Letter from Palestine, 17. Bethlehem next.
23rd December 2004
Dear friends!
After a few days with my family staying here, I have discovered all the things I don’t know… I had the idea about it. They ask about everything they see, and I can not answer. No, I am neither educated in geology, biology nor history. But we have already seen a lot.
Yesterday was the big Jerusalem day, with a tour to the Mount of Olives and further to the Old city. We had a nice view from the tower in the Church of the Ascension. On our way down to Gethsemane, we visited the chapel of Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept). The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Garden Tomb were also visited. Karoline was, as I had thought, very interested in some of the shops in the Old City. Pearls, stones, nuts and fruit got her attention.
Today we are going to Bethlehem where we will stay to Christmas Day. I was a day trip to Bethlehem last Sunday. To make it easy today, I just paste an article I wrote after that trip.
---
I am in the middle of the Church of the Nativity. It is a few days before Christmas. I am almost alone. I go down to the grotto where Jesus was born. There are only a couple of others there, and I can go and touch the star marking the place where the birth shall have taken place, without standing in line. It is quiet.
I go out of the church. It is quiet there too. A man in uniform asks how I am and where I come from. I have heard that it is the Palestinian Tourist Police taking care of and helping the tourists. I answer that I come from Norway. “Oslo!” he replies. I am a bit puzzled, I am used to Oslo not to be the best to mention here, after the problems the Oslo agreement made. “We like Oslo and Norway because you are here,” he says. “But we don’t like the results of the Oslo agreement, with area A, B and C, confiscated land and more Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.” I do not need to apologize, he understands that I did not have anything to do with the Oslo agreement.
“We need Oslo 2,” he says. I laugh. I try to imagine an Oslo 2 agreement with justice also for the Palestinians. “We need a tros.” “Tros?” I come to know that tros means agreement. I want to remember that word, and try to find a mnemonic rule. It is not difficult. The Palestinians need a tros which can give them faith (Norwegian tro) in the future.
Khaled has worked as tourist police for 9 years. He is happy about having a job. The unemployment rate is high, especially after the second Intifada started four years ago. The salary is not high, but he can maintain his family. He proudly finds a family photo with the four children. The fifth is on its way. “You know, I am quite lucky. I am a refugee, but I can work here though. The refugees in Lebanon are not allowed to work outside the camp. They live on smaller space than we do here in the refugee camps in Bethlehem. Have you seen how a refugee camp is?” I nod. I have seen.
A bowed man passes us. He reminds me of the bell-ringer of Notre Dame. “That is the bell-ringer of Bethlehem.” Khaled tells about the siege of the Church of the Nativity in 2002. The church was full of Palestinians for 40 days. Outside were Israeli soldiers. The brother of the bowed man went up in the tower to ring the bells, as he did every day. He was shot by the soldiers. It is quiet. Nobody says anything.
A tourist police colleague comes. The two of them discuss the statistics of the day, and they explain that they write down who visit the church. Before the Intifada it could be 150 buses with tourists every day. Now it is mostly single persons or small groups coming. Today has been good, with 5 buses with Nigerians. He shows me where he has written it, and that he has also written where they are going later. “If any of them loses the bus, we can send them by taxi to the next place, or we can drive them ourselves.” The service is great.
It is clear that there are not so many tourists to take care of. The tourist police have a lot of time. I have been talking with Khaled for more than one and a half hours. I am just visiting Bethlehem for the day and I tell that I want to go back to Jerusalem before it is dark. It is not more than 15 km, but it takes time with different transportation and the checkpoint I have to pass. I ask when he was in Jerusalem last time. It is eight years ago. He has no permit to pass the Israeli checkpoint. With my red passport I come easily to Bethlehem and back to Jerusalem. Where is the sense that I can travel and he can not? I am a bit downhearted. “We must not lose hope,” Khaled says. ”The hope is the last thing we have. They have taken much, but the hope they can not take. If we lose the hope, we will die. But we want to live. We have faith in the future. I just hope that we could understand that it is not possible to fight Israel with stones. We have to sit down to make a tros. Then the hope will become reality.” Now I remember tros in a different way: The Palestinians deserve a tros because they have so much faith (Norwegian tro).
Khaled asks when I will come back. I tell that I will come to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. He will work in the days of Christmas and says that I can ask if I need help with anything. He says that it will be many people in Christmas. I hope he is right. It would be sad if there were not enough pilgrims to fill the church on Christmas Eve. But I am not sure. They should soon come, these tourists, if they want to be here for Christmas. As usual the Palestinian has more faith and hope than I have. We say goodbye, I go back to Jerusalem. But I will soon come again, to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem.
---
Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas time.
Christmas greetings from Hanne.
Dear friends!
After a few days with my family staying here, I have discovered all the things I don’t know… I had the idea about it. They ask about everything they see, and I can not answer. No, I am neither educated in geology, biology nor history. But we have already seen a lot.
Yesterday was the big Jerusalem day, with a tour to the Mount of Olives and further to the Old city. We had a nice view from the tower in the Church of the Ascension. On our way down to Gethsemane, we visited the chapel of Dominus Flevit (The Lord Wept). The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Garden Tomb were also visited. Karoline was, as I had thought, very interested in some of the shops in the Old City. Pearls, stones, nuts and fruit got her attention.
Today we are going to Bethlehem where we will stay to Christmas Day. I was a day trip to Bethlehem last Sunday. To make it easy today, I just paste an article I wrote after that trip.
---
I am in the middle of the Church of the Nativity. It is a few days before Christmas. I am almost alone. I go down to the grotto where Jesus was born. There are only a couple of others there, and I can go and touch the star marking the place where the birth shall have taken place, without standing in line. It is quiet.
I go out of the church. It is quiet there too. A man in uniform asks how I am and where I come from. I have heard that it is the Palestinian Tourist Police taking care of and helping the tourists. I answer that I come from Norway. “Oslo!” he replies. I am a bit puzzled, I am used to Oslo not to be the best to mention here, after the problems the Oslo agreement made. “We like Oslo and Norway because you are here,” he says. “But we don’t like the results of the Oslo agreement, with area A, B and C, confiscated land and more Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.” I do not need to apologize, he understands that I did not have anything to do with the Oslo agreement.
“We need Oslo 2,” he says. I laugh. I try to imagine an Oslo 2 agreement with justice also for the Palestinians. “We need a tros.” “Tros?” I come to know that tros means agreement. I want to remember that word, and try to find a mnemonic rule. It is not difficult. The Palestinians need a tros which can give them faith (Norwegian tro) in the future.
Khaled has worked as tourist police for 9 years. He is happy about having a job. The unemployment rate is high, especially after the second Intifada started four years ago. The salary is not high, but he can maintain his family. He proudly finds a family photo with the four children. The fifth is on its way. “You know, I am quite lucky. I am a refugee, but I can work here though. The refugees in Lebanon are not allowed to work outside the camp. They live on smaller space than we do here in the refugee camps in Bethlehem. Have you seen how a refugee camp is?” I nod. I have seen.
A bowed man passes us. He reminds me of the bell-ringer of Notre Dame. “That is the bell-ringer of Bethlehem.” Khaled tells about the siege of the Church of the Nativity in 2002. The church was full of Palestinians for 40 days. Outside were Israeli soldiers. The brother of the bowed man went up in the tower to ring the bells, as he did every day. He was shot by the soldiers. It is quiet. Nobody says anything.
A tourist police colleague comes. The two of them discuss the statistics of the day, and they explain that they write down who visit the church. Before the Intifada it could be 150 buses with tourists every day. Now it is mostly single persons or small groups coming. Today has been good, with 5 buses with Nigerians. He shows me where he has written it, and that he has also written where they are going later. “If any of them loses the bus, we can send them by taxi to the next place, or we can drive them ourselves.” The service is great.
It is clear that there are not so many tourists to take care of. The tourist police have a lot of time. I have been talking with Khaled for more than one and a half hours. I am just visiting Bethlehem for the day and I tell that I want to go back to Jerusalem before it is dark. It is not more than 15 km, but it takes time with different transportation and the checkpoint I have to pass. I ask when he was in Jerusalem last time. It is eight years ago. He has no permit to pass the Israeli checkpoint. With my red passport I come easily to Bethlehem and back to Jerusalem. Where is the sense that I can travel and he can not? I am a bit downhearted. “We must not lose hope,” Khaled says. ”The hope is the last thing we have. They have taken much, but the hope they can not take. If we lose the hope, we will die. But we want to live. We have faith in the future. I just hope that we could understand that it is not possible to fight Israel with stones. We have to sit down to make a tros. Then the hope will become reality.” Now I remember tros in a different way: The Palestinians deserve a tros because they have so much faith (Norwegian tro).
Khaled asks when I will come back. I tell that I will come to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. He will work in the days of Christmas and says that I can ask if I need help with anything. He says that it will be many people in Christmas. I hope he is right. It would be sad if there were not enough pilgrims to fill the church on Christmas Eve. But I am not sure. They should soon come, these tourists, if they want to be here for Christmas. As usual the Palestinian has more faith and hope than I have. We say goodbye, I go back to Jerusalem. But I will soon come again, to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem.
---
Wishing you a happy and peaceful Christmas time.
Christmas greetings from Hanne.
posted by Hanne at 6:40 AM
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