And losing my heart to Beit Jala
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| Beit Jala, in the Occupied West Bank, Palestine |
It is something I have dreamed of for decades! It’s that long
since I had been back. Being invited to spend three weeks in Palestine this
August is the stuff dreams are made of.
Who in their right mind would pass on the opportunity to spend
three weeks in the Occupied West Bank town of Beit Jala, a stone’s throw from
Bethlehem, where we used to spend our summer vacations until my father passed
away in 1973.
There were many apprehensions, mainly about actually seeing the
enemy, the crossings, the possibility of getting my passport stamped… but these
soon evaporated as we set off for Amman, Jordan, to start what would be three
weeks of magic.
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| On our way to Jerusalem |
We crossed into Palestine from the Allenby Bridge, first through
the Jordanian checkpoint and then the Israeli one. From my first glimpse of
Palestinian soil I was blown away. Seeing that first road sign saying
“Jerusalem,” was just unbelievable! That is until the “Wall” appears and the
enormity of the Occupation hits you in the face. And the “Wall” is everywhere!
The second most shocking thing is the extent of the illegal Israeli settlements
that are eating away at Palestinian land.
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| Jerusalem's glorious walls, but then you hit another kind of "Wall" |
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| The beginning of the segregation "Wall" south of Jerusalem |
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| The "Wall" in Bethlehem |
With foreign passports, we were able to travel freely across the
country. For Palestinians, who need a permit or tasreeh, it is very restricted and full of hardships.
We went to Bethlehem often, but I wasn’t able to identify my
grandparents’ home where we used to spend our summers. We also went to
Jerusalem, Yaffa, Tel Aviv, Hebron, Haifa, Acca, Nazareth, Caesaria and
Ramallah.
It was a kind of pilgrimage into the past, but also one into a
future that does not look bright, at least in my lifetime. The trip was filled
with a mixture of tears of joy and sadness. There is a sense of history that is
always present. Everyone recognized my family name and made me proud of who I
am. There is also a deep renewal of faith at the centuries-old religious sites,
be they Christian or Muslim.
But it is Beit Jala, which in Aramaic means “Grass Carpet,” I fell
in love with -- both the city and its people. Situated on a hill adjacent to
Bethlehem, it has existed for thousands of years and its Christian community is
one of the oldest in the world.
We were in Beit Jala for the three weeks in a beautiful house and
enchanting garden. I couldn’t get enough of the crystal clear blue sky and air,
picking grapes and figs, watching the lemons grow and the flowers bloom,
listening to the crickets chirp as the Israeli jets flew overhead.
Beit Jala is a Palestinian Christian town in the Occupied West
Bank, one of three including Bethlehem and Beit Sahour. Opposite Bethlehem, it
is just 10 km south of Jerusalem.
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| St. Nicholas Church |
It is dominated by the Church of St. Nicolas with its golden dome
and spire. Wherever you look, there are olive groves, vineyards and pine tree
groves as in most of Palestine.
It is in the 3rd-4th century AD when monks such as St. Nicolas
began to come to the area to be close to the site of Jesus’ birth. The large
hill on which Beit Jala is located was a good place to build a monastery, being
close to the Nativity site but outside the town of Bethlehem itself. With the
help of the few locals who were already living in Beit Jala they built St.
Nicolas Monastery, the ruins of which can still be seen beneath the Church, as
well the very cave in which Nicolas is thought to have lived. With the building
of the monastery, the growth of the town accelerated around it and Beit Jala
has been continually inhabited
by Christians ever since.
As a result of the social upheavals during the
Ottoman rule, large numbers of Palestinians, particularly from Beit Jala,
Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Safafa, left the country for South America
during the 19th and early 20th century. Chili and Argentina are home to at
least 400,000 Palestinians living in Diaspora, almost all of them from the
Bethlehem area.
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| The road from Beit Jala to Bethlehem |
The biblical heritage of the Bethlehem area attracted particular
attention from the missionaries, and they began to found some of the region’s
first modern schools and churches in Beit Jala. Between 1848 and 1900, it
witnessed the building of two Orthodox churches (St. Nicolas’ and St Mary’s),
two Catholic churches (The Church if the Annunciation and Bishara Church of the
Latin Convent), one Lutheran church (Church of the Reformation), Palestine’s
premier Seminary and at the time its most modern school (The Latin Patriarchate),
and the Cremisan Monastery. This gave Beit Jala access to the most advanced
educational institutions in the country and contributed towards making it one
of the first cities to become incorporated as a municipality in all of
Palestine in 1912.
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| Breakfast at Afteem in Bethlehem with Habib Shehadeh |
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| The most delicious falafel |
Cremisan Cellars,
located in the Cremisan Monastery, is an
important local winemaker that has operated since the establishment of the
monastery in the 19th century. The West Bank Barrier, or “Wall,” is being extended to encircle the area, splitting
the monastery, which would end up on the Israeli side, from the sister Salesian convent,
and making access to this recreational area for Beit Jala residents very
difficult. Some 57 Christian families are slated to lose their agricultural
property.
The “Wall,” being continuously built and extended by the Israeli
occupation forces separates families from their land and livelihood. The
Israeli bypass road or Tunnel Highway passes directly underneath Beit
Jala.
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Israeli forces uprooting
olive trees on August 17 in Bir Onah, Beit Jala,
in preparation for building the separation "Wall" encircling Cremisan |
While I was there, the Israeli Defense Ministry resumed
construction on August 17 of the separation barrier near Beit Jala, even though
the High Court of Justice had invalidated the building of the barrier in that
region and ordered the state to reconsider it.
Video posted by Muhanad Qaisy on
Facebook of Israeli Force
uprooting olive trees on August 17
in Bir Onah, Beit Jala
Since the Israeli occupation, many illegal settlement schemes were implemented
in Beit Jala which tore up the town's agricultural infrastructure into
segments. So far, three settlements, Gilo, Har Gilo, and Giv'at Hamatos have
been created on Beit Jala's cultivated confiscated land, in addition to two
tunnels and two bypass roads.
The 1995 Oslo II Interim Agreement resulted in a division of the
West Bank into three types of areas which are distinguished by a different
level of control -- Areas A, B, and C. Several Palestinian built-up areas were
assigned as Areas A or B, yet portions of their community lie in Area C (under
complete Israeli control). In the case of Beit Jala, Area A comprising about
25% of the town's land is under Palestinian control. The remaining 75% (Area C)
is under Israeli jurisdiction
and 7% of the total Area C is located inside the Municipality border. Thus,
many neighborhoods in a town or village are physically separated from the core
part of their communities.
The Israeli settlement of Gilo was
constructed in 1971 on lands belonging to the towns of Beit Jala and Beit
Safafa. The present population of Gilo exceeds 40,000. Gilo settlement was
greatly expanded in the southern and western direction, creeping on more Beit
Jala lands. Gilo settlement is considered one of the largest Israeli
settlements that have been built in the West Bank, with a total area of 2,738
dunums (1 dunum is around 1000 square meters).
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| Har Gilo Israeli settlement as seen from Beit Jala |
Har Gilo settlement was established by Israel in 1972 on the
Palestinian citizens’ lands in Beit Jala city and Al Walaja village which are
located west of Bethlehem.
The settlement of Giv'at Hamatos was created in 1992 on 255 dunums
of land belonging to the Orthodox Church in Beit Jala. It presently includes
280 mobile houses which were built to absorb Jews brought from Ethiopia. The
Israeli government plans to expand this settlement and build an additional
3,600 housing units on an area of approximately 1,010 dunums belonging to the
Palestinian village of Beit Safafa. The expansion of Giv'at Hamatos will also
complete the wall of settlements which surrounds Jerusalem from the south.
Although I lost my heart to Beit Jala, the other Palestinian towns
and cities we visited each has its own magic and beauty. I treasure every
single second of the trip thanks to my hosts, Ayda, Maya, Nasma, Eric and
Habib, as well as the many friends I made and who each contributed to making
the three weeks unforgettable. Thank you all.
