Back Home
Damage done to Christmas
Lutheran Church
&
to the International center of Bethlehem
Prepared by Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb May 1st., 2002
April 2, 2002
At 6:30 a.m. Israeli tanks invaded the old town of Bethlehem, they took position on both sides of Christmas Lutheran Church. From there, and for almost 13 hours with some interruptions, the main fighting in the Bethlehem city, took place here right in front of Christmas Lutheran Church and the Buildings of the International Center of Bethlehem. On this day, Israeli troops took position inside our compound and used the church property to shoot from there at the gunmen on the street. The Israelis fired all together 427 pullets from our compound. At 11:00 the same morning the Israeli troops used the lobby of our center as a detention area (prison) for 17 young unarmed Palestinian males. Half of them were released at midnight while the other half transported to Gush Ezion settlement for further investigation. The guardroom at the entrance for the center was used as headquarter for the Israeli army for this area for two consecutive days.
April 4, 2002
Early afternoon of this day, 3 Israeli units (approx. 45 persons) stormed the compound and started breaking into every room, office, storage areas etc. dozens of interior doors, computers, copy machine, refrigerator, chairs, desks, brand new not yet installed fixtures, as well as paintings were totally destroyed. White Paint, bought to white wash the new conference facilities was poured on the ground; new ceramic walls of the kitchen were shot at. Almost all of this destruction was pure vandalism. A detailed list of all and every items can be made available upon request. The second Israeli military unit hold me in my own office for over two hours, where I was not able to contact anyone or be contacted. A detailed report on that is available as well.
April 6, 2002
Early morning of this day, the Israeli destroyed the main telecommunication system of the old town of Bethlehem as well as Paltel headquarters in Nablus. From this day on, all our telephone lines, fax, lease line and email were destroyed. We lost connection with the world, except for the private cellular & home phone.
April 24, 2002
Israeli tanks destroyed part of the 111 years old wall around our Church and parsonage, as well as Madabasah Square in front of the Church, a project financed by the city of Cologne and GTZ. More destruction was done to the wall on April 30.
The following damage was done to the Lutheran Compound during these days. A cost estimate for the damage, calculated according to criteria developed by the World Bank, can be made available upon request:
Tank shells hit “the Cave Gift shop” destroying the whole lower facade of this building, which was funded by Church of Sweden and Sida and was just inaugurated on December 9, 1999. The whole facade needs extensive repair including structural solutions. Half a meter wide and deep hole in the corner of the glass workshop was a result of another shell. Many of the hand made art pieces, the lighting fixtures, the iron doors, and the show windows were totally destroyed.
The Apartment of our international coworkers was lightly damaged: Windows, water tanks, main gate and stair, façade.
The office building, the oldest building on our compound, dating back to 1861 was partly damaged, including the main gate which was bulldozed by one of the Israeli tanks, several stone arches were damaged by the bullets, most of the windows were destroyed as well.
The Abu Gubran Guesthouse was lightly damaged, including windows, doors as well as interior walls. The façade got hundreds of bullets and the stone façade is in a very bad situation.
The Communication & Media center was heavily damaged from outside and inside.
Art and crafts workshops, renovated in 1999 by the help of Church of Sweden and Sida was heavily damaged from outside and inside. The roof of the building got a 30cm wide hole. All shutter windows and inside windows were totally destroyed. Many art pieces of the artists were destroyed; some of the equipment was damaged as well.
Parsonage was hit as well. The staircase facade, the car rage, the wall and entrance were partly damaged.
The Church survived the invasion. Thanks God that the ancient stained Glass windows were not damaged, except one lightly. However, the 111 years old wall at the entrance to the Church was partly destroyed.
The old center survived the invasion except for two iron doors on the lower level, 3 glass windows, window shutters and 2 A/C units.
The main entrance to the whole compound and gate was totally destroyed and bulldozed by Israeli tanks. The Guardroom was searched and lightly damaged.
Damage done to the newly finished kitchen, funded by the Finish Ministry for Foreign affairs. Bullets were fired without any reason at the ceramic interior walls.
Damage done to the water, electricity and telephone lines.
Many Fixtures, equipment & art pieces, were either destroyed or are missing (were stolen) & indirect cost because of the delay in the Finish Project.
Some facts and figures about the Lutheran Compound in Bethlehem and the
International Center of Bethlehem
No shooting took place from our compound. Nevertheless, the Israeli soldiers used our compound to shoot from there at gunmen on the street. All together the Israeli fired 427 bullets from our compound. The army used our compound to detain 17 from our neighbors. This is a clear violation of the status of religious properties, safeguarded from assault in the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israeli is a signatory nation, and should not be tolerated at all.
The Israeli army stormed our compound several times without any reason and without asking permission or giving notice to me, who has been living the whole time on the compound. When I discovered one of the units on our compound, I told them: “You could have behaved as real gentlemen. You could have ringed on our bell. You could have asked me to open for you any door. I could have done it. We have as Church nothing to hide.” But it seems that such a behavior is alien to many of the soldiers. This is but a symptom of the moral crises of the Israeli society.
The Israeli troops as well as the gunmen tried their best not to fight by the sanctuary. This was the reason for the sanctuary to survive that gun battle. It seems that there were very clear orders to avoid any fighting by the sanctuary.
In the last five years, we were busy day and night in the rehabilitation of our town as well as our compound. Over 200 Millions USD were invested in Bethlehem in preparation for the Millennium. The Israeli tanks and soldiers destroyed much of this investment in just two days. We need years to rebuild the little town of Bethlehem. But who can give us the guarantee that the Israeli army will not invade our town again and destroy it again? A political solution as well as international peace keeping force is urgently needed to secure the future of our people and towns.
Several historical buildings in the old town of Bethlehem were destroyed during the Israeli invasion. The cultural loss is something very difficult to restore. After Nablus, Bethlehem comes second in terms of the historical building partly or heavily damaged by Israel. Our history, our cultural heritage as well as our assets for any future sustainable development is at stake here.
Over 10 Million USD of European and American tax money or Christian donations were invested in our center and school in the last ten years. Over ½ Million USD (5% of total investment) are needed to restore and rebuild what have been destroyed in the last 4 weeks. Israel should be held responsible for the damage. We will try our best to pursue this legally claiming compensation from the Israeli Army. This is going to be a long and difficult process. Still we hope to be able to raise this amount from donors and partner organizations and friends to rebuild our institution as quick as possible.
The International Center of Bethlehem is by far the largest
cultural institution in the Bethlehem region and the Lutheran Church here is
second largest privat employer. We believe that one goal of the Israeli
Invasion was to destroy the main cultural, educational and community centers
in the West Bank. What Amira Hass, an Israeli correspondent for Ha'aretz,
living in Ramallah wrote on April 24, 2002 apply fully for the International
center of Bethlehem: “It's a scene that is repeating itself in hundreds of
Palestinian offices taken over by IDF troops for a few hours or days in the
West Bank: smashed, burned and broken computer terminals heaped in piles and
thrown into yards; server cabling cut, hard disks missing, disks and diskettes
scattered and broken, printers and scanners broken or missing, laptops gone,
telephone exchanges that disappeared or were vandalized, and paper files
burned, torn, scattered, or defaced - if not taken. And it's all in rooms full
of smashed furniture, torn curtains, broken windows, smashed-in doors, walls
full of holes, filthy floors and soiled bathrooms. Here and there, the
soldiers left obscene graffiti or letters full of hatred, but compared to the
data that was destroyed or taken, the insults read like poetry. Even the
overflowing toilets look more like human weakness compared to the organized
vandalism reflected in the piles of smashed computers. It's not merely the
expense of the hardware that has to be replaced. The loss is immeasurable in
shekels or dollars. Years of information built into knowledge, time spent
thinking by thousands of people working to build their civil society and their
future or trying to build a private sector that would bring a sense of
economic stability to their country.
These are the data banks developed in Palestinian Authority institutions like
the Education Ministry, the Higher Education Ministry and the Health Ministry.
These are the data banks of the non-governmental organizations and research
institutes devoted to developing a modern health system, modern agricultural,
environmental protection and water conservation. These are the data banks of
human rights organizations, banks and private commercial enterprises,
infirmaries, and supermarkets. They all were clearly the targets for
destruction in the military operation called Defensive Shield.”
“This was not a whim, or crazed vengeance, by this or that unit, nor a person
vandalistic urge of a soldier whose buddies didn't dare stop him. There was a
decision made to vandalize the civic, administrative, cultural infrastructure
developed by Palestinian society. “The scenes of systematic destruction show
how the IDF translated into the field the instructions inherent in the
political echelon's policies: Israel must destroy Palestinian civil
institutions, sabotaging for years to come the Palestinian goal for
independence, sending all of Palestinian society backward. It's so easy and
comforting to think of the entire Palestinian society as primitive,
bloodthirsty terrorists, after the raw material and product of their
intellectual, cultural, social and economic activity has been destroyed.”
During 26 days of great fear, strict curfew and daily suffering,
we have learned to take every single day thankful from the hand of the Lord as
if it were the last in our life. Yet, we continue to plan as if we had the
whole future open for us. We will never give up on our town and community. We
are here to stay. We will continue without seizing to build and rebuild, to
create life in the midst of death and to proclaim Easter while climbing the
road of Golgotha. We will continue to call for reconciliation in the midst of
rising hate, revenge and retaliation. The ministry of Jesus Christ was never
as crucial for his hometown as now. Our commitment to this ministry has never
been stronger than now.