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Josiah
Posts: 1
Joined: Jan 2007
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January 08, 2007 5:13 PM
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I guess I must be one of the ignorant Americans referred to in this article, because there are a few things I still don't understand.
If the security wall is what's driving Christians out of Bethlehem, why is it that the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem and the West Bank generally started well before the wall was built?
If the exodus is due to the wall and not Islamic extremism, why is it that Christians are leaving while Muslims aren't? Given that, as the article indicates, Christians are given preferential treatment by Israel with regard to the wall, you'd think it'd be the other way around.
The article says that the Palestinians are welcoming and tolerant of Jews. This raises the question, how many Jews live in the areas controlled by the Palestinian territory?
Does the author really believe that Palestinian Christians aren't harassed and persecuted by Palestinian Muslims? This would seem to contradict just about everything I've read on the subject. (See, e.g., here: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2006/06104.htm)
The author repeatedly uses language that suggests Bethlehem is completely surrounded by the wall. Yet from everything I've seen the wall at present only runs across part of one side of the city, and even when completed will leave Bethlehem connected to the rest of the West Bank. (See, e.g., here: http://www.btselem.org/Download/Separation_Barrier_Map_Eng.pdf) If Mr. Ivereigh can't be straightforward about such a simple matter of fact, how can I trust anything else he has to say on the matter?
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Austen Ivereigh
Posts: 1
Joined: Jan 2007
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January 22, 2007 4:50 AM
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I apologise for any offence given by implying that Americans are ignorant of the situation in Bethlehem - but the brutal fact is that they are, as the survey mentioned in the article clearly shows. It is an ignorance shared by the British - including me, until I went to spend time there.
"If the security wall is what's driving Christians out of Bethlehem, why is it that the exodus of Christians from Bethlehem and the West Bank generally started well before the wall was built?". The wall is not the only factor driving Christians out of Bethlehem - the exodus indeed started before it was built - but it has accelerated it dramatically. The wall is a de facto border, which has taken much of the Bethlehemites' remaining land, and has produced a new despair which was not there before.
"If the exodus is due to the wall and not Islamic extremism, why is it that Christians are leaving while Muslims aren't? Given that, as the article indicates, Christians are given preferential treatment by Israel with regard to the wall, you'd think it'd be the other way around." As a proportion of the population, more Christians than Muslims are leaving (a) because they tend to have connections abroad; (b) because they are more dependent on the tourist trade; (c) because they own more of the land that is being taken. But Muslims are also leaving in considerable numbers. Christians are only given preferential treatment in as much as at Christmas there are travel concessions. In every other respect, the suffering of Christians and Muslims is identical.
"The article says that the Palestinians are welcoming and tolerant of Jews. This raises the question, how many Jews live in the areas controlled by the Palestinian territory?" Almost none, because the Israeli government prohibits Israeli citizens from entering Palestinian territory.
"Does the author really believe that Palestinian Christians aren't harassed and persecuted by Palestinian Muslims? This would seem to contradict just about everything I've read on the subject." From my two stays in Bethlehem, talking to many, many Christians, I never heard any of them say they were being harrassed "by Muslims". Christians and Muslims have lived cheek by jowl for centuries; they are thoroughly immersed in each others' lives. Occasionally there are tensions - the election of Hamas, for example, has led certain Christians to complain that Muslims get preferential treatment. But the idea that Christians are leaving Bethlehem because of Muslims simply doesn't add up.
"The author repeatedly uses language that suggests Bethlehem is completely surrounded by the wall. Yet from everything I've seen the wall at present only runs across part of one side of the city, and even when completed will leave Bethlehem connected to the rest of the West Bank." I never said the wall completely surrounds Bethlehem, although it is fast moving in that direction. But when you are in Bethlehem, you see it from almost everywhere, and the sensation is certainly one of being surrounded. Where the wall has not been built, there are checkpoints and wire fences. Bethlehemites cannot freely move to other towns on the West Bank: they have to pass through a labrynth of checkpoints, and face constant road closures, etc. The West Bank is like a Swiss cheese - Palestinians live in towns isolated from each other, with the roads in between controlled by the Israeli army. Trade and travel have been severely curbed. The economic and social consequences are devastating. When pilgrims don't come, when land is being annexed, when it is all but impossible to go to Jerusalem to work, and when trade between West Bank towns faces endless disruption, how are people to survive? Hence the exodus.
I hope these replies are sufficiently straightforward to satisfy Josiah.
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