Letter from Bethlehem (36)

Toine van Teeffelen

October 19, 2002

 

Twice a week I bring Jara to the Peace Center, where she follows workshops on handicrafts, storytelling and ballet. At the storytelling session she turns out to be the only one. Few families in Bethlehem are interested in storytelling or reading, the storyteller complains; why are so many girls going only to the cosmetics class? She has now put the storytelling session right after the handicrafts class so as to be sure of numbers. Jara is even more enthusiastic to go to the ballet class after she got a pink ballet suit. At home she jumps up and down on the bed making movements which are partly ballet and partly like in videoclip dancing, with some unexpected shooting gestures in between.

 

Bringing her to the Center gives me the chance to quietly observe Manger Square in front of the Church of Nativity or, as it is locally called, Bab al-Der, what "gate to the Monastery" means. It is not an imposing square, a little reminding of the squares in front of the city hall characteristic for some European cities or towns. Archeologists explain the presence of the place, among other things, to the existence of an ancient aquaduct that passed right through the square to carry water from the Solomon Pools south of Bethlehem to Jerusalem.

 

It is of course first of all the Church of Nativity with its fortress-like features that dominates the view. Right at the opposite side, the Mosque of 'Omar with its slender, high minaret commemorates the gesture of the conquering 'Omar not to destroy or take over the church after the advance of the Islamic armies in the 7th century. Each time when I leave the Peace Center on Friday, two, almost hundred meter-long rows of Islamic believers prostrate themselves on the ground near the place where during Christmas time scouts and servers are forming a tunnel through which the patriarchs and dignatories arrive at the church. There seem to be more Islamic believers now than a few years ago. (Last week, while Jara and I visited a swimming pool in Jerusalem, I met a Dutch Israeli lady who told me that she knew a carpenter in Bethlehem who, she claimed, was now leaving the city due to the presence of a Moslem majority. She also commented that Holland was full of mosques. I could not continue the halting conversation for long).

 

The Peace Center is the third significant building along the square. A friendly and open-looking building and a center for community-oriented activities, it is built on the spot where the Israeli army and before that the Jordanian and British armies kept a protected look-out post. Suzy and I frequent its bookshop which is unlocked for the rare visitor.

 

I take a falaffel at the small shop right behind the square. The owner wanted his shop never to be removed for the Bethlehem 2000 celebrations and it still serves the best falaffel in town.

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The square has the flavor of busy daily life. Awkward are the many parked cars which are only removed for special occasions. (In the past, when it was just a parking lot for tourist buses, it was worse). Opposite the Peace Center are the arcaded souvenir shops in front of which Palestinian police used to sleep after they lost their homes when the Muqata' building was bombed and destroyed. A walking vendor sells tamer, the date juice, out of a large graceful golden holder.that he carries on his back.

 

The square is full of memories, emotions and images of common people who live and lived there as well as of the many millions of pilgrims who came from all corners of the earth and crossed the square to enter the church. A mixture of fateful history, politics and religion, but, above all, daily life. There, on the right, I see the house of the family who was forced to stay in one room to make place for Israeli soldiers who wanted to control the square during the siege of the church. Opposite is the souvenirshop owner, cousin of Fuad, who showed me photos how his shop was broken in and damaged during the same event. There, on the right side, is the quiet St George's restaurant, a good place to meet visitors. In one of the coming days there will be a public commemoration of Johnny Thaljieh who a year ago was shot by a tank while walking on the square. And tomorrow Mary and I will bring Tamer to the church and put him on the star, the traditional place of the birth of Jesus. (Although it will be difficult to prevent him moving. "How," people ask surprised, "can he be a child of such quiet parents?") For us, too, the square represents the ebb and flow of daily life: Jara's baptism, Abou Hannah's funeral, the weddings, and the few great festive moments when Bethlehem 2000 was celebrated.

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I walk the square from all four sides. From Ramadan and Advent time on, a group of educators is going to have a weekly walk around the square, carrying banners, beating a soft drum, perhaps dressed in special clothes. We will commemorate the many school days that Palestinian children and youths are presently loosing due to curfews, road blocks and other hindrances. It is an initiative taken to follow-up an earlier demonstration together with religious and national leaders in support of the right of education. Silent, symbolic, regular walks, to make the point of the essential needs of common daily life.

 

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P.S. In a recent statement the Arab Educational Institute criticized, along with many others all over the world, the attacks of Rev Jerry Falwell against Islam. Meanwhile, Fallwell has apologized for his remarks (among others things calling the Prophet Mohammed – how original! - a "terrorist").