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April 1999
Dear Family and Friends,
Dust was flying in the streets of Bethlehem when I returned in
early September from my summer itineration abroad. This little
town on the edge of the Judean Desert is readying itself to play
host to the world! Major infrastructure changes were needed, as
Bethlehem was largely neglected during the 27 years of Israeli
occupation. Water pipes, sewage lines, telephone and electrical
cables are all being replaced and buried. New street lights, a
gift from the government of Norway, now line Manger Street. Roads
have been completely excavated and freshly asphalted. The task
has been an overwhelming one, and clearly not everything will
be ready by January 1, 2000. Nonetheless, the city of Bethlehem,
with financial help from around the globe, will put its best foot
forward when the world arrives to celebrate the 2000th anniversary
of the birth of the Prince of Peace next year.
The signing of the Wye River memorandum in late October brought
fresh hopes that the stalemate in the "peace process"
might finally end. The signature of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu
to the memorandum, so it seemed, would put to rest once and for
all the underlying argument made by his right-wing Likud government
that it did not have to implement any agreement that the previous
Labour government had signed. Once again, hope was rekindled that
a long-overdue understanding would actually be reached by both
Palestinians and Israelis at Wye River. Once again, those same
hopes were soon dashed when, only weeks after returning to Israel,
Netanyahu announced that Israel would not fulfill any of its commitments
under the agreement until the Palestinians fulfilled theirs. And
finally, the United States, which still claims to be the "even-handed"
broker throughout these agreements, again proved powerless, if
not unwilling, to persuade Israel that it was in the best interest
of regional peace to implement the agreed-upon troop withdrawals
from additional areas of the West Bank.
With much fanfare, Gaza International Airport opened on November
24, and Palestinians felt elated that this historic event, which
opens Gaza to the world, might somehow be the first step towards
a free and independent Palestine. However, since the opening of
Gaza International, Israel has used the pretext of its own state
security in determining who can fly out of Gaza using the new
terminal. It appears as though even Palestinians wishing to leave
the Middle East pose a potential security threat to Israel!
Despite Israeli dissatisfaction, President Clinton made a historic
visit to the region in mid-December, fulfilling his commitment
as part of the Wye River understanding to visit the Palestinian
Autonomous Areas of both Gaza and Bethlehem. In Gaza, Clinton
attended a special session of the Palestine National Council,
and witnessed first-hand the nullification of clauses in the Palestinian
Liberation Organization's charter—clauses which advocated
the destruction of the state of Israel.
On December 15, I stood with hundreds of Palestinians in Manger
Square, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Clintons in Bethlehem.
Earlier that morning, I watched from my apartment window as helicopters,
and not angels, hovered over the Shepherd's Fields, and hurried
to Manger Square to take my place amongst the throngs of people
hoping to catch a glimpse of the First Family. Posters that read,
"Bill Clinton, Welcome to Palestine" and "We Have
a Dream—the Same as Yours" appeared in shop windows
only days before the Clintons' arrival. The Clintons did finally
arrive in Bethlehem, and after a brief tour of the Church of the
Nativity, they hung a few ornaments on a tree that had been placed
near the church for the occasion. A Palestinian choir from Beir
Sahour, the town of the shepherds, sang for them. In an instant
they were gone, hurrying off to catch helicopters for their flight
out over the desert to the mountain of Masada.
Within days of departing Bethlehem, the United States and Britain
bombed Iraq, and the Palestinian people felt both betrayed and
bewildered. American flags that had once flown proudly along the
route to Manger Square were ripped down and burned in angry protests.
"How is it," they asked, "that Clinton could come
to Bethlehem so close to Christmas and speak of peace, only to
return home and issue bombing orders against the already long-suffering
people of Iraq?" Indeed, it seemed to me that the spirit
of "peace on earth, goodwill to all" had been torn from
underneath us so suddenly—that there was little cause for
revelry in spite of the season.
Christmas came in quietly as the year 1998 drew to a close. So
many of my Palestinian friends and neighbors felt that there was
little reason to celebrate, but Christmas came just the same.
I attended the usual services in Bethlehem, including an Anglican
carol service presided over by His grace Bishop Riah Abu el-Assal,
and attended by President Yasser Arafat. Following midnight mass
at St. Catherine's, I made my way back through the quiet streets
of Bethlehem towards home. Christmas had dawned in my part of
the world, and as I walked along, gazing up into the star-filled
night sky, I could not help but be humbled by the thought that
it was into such a broken and restless world not unlike our own,
silently, miraculously, hope was born one night as this some two
thousand years ago.
In Peace,
Douglas Dicks
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