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December 1999
Dear Friends and Relations,
The hopes and fears of many years still meet in the streets of
Bethlehem today! The "little town" has recently undergone
a $100-million-dollar facelift in order to host the world for
millennium celebrations. All of the projects have not been completed
this year, yet one cannot deny that Bethlehem has been transformed
into a city that is ready to welcome the throngs of tourists and
visitors expected to converge on the Holy Land, and in Bethlehem
in particular, during the coming year.
Unfortunately, as Israelis and Palestinians move closer to the
February 15, 2000, deadline for a framework agreement on final
status issues, it is clear that there is still a lack of trust
between the two sides, and perhaps with good reason.
Take, for example, the new checkpoint construction that is currently
underway at the northern entrance to Bethlehem. The Israeli authorities
claim that this "improvement" to the current military
checkpoint will facilitate the smooth flow of tourist traffic
into and out of Bethlehem. But Palestinians maintain that Israel
is constructing a checkpoint similar to the one that currently
separates the Gaza Strip from Israel Proper. If this is so, the
movement of Palestinians will be severely curtailed, and access
to Jerusalem will be rigorously restricted. Palestinians fear
that Bethlehem and Jerusalem, two cities separated by a distance
of only five miles, are growing farther and farther apart, yet
they continue to hope that this will not happen.
Clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli troops broke out
in late October, following the killing of a young Palestinian
postcard seller by an Israeli Defense Force soldier near Rachel’s
Tomb. The Israeli military version of the story claims that the
young man, 29-year-old Musa Abu Hilail, tried to stab a solider
with a knife. However, other eyewitness reports claim that the
young soldier who shot Musa knew him, and had called him over
to ask for a cigarette. According to this version of the story,
the soldier’s gun discharged accidentally, striking Musa
in the chest with a single bullet. Eyewitnesses claim that the
young soldier who fired the fatal shot was seen being escorted
away from the scene, sobbing hysterically. The fears of Palestinians
living in Bethlehem today are very real, and sometimes carry with
them life-or-death consequences
As news of this latest incident flashed across TV screens and
newspaper headlines around the world, anxious merchants, travel
agents and hoteliers in the Bethlehem region were bracing themselves
for tour group cancellations leading up to the busy Christmas
season. Palestinian merchants in Bethlehem are hoping for a record
number of tourists for this year’s Christmas festivities,
and any such cancellations could spell an economic disaster for
people who depend heavily on tourism for their livelihood. The
fears of Bethlehemites are indeed very real, and the anxieties
and frustrations felt by so many people cannot be discounted.
Every day on my way to Jerusalem I pass a hillside from where,
tradition says, Phillips Brookes caught his first glimpse of Bethlehem
back in 1865. From this vantage point, he looked down across a
shallow valley, and was inspired to pen the poem that, several
years later, was to become the famous Christmas carol, "O
Little Town of Bethlehem." Oh little town of Bethlehem, indeed!
You are growing smaller and smaller in size. Today, across that
shallow valley near that same hillside, construction is proceeding
at break-neck speed in order to complete the next Israeli settlement
in this part of the southern West Bank. A small, green mountain
on the edge of the Shepherd’s Fields, once covered with pine
trees, has now been completely de-forested. I observe the anguished
look on the faces of Palestinians in our shared taxi making its
way to Jerusalem each day. Once again they can only sit by and
watch helplessly as their land continues to be confiscated and
destroyed, bulldozed and transformed into housing units they will
never be allowed to inhabit. One cannot help but be moved by what
they must surely be feeling, and it is at times such as these
that I question if there is any hope at all in this situation.
Clearly the hope in this hopeless situation lies with the children—the
future generation. In Bethlehem, as in other cities of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian children under the age of fifteen
comprise 50 percent of the entire Palestinian population living
in these territories today. Children! I fear what their lives
may be like in fifteen years or so, and yet I also have hope.
Though I may not see peace come to its full fruition in my lifetime
here in Israel/Palestine, I have hope that the children of the
coming generation can and will make a difference in their world.
I recall the age-old story of the birth of a child in Bethlehem
so long ago. In humble and poor surroundings, in an unassuming
way, a child was born in Bethlehem that would transform the destiny
of all of humanity forever. This Christmas, may we live in the
hope that was first made known to us by that baby in Bethlehem
2000 years ago: ". . .and a little child shall lead them"
(Isaiah 11:6).
Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas season, and a New Year
and a New Millennium full of hope, promise and peace for all people!
Merry Christmas from Bethlehem and Happy 2000!
Douglas Dicks
The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 139
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