International Conference

Shaping Communities in Times of Crisis 
Narratives of Land, Peoples and Identities

6-12 November 2005

story about Monday's solidarity

By: Phil Haslanger

BETHLEHEM - Candles flickered, blew out and then were lit again as about 200 people marched through the streets of Bethlehem earlier this week on a windy, drizzly night.

The struggle to keep the candles burning was an apt symbol of the struggles facing this Palestinian city in the West Bank in the face of the tightening grip of the Israeli government.

Rev. Mitri Rabeh, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church here, organized this march of solidarity on Monday as people from 23 nations began a week-long exploration of the issues of land and identity at the International Center of Bethlehem, which is a project of his church. Another 100 or so residents of Bethlehem joined the procession, led by drummers and the leaders of the main Christian religious traditions in the city.

Victor Batarseh, the mayor of Bethlehem, earlier had told the opening session of the conference that "our town risks becoming a town of tension and suffering instead of being a symbol of peace" He joined the religious leaders at the front of the march.

The Israeli barrier, which takes the form of a high wall at the entrance to Bethlehem, the tight control at the military checkpoints into the city and the growing Israeli settlements around the city all have isolated this community of some 60,000 residents along with three adjoining refugee camps. It is a city whose main industry has been tourism as visitors come to the shrines to Christ's birth, but that industry has withered with the politicial tensions in Israel and the tight restrictions on access to the city.

A United Nations report from last December noted that there are about 78 physical obstacles now set up around Bethlehem, which not only limit who can enter the city, but which also severely restrict Palestinians' access to Jerusalem.

It was in this context that the marchers snaked through the streets of Bethlehem, their candles flickering. This was more a religious procession than a political protest, although politics can never be far from the surface in this land.

The group moved from Christmas Lutheran Church to the Greek Orthodox Church, where it stopped for a prayer. Then it was on to the Syrian Orthodox Church, where the pastor read the nativity story in Aramaic and deacons chanted the Lord's Prayer, also in Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

From there, the procession went to the entrance of the Omar Mosque, where the imam greeted the Christians who had come in solidarity with the Muslims of Bethlehem. Christians account for only about a quarter of the population of Bethlehem now, down from about half the residents of the city a decade ago. Many have left as the political situation here has deteriorated.

Finally, the procession entered St. Catherine's Church, the Roman Catholic facility next to the Basilica of the Nativity, where the crowd joined the religious leaders arrayed across the contemporary sanctuary in reciting the Lord's Prayer, each in the language of their homeland.

In the shelter of the church, all the candles glowed with hope before the procession went out into the damp night one last time, singing the Latin words, "Dona nobis pacem" -- give us peace.

Phil Haslanger is the managing editor of The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin and a lay pastor in the United Church of Christ. His email is phaslanger@madison.com.