BETHLEHEM
Special Christianity in Holy Land
It parts from the lips like a whispered prayer and echoes around the world
as the birthplace of Jesus.
Your every expectation will be fulfilled on seeing the Church of the
Nativity and Manger Square, despite their ritual exposure to television cameras
on Christmas Eve.
Down in the dimly lit Grotto of the Nativity the pungent smell of
incense lingers over the ancient manger. And outside is Shepherds' Field, where
the heavenly host sang, ``Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among
men.'' Christianity's shrines are tucked within the town's low, grey stone
buildings, bordered by terraced vineyards and pastoral olive groves that have
not changed these past 2,000 years.
It is a town of steeples and spires, of Franciscan monks in brown habits
and sandals and Greek Orthodox priests cutting stately figures in long black
robes. There are pealing church bells and scenes reminiscent of biblical times,
with overburdened donkeys struggling up the cobbled lanes.
During the period of the Judges, the biblical romance of Ruth and Boaz
was played out in the fields on the eastern side of the town. King David was
born in Bethlehem. The Bible relates how the Philistines were garrisoned
within, yet David's warriors stealthily drew water from the town's wells for
their monarch.
Just before Christmas, 1995, Israel handed the town over to Palestinian
control, in accordance with the Oslo II agreement, whereupon chairman Yasser
Arafat startled Christians and Jews alike by asserting that Jesus was a
Palestinian. This fantastic piece of nonsense, uttered in all seriousness,
indicated just how far Arafat was prepared to go to apprpriate Jesus to his
political cause. (Jesus was killed more than a century before Rome imposed the
name Syria-Palestine on the land in order to humiliate the Jews whose rebellion
it had crushed.)
Bethlehem is awesomely lovely, with narrow streets and cool stone
structures. It is ideal for meandering at whim through the lanes and alleys,
into the souq for the aura of the Orient, and out past the elders sitting on
stools as they draw on hookahs or sip strong coffee.
About 25,000 people live in Bethlehem, of whom more than two-thirds are
Moslems, the remainder being Christian Arabs.