Bethlehem in the crosshairs: as Christians around the world sing of Bethlehem, the city of Jesus' birth is locked in the chokehold of virtual house arrest: first in a two-part series - Christmas

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 20, 2002 by Pat Morrison

A good part of Gedeon's sadness is more than melancholy. It's rooted in genuine loss, and understandable anger. Her 23-year-old brother Osama died of cancer in April. He had been sick at home, while the military occupation was in full force because the siege at the Church of the Nativity was underway.

"We couldn't get him out to go to hospital, because they would let no one leave," she said. "And we couldn't get a doctor to come. So my brother died here in our house, without the medical care he needed. He might still be alive," she. said softly. "I would look at the church [of the Nativity], where they had ambulances waiting outside for the soldiers and see my brother here dying because he couldn't get to hospital. And there was nothing any of us could do about it."

For several days after his death, the family could not bury Osama because of the house arrest. "We had no funeral, no procession, no Mass," Gedeon said. "We could not even go out to the cemetery." Finally, the Christian Brothers at the university arranged for her brother to be buried in a tiny cemetery behind the university and helped the family transport his body for burial.

Despite her grief and anger at seeing her town under military occupation, Gedeon is determined not to let hatred win out. And although she hates violence, she believes the intifada is the only way Palestinian young people have to express themselves.

"The only way we have is stones," she said. "They have tanks and guns. But this is our land and we want to stay on it. The occupation is wrong, and it must end sooner or later. No other nation in the world is under occupation for more than 50 years," she said.

"I try not to hate and I don't want to hate. We want peace, for all people," Gedeon said. "By peace we can make the world a better one."

As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, Christians in Bethlehem have prayers to offer and requests to make.

"I pray they have a beautiful Christmas," said Nancy Elias, a Bethlehem-born Catholic faculty member at Bethlehem University's College of Education. "And I would say to them, please don't forget us. Bethlehem needs peace, but it needs justice first. Tell President Bush to stop supporting actions that hurt the people of Palestine, the people of Bethlehem. Think about Christmas here, and you will want to work for peace."

Ask them to pray for us, to remember us, said Gedeon. "You love Jesus. Well, we are the people trying just to exist where Jesus was born."

Ask questions, said Kattan. "Always ask `Why?' When you hear your government is doing something, ask why, what people will be affected by this action?"

Raheb, the Lutheran pastor, hopes that Catholics especially will be motivated to take action when they learn of the oppression of Bethlehem Christians. The people of Bethlehem, he said, "are saying, `What are the 50 million Catholics in the United States doing, with Bethlehem under curfew at Christmas, the little town that everyone is singing about?' If this happened to Jewish people, the churches would cry out and say, `Look at the discrimination the Jews are suffering.'