Letter from Bethlehem (48)

Toine van Teeffelen

February 24, 2003

A week ago the curfews were unpredictably going on and off. One not-so-uncommon day, a jeep announced the curfew at 4:00 in the morning and continued with a largely incomprehensible lesson ("You will be severely punished," among other things) for another half an hour, until the muezzin started its early morning call. Jara cried because she couldn't go to school after she had finished homework that she now proudly wanted to show to the miss. After a while, however, more cars appeared on the street. Local TV first didn't provide specific information, but at 10:30 Jara could shout, this time of pleasure, as the opening was definite. Like other schools, the Freres School instructs the parents that kids immediately have to go to school as soon as a morning curfew is lifted. I rushed to bring Jara. Afterwards Mary and I took coffee, a bitter coffee, as it turned out to be. "Bitter coffee, bitter times," Mary commented. The radio detailed the high number of killings among Palestinians each day, especially in the "peripheries" of the West Bank and Gaza, like Nablus and Hebron. This news has become somehow customary and does not attract much international attention since the media focus is upon Iraq. When Mary arrived at the university for her work one of the Brothers joked that next time the employees may have to come in the middle of the night in order to make up for the lost hours. "Making up" is the key word these days. Suzy phoned that literally every free minute is used at St Joseph to make up for the hours "lost in the past and in the future." Her students complain, are teary-eyed and exhausted but there's no alternative. At least the Bethlehemites are now free for already several days, a long time - free, that is, inside the encirclement of the town.

* * *

The talk in town is the new wall that is going to be erected near Rachel's Tomb. Last year the Israeli government decided to annex the Tomb to Israel. The wall will expand Israeli (Jerusalem) territory southwards in the form of a long finger into Bethlehem, with Rachel's Tomb as the finger nail. Some 500 people who are closed up within the wall will be only able to leave their house through a checkpoint more or less in front of their door; also, many of them are losing their lands used to build the wall. The Awad family found that their shop – so well known for its grocery products that can't be found elsewhere in town – will be separated from their home which is opposite the street. According to the British paper The Independent, the families inside the future wall have been informed that even when they want to call an ambulance, they would have to arrange with the Israeli administration a permission. Awad: "If it's a heart attack, we'll die before they allow the ambulance in." Even sending in trucks to pick up the rubbish requires permission. "Imagine," says Mary's uncle who is municipality secretary, "that you forgot something in your house after leaving the home early and you have to go back and forth through a checkpoint." It's of course unlikely that the families will stay there. After they leave, it is the expectation that the houses and land will be expropriated and used to link Rachel's Tomb with Jerusalem. Although the municipality informed all international media, attention was limited because of Iraq. Israel is all too aware of media strategies. Last year, the Israeli cabinet announced the annexation of Rachel's Tomb on 11 September, the anniversary of the terrorist attack in America. The maps of the Applied Research Institute, whose premises are not far from Rachel's Tomb, show Bethlehem being surrounded by fences to protect new settlement suburbs of Jerusalem built in the West Bank. "There will be no room for Bethlehem to expand naturally," Dr Isaac said to The Independent. "The population density will become so high people will start leaving freely. We will be forced to migrate."

The annexation of Rachel's Tomb is part of that continuous process of shrinking space all Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are facing. Their living space is hemmed in by checkpoints, concrete barriers across roads, electrified fences, and walls. Even one's mental space starts to be hemmed in. The other night Mary dreamt about an uncommon, very beautiful shoe clearly out of reach in a shop far away in East-Jerusalem. Dreamland is at the other side of the fence.

These weeks we experience something that feels like a "wall" too, a kind of time wall; constituted by the moment when the war in Iraq is supposed to start. Behind that wall all kinds of unpleasant unpredictabilities are hidden but one thing we know for sure: there will be a long curfew. The most important errands and purchases have to be done before that moment. Our storage room prides rows of medicines, baby milk and water bottles enough to survive a couple of months. Many families buy light equipment in case of long electricity cuts. No gas masks are available since Israel provides them only for the areas C which are both under their civil and military control. (One Israeli expert noted on Israeli TV that handing out gas masks to the Palestinians was quite a complicated decision, among other things because gas masks could also be used against teargas sprayed by the Israeli army…). Yet the moment of war seems to have moved a little backwards now expectations build up that the security council vote will take place half March.

* * *

Like the other Palestinian towns, Bethlehem remains a community in distress, in fact, in decline. Almost every day we hear about robberies. The car of Mary's cousin was stolen during daylight; fortunately a neighbour saw the thief in the car, and the police caught the thief south of Bethlehem near a place were parts of stolen cars are sold. We were surprised by the effectiveness of the police action. At present you barely see any uniformed Palestinian police on the streets. The army warned the PNA that they should not have police moving in the town. The thieves know this and have increased their ranks. The day before yesterday a gasoline station at the entrance of Beit Jala was robbed for 11.000 shekel. Before that, a bank in Beit Jala was robbed by an attacker disguised in a Moslem woman's robe, and also equipment at the well-known Roof restaurant used for parties was stolen. At one point I imagined that some electronic equipment under my own control was stolen too but fortunately it turned out to be in Holland. Mary keeps urging me to keep the door locked inside and not to allow unfamiliar people to come in. The famous sentence from Jara's fairy tale of the Little Red Riding Hood enters my mind: "Don't talk with strangers!"

The thefts are obviously linked to the increasing poverty. A few days ago, Mary was stopped by a ten-year old kid nearby the house who told her that he would take away the carriage with Tamer in it if Mary did not give him money. The boy ran away after Mary said forcefully "Badrubak kafteen" (I give you cuffs on both ears). But in the night she dreamt of Tamer falling in a deep pit.

* * *

Tamer didn't fall, however, but is rather on his way to stand alone with his hands put on the table. He enthusiastically claps his hands on the music of the latest Arab hits. And when our friend takes him in the car for a ride, he is overly happy to see new things with his brown-shining eyes. He has a bit of a cold now as new teeth come through. On Sunday I went out with Jara on an unexpected sunny day, with the reassuring sound of cars on the street on the background. For the first time since months, I felt quiet – until Jara wanted me to play "mamnu'a tajaawel"!

Yesterday it turned out that she got a cold from playing outside. The doctor tactfully told Mary that, considering the expected snow, Jara should be allowed to play outside at least for a short while because otherwise she would be more tired from all the frustration of having to remain inside. While waiting at the doctor, others told Mary that the snow would make a dark world white. A brief dream world. And, yes, today, we open the shutters and there is a good layer of snow. It seems the snow will remain for some days. Jara dances and Tamer looks surprised into the world. The schools will be closed. But for how long?