Bethlehem Views

by Katharine Maycock

From: Bullet Points (used w/permission)

Jewish Settlement Har Homa and my flat, bottom right

Room with a View

This is my flat - in a valley on one edge of Bethlehem, looking towards the neighbouring Palestinian town Beit Sahour (the biblical 'shepherds fields').

Just over the hill you can see Har Homa, a brand new Jewish settlement which is being built to house 30,000 Israeli Jews. Har Homa was until recently a tree filled hill called by the Arabic name, Abu Ghuneim. However, it was confiscated by the Israeli government, and though the matter was disputed twice at the UN Security Council in 1997 by Palestinians upset at the building plans, the US vetoed it both times. A new Israeli bypass road is being built to Har Homa that will surround and then cut right through Beit Sahour where Palestinian Christians and Moslems live peacefully side by side.

Last month, Israeli courts upheld an Israeli Army order to demolish 120 newly built Palestinian homes in Beit Sahour. According to the Oslo Agreement, the area where these homes are is Area B. This means Israel is in control of external security whilst the Palestinian Authority controls internal affairs including land use. The Arab Orthodox Housing Project received permits from the municipality to build, and was on the verge of completing the project when Israel sent its demolition order. Suddenly Israel claimed the land is in Area C and therefore completely under Israeli control. The residents have demonstrated against the order and launched an international campaign to save their homes. I am spending some days working in Jerusalem with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions run, as the name suggests, by Israelis. See www.icahd.org and www.rebuildinghomes.org for more information.

A controversial view

Last week, I heard the mayor of Bethlehem, Hanna Nasir, say "Here we are surrounded by settlements. They are grabbing the land around the clock and taking 81% of our water. Oppression to this extent doesn't help the cause of peace."

The settlements are built on each hill top around Bethlehem and are thus acting to block off Bethlehem from Arab East Jerusalem. Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it in 1980 claiming it as part of its undivided capital. The Palestine National Authority however, wants East Jerusalem it to be the capital of an independent Palestinian State. This makes Har Homa a very controversial settlement.

Love life

Mary is suffering. She's 25 and from a middle class Christian family. She told me her father used to be rich, cutting Hebron stone for building use. Now the logistics of transporting the stone 36 km between checkpoints and roadblocks with the necessary permits required, and the risks attached to travelling on settler roads, means the business is unviable. Mary used to have a nightlife, and was able to get out to Jerusalem or Ramallah to meet her friends. But for two years she's been stuck in Bethlehem, unable to get a permit to get out. She used to be the PR manager of a tourist group in Beit Sahour. Now she teaches English in Bethlehem, as the business has folded. The lower salary she earns, helps keep the family afloat, and means less for socialising. She's seriously thinking about emigrating as the stress is getting too much. If she does, she will be one of over 3000 Bethlehemites who have left the town in the last 2 years, owing to the dire economy, and the trauma of being unable to move around freely.

In search of cheese