Open bethlehem

By Brother Thomas Johnson, FSC (CB Conference)
Published in De La Salle TODAY, Summer 2006

I first heard the expression "open Bethlehem " during a visit to the Holy Land in March this year. The occasion was a lunch in honor of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., at the Ecole des Freres, the Lasallian K through 10 school in Bethlehem , where I met Mrs. Carole Dadoub of an organization called "Open Bethlehem." The aim of this organization is to save the city of Bethlehem . The word "open" in this ex­pression is a verb, a plea to open this city up once again.

Bethlehem is not open. It has been closed since the onset of the 2000 intifada. A century ago almost 20 percent of Palestinians were Christians whose traditions go back to the time of Christ. Now the Christian population is about 2 percent. Surrounded by a wall, Bethlehem , in the words of some students I met at the University, is a virtual prison. Christians are leaving since there is little work for the educated populace who find it easier to migrate to Europe and the Americas than do their Muslim counterparts.

There are a few Christian institutions in Bethlehem including two Lasallian schools-Ecole des Freres and Bethlehem University , a ministry of our United States and Toronto Region. The Univeristy, sits high on a hill, overlooking the biblical city of the Nativity, the hills where shepherds still tend their flocks, bustling streets and the grey stone wall with guard towers and checkpoints built to keep Palestinians from traveling in some places. The wall crosses the property of Palestinians cutting them from their land and expanding the borders of the State ofIsrael beyond the United Nations mandate. I met a woman who owns an olive grove that is now on the Israeli side of the wall while her house is on the Palestinian side. She is cut off from her livelihood and has not been compensated.

The wall ostensibly is built to prevent suicide bombers from crossing in to Israeli territory but also strangles the West Bank-economically, culturally and religiously. I spoke with a woman whose husband is from Israel . He cannot join her in Bethlehem and she cannot join him in Jerusalem , four miles apart. They cannot live together legally since neither has permission to join the other. Another woman told me that she almost lost her baby as she went into labor waiting in line at a checkpoint and was given no consideration by the guards. Bethlehem University students in the Religious Studies program were denied permission to visit and share ideas with Jewish students at Hebrew University . Without both peoples meeting each other personally, face to, face, see­ing each other as fellow humans, there cannot be hope for lasting peace. Walls might maintain security, but they also foster division and prejudice.

During my visit this March, I could not help think about our own North American history and the treatment of native North Americans by those of European descent. Confiscated land, containment in reservations, growing settlements, expanding borders, attacks, upris­ings and hopelessness are not unlike our own historical experience on this side of the Atlantic . The oppression and loss of land fuels attacks, the attacks fuel fear, fear generates more oppression as the spiral goes around and around breeding hopelessness and fear for all.

As Lasallians, we cannot open walls or checkpoints; we cannot stop suicide attacks directly. But we can open minds and hearts and we are doing this through Bethlehem University . Brother Peter Iorlano (LI-NE) invited me to lunch in the cafeteria with four students, two men and two women, two Christians and two Muslims. Two were preparing to be English teachers, another a nurse and another a computer systems specialist. Their aspirations and goals were no different than students in our universities in the United States . Differing in religious traditions, they go to school together, they share values, pray for peace, respect each other and of course, take classes together. Minds are opened and hearts are touched in the shadow of the ominous grey wall.

Those who have good education, families in other parts of the world, and foreign opportunities are leaving Palestine , if they can, causing a drain of professionals. There is a possibility that in the land where Jesus lived and died, there will be no Christians except for foreign religious taking care of holy places and institutions. There are some extremists on both sides who may think they will benefit from the loss of the Christian community, but for those growing up there and interested Christians all over the world, this will be a terrible loss.

The situation of Israel and the West Bank is difficult and complex. Lasallians are responding to provide education, ideas and values much like St. John Baptist de La Salle did in his day in a situation that seemed impossible. Bethlehem is a place to be Lasallian, a place for Lasallians. Open Bethlehem !