living for generations of Palestinians.
This land confiscation has continued relentlessly as the Wall delineates the territory colonised by illegal settlements. In January this year, another 7000 dunams (7,000 square meters) of land was stolen. This was agricultural land that used to grow centuries old olive trees.

We leave the city centre not in awe of it’s Christian heritage but silenced by the reality of life in Bethlehem now in 2012.

Israeli watch tower, Bethlehem annexation wall, Occupied Palestine

Daoud Kuttab, “Evangelicals meet with their Palestinian counterparts”, Huff Post, 12 March 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/christ-at-checkpoint-conference-challenges-christian-zionism_b_1329048.html

The Checkpoint from Christ at the Checkpoint on Vimeo.

For the second year running, a unique event took place in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem this week. Christian evangelicals that many consider as most ardent supporters for Israel (often more so than many Israelis) were guests of a Palestinian Christian gathering.

The “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference, sponsored by Bethlehem Bible College, hosted more than 600 evangelicals from around the world, but primarily from the U.S. Among the leading evangelicals attending this Palestinian-sponsored event were Rev. Joel Hunter, the spiritual adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, theologian Tony Campollo, social activists Ron Sider and Lyn Hybes, British pastor Stephen Sizer, community leader Shane Claiborne, Messianic leader Wayne Hilsden and Asian reverend Sang-Bok David Kim.

Before it opened at the Jacir Palace InterContinental Hotel, the conference (both organizers and guests) was the subject of multi-pronged attacks. Speakers were pressured not to attend with hundreds of e-mails and phone calls, with accusations that by participating they are giving legitimacy to an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic gathering.

Two rabbis who work on interfaith issues at the Wiesenthal Centre scathingly attacked the conference as potentially shaking up the foundations of the most effective supporters to Israel. Writing in the Jerusalem Post, Rabbis Abraham Cooper and Yitzchok Adlerstein said that the conference is “taking dead aim at Israel’s single largest and most reliable supporter: Tens of millions of evangelical Christians who have stood with the Jewish state since day one.”

They concluded that if the conference achieves even some of its aims, “the consequences will be disastrous for Israel and world Jewry.”

Those articles and more produced a level of intellectual terrorism not known within Christian circles that believe in dialogue among fellow believers.

Perhaps the hardest hit group were Christian leaders of Jewish origin. Messianic Jews intending to attend were severely targeted and accused of giving legitimacy to an anti-Israel event. They came nevertheless and said that they felt welcomed and respected.

The conference was not an anti-Israel event by any means. Its power derived more from challenging some current theological interpretations than from being a political discourse.

Most of the sessions included debates over rather complicated terminology (for example, of strict vs. progressive dispensationalism, a system of prophetic theology in which Israel is greatly featured as part of God’s will in the end times) or answers to questions (like do Palestinian Christians cause a problem to Christian Zionism, what is the biblical theology of the land, is the opposite of Christian Zionism replacement theology, how does theology affect policy).

Not that the conference ignored the Palestinian reality. Opening the conference, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Mayor of Bethlehem Victor Batarseh welcomed the international guests and impressed on them the Palestinians’ aspiration to live in freedom and peace alongside Israel. Fayyad talked about the importance of nonviolence and the need to support peace with justice.

The speakers were disarming. An olive branch was extended especially to Israeli messianic leaders and it seemed to produce an unusually warm atmosphere.

Besides attending the conference, most of the international guests were given alternative tours that including visits to various Palestinian communities affected by the Israeli occupation, including families whose land is off-limits because of the Israeli wall and Christian Palestinian families who are suffering because of the continued Israeli occupation.

Most of the participants who attended the conference appeared to have reached the conclusion that it is unacceptable to mix theology with politics and to try to use some isolated texts from the Bible to justify Israeli actions. But what the conference seems to have done is to strengthen and sharpen various arguments that debunk the myths that many consider is the stereotypical position of Christian evangelicals.

In addition to theological discussions, the conference gave participants a unique perspective on Palestine and Palestinian Christians. To many evangelicals, the conference provided a powerful human aspect that makes it impossible for them to continue to divorce some interpretations of Christian theology from their effect on real people, in fact on people who share similar biblical beliefs.

Hardcore evangelicals, televangelists and generally Christian Zionists will undoubtedly continue exhibiting clear bias vis-à-vis Palestinians and be in favour of some messianic solution to the conflict, that does not include any Palestinian, whether Christian or Muslim. However, the ability to deny the suffering and to claim that “we didn’t know” is becoming increasingly more difficult.

The “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference was streamed live and participants will no doubt return to their churches in the West with a different message: that to have peace is to have justice and that peace and justice are the cornerstone of the Christian faith, irrespective of the theological spin Christian Zionists have tried to put it.

Follow Daoud Kuttab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/daoudkuttab

“PLAYGROUND CONSTRUCTION WILL START IN MARCH”

SAYS BETHLEHEM MAYOR VIC BATARSEH

Thanks Marrickville for $10,000 gift.

Marrickville Councillor, Cathy Peters and Mayor of Bethlehem Dr Vic Batarseh

The Mayor of Bethlehem, Dr Vic Batarseh, who visited Marrickville

in 2007, has thanked Marrickville Council for its gift late last year

and tells our website in this interview how it will help Bethlehem’s

children.

1.      Is it true that Bethlehem has a great need for more children’s playgrounds?

Yes, in Bethlehem there is lots of children who are deprived of their basic need and basic right, which is to be a child and live like a child. They have no facilities where they can go on a normal day and play sport or spend their time. All the facilities afforded at schools are small and in tiny scales.

2.     Have you received the $10,000 from Marrickville Council and will it mean you can start on a playground or is more money needed?

Yes, with many thanks we received the money and now we are going to start the first step of this project, but we are going to need more money as this is a big project and in order to make it in an exemplary way to guarantee the safeness of our children.

3.      What was the reaction of Councillors and staff to receiving this donation from faraway Sydney?

They were very grateful and expressed their gratitude and appreciation to this distinguished relation of twinning between Bethlehem Municipality and the City of Marrickville, and hoped the other 66 twin cities that Bethlehem Municipality has would do the same or at least contribute in making something good for Bethlehem.

4.    What is the next practical step towards getting a playground?

We will start with the work at the beginning of March to construct the

infrastructure and the administration rooms.

5.    Will you make it locally or import materials from Israel, Egypt, Lebanon or

Jordan?

No, the material will be bought from locally, from merchants in Bethlehem city.

6.    Is there a model we can see of what you intend to build?

No, because making the model is too expensive but we can afford the

construction map.

7.   Will the people of Bethlehem get to hear that Marrickville Council in Australia, its sister-city, donated this amount?

Bethlehem Council members hold periodic meetings at the municipalities

Hall for the representatives of the Bethlehem community to discuss

several issues for the city and the project of the playground was mentioned

and they got to know that the city of Marrickville in Australia is the one

funding this project.

Also, upon the primary step, the process and the completion of this project,

people will be notified about it through several kinds of media, such as the

municipality’s website, the radio stations and newspaper.

And upon the completion of this project, at the entrance of the playground,

there will be a signboard explaining about the project and showing that the

city of Marrickville is the one that funded it, and lots of associations, schools

and groups benefiting in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas will be

invited.

Interview with Mayor of Bethlehem Dr Vic Bataresh
By Peter Manning
25 February 2012

Peter Manning
Sydney Morning Herald, Opinion, 13 February 2012

Gareth Evans, the chancellor of the Australian National University, former head of the International Crisis Group and former foreign minister, is not giving up. He wrote in The Australian Financial Review last year that Australia should vote “yes” in the United Nations to Palestine becoming a full member. He was ignored. Kevin Rudd thought we should abstain but Julia Gillard followed the US-Israeli line and voted “no”.

A break in the wall - an uncanny resemblance to mainland Australia. How can Australians assist in ending the occupation? (Artwork by Banksy, August 2005)

Evans was back in the fight on Australia Day, using an address in Melbourne to lambast the Gillard government for not “repositioning Australia on the global stage” nor being a “decent and committed international citizen” on issues like Israel-Palestine, instead letting “domestic political considerations” rule foreign policy.

Labor’s official policy speaks of an “even-handed” approach, ensuring the freedom, security and independence of both peoples. But behind the scenes modern Labor leaders fall over themselves to reassure Israel of their allegiance – from Bob Hawke’s “emotional” meetings with Israeli prime ministers to Rudd having Israel “in his DNA” and Gillard’s close public association with the new Australia-Israel Leadership Forum.

But polls now show that while Hawke might have reflected Australian attitudes in the 1980s, in the 21st century Rudd and Gillard certainly don’t.

Individual polls can be misleading. It’s the trend of polls that matters. Occasional polls on Israel-Palestine were conducted by a small number of companies between 1946 and 1990. Over that 40-plus-year period, they tell us that: Australians were evenly divided on whether Palestine should be partitioned at all in the late 1940s; Australians supported Israel by a large majority in 1967 when it defeated Egypt and invaded and occupied the Palestinian territories; and Australians were pro-Israel in 1974, again by a large majority, following the 1973 war with Syria, Egypt and Jordan.

This support continued into the 1980s. A McNair Ingenuity poll in 1981 asked, “Are your sympathies … mainly with the Jewish people? OR mainly with the Arabic people? OR are they more or less equal?” (Results: Jewish people 28 per cent; Arab people 4 per cent; Equal 55 per cent; Don’t know 13 per cent.)

At least seven reputable polls have been conducted in the past decade touching on the question of Australian attitudes to Israel-Palestine. In 2003, 35 per cent agreed ”with American policy on Israel and Palestine”, while 39 per cent disagreed.

In two polls in 2006, sympathy was almost evenly divided between the two sides, with two-thirds in one poll saying their sympathies were ”equal”.

But in 2007, after the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, 68 per cent had a negative view of Israel and, in 2009, after the war in Gaza, 24 per cent sympathised with Israel, 28 per cent with the Palestinians and 26 per cent with neither.

In 2010, 55 per cent described the conflict as ”Palestinians trying to end Israel’s occupation and form their [own] state”, while 32 per cent preferred ”Israelis fighting for security against Palestinian terrorism”.

And last year, while sympathies were almost evenly divided, 63 per cent were against settlers building on occupied land and 51 per cent thought Australia should vote ”Yes” for Palestinian statehood at the UN, compared to 15 per cent ”No” and 20 per cent ”Abstain”.

I am listing here only polls from private polling companies with established reputations in the specialist field.

The overwhelming trend shows a sharp swing since the 1980s against Israel’s image and actions among ordinary Australians. The fact of the current disjunction between government policy and public attitudes on the Israel-Palestine issue receives almost no publicity, unlike polls on Afghanistan. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide.

The Gillard government stood against Australian public opinion, against the former Labor foreign minister from the Hawke government, against its own foreign minister’s plea to at least “abstain”, against the arguments of that conservative bastion of opinion The Economist, and against most of the world, but with the US and Israel in voting “no” to Palestine’s entry into the UN.

This snubbing of public opinion cannot last. Once upon a time, before the emergence of the Greens, progressive voters had nowhere else to go. Now they do. If Labor wishes to renew itself, it might start by listening to the views of its voters. And they are increasingly tolling the bell on Palestine.

Peter Manning is a journalist, academic and author of Us and Them: Media, Muslims and the Middle East (Random House, 2006).

POLLS:

1. Pollster: Roy Morgan Research. June, 2003.

Question: “Do you agree or disagree with American policy on Israel and Palestine?”

Results: Agree 35%, Disagree 39%, Don’t Know 26%.

2. Pollster: UMR Research for Hawker Britton consultants. March, 2006.

Question: “Generally, do you feel more sympathy towards the Israelis or the Palestinians?”

Results: Israelis 24%, Palestinians 23%, Neither/Both 33%, Unsure 20%.

3. Pollster: McNair Ingenuity Research. September, 2006.

Question: “What about you personally – are your sympathies – mainly with the Jewish people? OR mainly with the Arabic people? OR are they more or less equal?”

Results: Jewish people 13%, Arab people 10%, Equal 67%, Don’t know 10%.

4. Pollster: GlobeScan and PIPA Centre at University Of Maryland for BBC World Service. March, 2007.

Question concerns influences of various countries on the world.

Results: “Israel is viewed quite negatively in the world, possibly because the poll was conducted less than six months following the Israel/Hezbollah war in Lebanon… Large majorities also have negative views in Europe, including Germany (77%), Greece (68%) and France (66%). Indonesia (71%), Australia (68%) and South Korea (62%) are the most negative countries in the Asia/Pacific region. Brazilians (72%) are the most negative in Latin America”.

5. Pollster: Roy Morgan Research. May, 2009.

Question i:  “Overall, do your sympathies lie more with the Israelis or the Palestinians?”

Results: Israelis 24%, Palestinians 28%, Neither 26%, Can’t say 22%.

Question ii: “In late December 2008, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which lasted three and a half weeks. Israel’s stated aim was to stop Hamas’ or the Palestinians’ rocket attacks on Israel, and to stop arms being smuggled into Gaza via tunnels. Hamas and the Palestinians stated that the tunnels were only used to deliver food and medicines to the Gaza strip residents because the Israelis had failed to lift their blockade of the Gaza Strip. Before today, were you aware of that situation?”

Results: Yes 57%, No 42%, Can’t say 1%.

Question iii: “In your opinion, was Israel’s recent military action in the Gaza Strip justified or was it not justified?”

Results: Justified 28%, Not justified 42%, Can’t say 29%.

6. Pollster: Research Now, Griffith University. May, 2010.

Question ii: Which of the following best describes the Israel-Palestine conflict?

Results: Palestinians trying to end Israel’s occupation and form their state (55%), Israelis fighting for security against Palestinian terrorism (32%), Both Palestinian self-determination and Israeli self-defence (4%), Other (9%).

Question vi: To what extent do you agree Israel should withdraw from the settlements it has constructed on Palestinian land?

Results: Strongly agree 24%, Agree 53%, Disagree 18%, Strongly disagree 5%.

7. Pollster: Roy Morgan Research. November, 2011.

Question i: “Overall, do your sympathies lie more with the Israelis or the Palestinians?’’

Results: Israelis 26%, Palestinians 27%, Neither 21%, Can’t say 26%.

Question ii: ‘‘Israeli settlers have been building homes on occupied Palestinian land for many years. Would you say you support this activity?’’

Results: Yes 17%, No 63%, Can’t say 20%.

Question iii: “In September 2011, Palestine applied for full membership of the United Nations. This request is now being considered by the United Nations but Israel and the USA are opposed to it. In your opinion, should the United Nations recognize Palestine as one of its member States?”

Results: Yes 61%, No 22%, Can’t say 18%.

Question iv: “In order for Palestine to be recognized as a full member State of the United Nations, existing member Nations must enter a vote of ‘yes’, ‘no’, or they can ‘abstain’ from voting. In your opinion, how should Australia vote?’’

Results: Vote yes 51%, Vote no 15%, Abstain 20%, Can’t say 14%.

SMH Correction: ”Political stance on Palestine is out of step with public opinion” said Australians were evenly divided in the 1940s on whether Palestine should be partitioned. In fact the relevant Morgan poll asked whether immigration of Jews to Palestine should be limited, an issue on which Australians split 44 per cent for and 44 per cent against.

Roy Morgan Interviewing Services, Public Opinion Attitude Survey 2011, November 2011

Q1. Next about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How much would you say

you know about the situation? A lot or fair amount or not very much?

1 A lot 8%

2 Fair amount 36%

3 Not very much 52%

4 Nothing 4%

Q2. Overall, do your sympathies lie more with the #/Israelis or the

Palestinians/Palestinians or the Israelis/? (text rotated)

1 Israelis 26%

2 Palestinians 27%

3 Neither 21%

4 Can’t say 26%

Q3. Israeli settlers have been building homes on occupied Palestinian land for many

years. Would you say you support this activity?

1 Yes 17%

2 No 63%

3 Can’t say 20%

Q4. Is Palestine a full member state of the United Nations?

1 Yes 14%

2 No 44%

3 Can’t say 43%

READ OUT

In September 2011, Palestine applied for full membership of the United Nations. This

request is now being considered by the United Nations but Israel and the USA are

opposed to it.

Q5. In your opinion, should the United Nations recognise Palestine as one of its

member States?

1 Yes 61%

2 No 22%

3 Can’t say 18%

Q6. In order for Palestine to be recognised as a full member state of the United

Nations, existing member Nations must enter a vote of #/yes, no,/no, yes,/ or they can

abstain from voting. (text rotated)

In your opinion, how should Australia vote?

1 Vote Yes 51%

2 Vote No 15%

3 Abstain from voting 20%

4 Can’t say 14%

Q7. Now about the Gillard Labor Government’s handling of the Israel-Palestine

conflict. In your opinion, does the Gillard Labor Government favour the

#/Israelis,/Palestinians,/ favour the #/Palestinians,/Israelis,/ or favour neither? (text

rotated)

1 Favour Israelis 25%

2 Favour Palestinians 5%

3 Favour neither 39%

4 Can’t say 32%

Roy Morgan Interviewing Services ABN: 66 080 753 886

2nd Floor, 232 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, P.O. Box A2180, Sydney South, NSW 1235, Australia

Tel: (02) 9261 8233 Fax: (02) 9261 8512 Email: sydney@roymorgan.com

Website: www.roymorgan.com

Offices also in: Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, London, Auckland, USA and Indonesia

See also:

http://coalitionforpalestine.org/2012/02/12/manning-smh/

Image:

Banksy, Break in the wall with a child and a sand bucket, August 2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/aug/05/israel.artsnews

http://citynoise.org/article/2325

Editorial note: The following  are a series of articles referring to the joy of football (soccer) for the people of Bethlehem.

Conflict and El Clásico in the Little Town of Bethlehem
Matthew Vickery, 21 January 2012

Overlooked by a military watchtower, in a region known most for conflict and a town known more for Christmas, a few hundred Barcelona and Real Madrid fans are packed into a make shift outside viewing arena.

This is El Clásico in Bethlehem, a city where you either support Barca or Real; to support another team is at best unheard of, at worse disgraceful.

Lionel Messi playing for FC Barcelona

In a region which is dominated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and has been for over 60 years, El Clásico provides a welcome break from life under occupation and a chance for Palestinian football fans to be like any other throughout the world: sing songs, curse the referee and yo-yo up and down off a seat for 90 minutes. And for the Christians in the crowd it’s a chance to drink the local Taybeh beer — brewed just a few kilometres away in Ramallah — and for the odd Muslim as well it seems…. as long as you’re elusive about it.

As one Palestinian Barcelona fan once told me “Our days and our conversations always revolve around the conflict, but when Madrid and Barca play, that is the only thing on our minds.”

Bethlehem famed as the birthplace of Jesus and immortalised in dozens of Christmas songs about little donkeys, shepherds and of course its famous son, is very different from the idyllic Christmas card image we see perched on our mantelpiece every December. Today’s Bethlehem is surrounded by a concrete wall which at its highest point is over 8 metres tall — twice the size of the Berlin Wall — and has two crowded refugee camps on either side of it, each pocket marked with bullet holes. The residents of Bethlehem even need permission from the Israeli military if they want to travel the 7km to visit friends or family in Jerusalem. And permission is hard to come by. Life here is not one full of optimism.

But at the start of any El Clásico in Bethlehem, optimism is in abundance. Hundreds always gather to watch; their plastic seats sprawled across the ground in front of a giant screen, a looming military watchtower nearby, but ignored. The need for seats is minimal however. Men, women, children and families spend their time up on their feet shouting support in Arabic, English and Spanish: almost as if there is an unwritten code where the more languages you use, the better the fan you are.

The make-up of fans in Bethlehem is around 50:50; the almost identical numbers of Barca and Real fans make the atmosphere of the place electric. As with every encounter between the two teams, the tension is evident; it is fair to say that this game is more than just a game in the little town of Bethlehem.

Barcelona were the victors last night (18/01/2012), and for half of Bethlehem that means a night of celebrations which inevitably spill out onto the streets in the early hours of the morning. For the other half, it’s a night of what could have been. However the result in the wider context has very little relevance, the game on the other hand does. What happens in Bethlehem on the evening of an El Clásico: the excitement, the passion, the joy of winning, the sadness of defeat — allows thousands of people who have been imprisoned simply due to being Palestinian, have a sense of freedom like any other avid football fans throughout the world.

The occupied Palestinian territories are choc-a-bloc with Barcelona and Real Madrid fans; it almost makes the West Bank and Gaza, the place to be for such a night. This is despite a military occupation, where water, trade, vehicles and an impoverished people are managed by a militaristic nuclear power. Hats off to the Palestinians, because for an apparently ‘imagined’ people they sure do create an atmosphere rivalled nowhere bar the cities of Barcelona and Madrid themselves.

Today, however goes back to the daily grind: Applying for permits to farm your land and visit relatives, though you probably won’t receive them; making it to work without being fired because you were held up for hours at a checkpoint for no reason bar your age; hoping no-one you know falls ill, hospital treatment is never guaranteed. Never mind the daily humiliation of having your day-to-day life controlled, the threat of being attacked by militant settlers, or being gassed for non-violently protesting that giant wall that runs through your families centuries old land, rooting up your olive trees and livelihood.

There are slight sighs of boredom in other parts of the world, complaining that Barcelona and Real Madrid play each other too often in a year. In an area of the world where constant conflict grinds individuals down, that constant hope for victory in the next El Clásico is just what this place needs; and the more games, the better.

Matthew Vickery has worked previously for Palestine News Network covering the protest movement against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. He is currently studying an MA Politics and International Relations at Aberdeen University and is a previous graduate of the Hunter Leadership Scholarship. He can be reached at: m.vickery.07@aberdeen.ac.uk.

A footnote to the rivalry of El Classic:
Castilia (Madrid) vs Catalonia (Barcelona)

El Clásico (Catalan El Classic) is the name given in football to any match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is contested twice a year in the Spanish La Liga competition, and more often if the clubs meet in other competitions. Other than the UEFA Champions League Final, it is the most followed club football match in the world, watched by hundreds of millions of people.

Castilian

The Castilian people (Spanish: castellanos) are the inhabitants of those regions in Spain where most people identify themselves as Castilian. They include Castile-La Mancha, Madrid, and the major part of Castile and León.

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a “nationality” of Spain.[1] Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,535,251

See also

Football Palestine: the unofficial blog of the Palestinian National Football Team

http://footballpalestine.blogspot.com/

Women’s football in Palestine

http://scort-blog.ch/blog/?p=520

Womens Football in focus: FC Basel 1893 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen realising the third Episode of their Educational Programme in the Westbank
19 June 2011.

Don’t dream your life, live your dreams“ is the motto of Honey Thaljieh, former Palestinian national player and team captain. The young woman with her wild, curly hair and expressive, dark eyes is currently leading the workshop about “Women’s football in the Palestinian society” within the social football initiative of the Scort Foundation and its partner clubs FC Basel 1893, SV Werder Bremen and Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Honey Thaljieh working to develop Palestinian soccer (Bethlehem, June 2011)

Honey has got a strong personality and is role model for many young women in Palestine. As young girl, she was fighting for playing football and kicked together with the boys of the neighbourhood. Due to the support of her physical education teacher, she got the chance to join the football team at school later. She was the only girl. “At the beginning it was quite difficult, but when my colleagues realised that I was really talented they started to accept me.” At university Honey bumped into an advertisement looking for football players to set up a Palestinian women’s team and out of that, a Palestinian national team. “I didn’t hesitate at all and got in touch with Samar al A’raj, who was the woman behind this idea. Together, we started to establish the women’ s team and later on the national team. The interest the media showed in our team, helped us a lot to get more acceptance in the Palestinian society.?Last year, at the 26th of June 2010, the first international cup between the Jordan and Palestinian women’s team took place in Palestine. A groundbreaking event! 14’000 spectators came to see the game. All this made it even harder for Honey when she realised that she couldn’t be part of the game. She had broken her knee some days ago. “It was a shock of course. But still, it had to go on and I supported my team as much as I could. Finally, I was put in for the last three minutes.”

Besides her passion for football, Honey studied business administration at the University of Bethlehem and will start the FIFA Masters this autumn. After her knee operation last year, she isn’t part of the national team anymore. But she still works in the football field and is involved in building up the structure of football in Palestine.?Currently, she is working at the Diyar Consortium, Scort’s main local partner in Bethlehem. Thus, she is also involved in the football education programme of the 22 young Palestinian women and men. The workshop, she is leading at the moment, is part of the theoretical pro-gramme. Honey knows how to get one’s attention.?With her stories, her charisma and her distinct power of volition, she knows how to awake the interest of the Young Coaches and to encourage them in their work as football trainers for kids. In her workshop she emphasises, how important it is to have a dream, and to follow it continuously. Whereof her way of life is the best example.

The Young Coaches and the instructors admire Honey’s commitment and power.?„I’m impressed, how Honey followed her target on and on, despite defeat” Khaled, one of the young coaches, emphasises. For him women’s football is something normal in the meantime.?The trainers Willy Schmid (FC Basel 1893) and Peter Quast (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) also point out the good acceptance of women’s football in Bethlehem, above all in their schooling group. “I was surprised, how much ambition the female participants showed“ according to Quast, who didn’t know the group before. Willy Schmid completes: I discover, that often the female Young Coaches take over the lead, not only in organisational tasks but also concerning the practical exercises on the field.„?The young women and men from the surrounding of Bethlehem are absolving their third and second last part of the one year education programme. According to the instructors from FC Basel 1893 and Bayer 04 Leverkusen conducting the practical part together with SV Werder Bremen, the participants have improved a lot since the project start in October 2010.?Honey is proud of her Palestinian friends and is happy about their participation in the education programme and their engagement as children’s coaches. “Football is playing an important social role and can foster the youth in their development.”

Inauguration of Palestinian women’s football team
10 February 2011

http://www.demotix.com/news/586618/inauguration-palestinian-womens-football-league

Palestinian players vie for the ball during a match to inaugurate the Palestinian Women’s Football League at a stadium in the West Bank town of al-Ram near Jerusalem on February 10, 2011.

Palestinian women's soccer team (February 2011)

Women’s Palestinian national team plays first home match, U-20 suffers consecutive defeats
28 October 2009

http://footballpalestine.blogspot.com/2009/10/womens-nt-plays-first-home-match-u-20.html

On October 26th 2009 in a repeat of their male counterpart’s encounter on the same day last year, Palestine and Jordan’s womens national teams faced off in a friendly in the Faisal-Husseini stadium. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, heres the Ma’an news agency article on the match.

Israeli Cellcom Advertisement
26 July 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29gRO3FvAsU

Palestinians responding to Israeli Cellcom advertisement
July 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et8VGyCDt10

Palestine News Network

http://english.pnn.ps/

Maan News

http://www.maannews.net/eng/Default.aspx