A Sad and Silent Night for Bethlehem Residents

Re “Oh, Little Town Lies Still Indeed,” Dec. 18: The streets and Bethlehem churches may be silent for their Christmas services this year, but what is more troubling is the silence of the Christians throughout the world as the Israeli occupation further demoralizes this pilgrimage site, the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

Last month I was scheduled to teach a course at the Bethlehem Bible College but, because of the 24-hour curfew, I taught in relatively peaceful Gaza City. The folks in Gaza feel they are better off than their fellow Palestinians in the West Bank. Although Israeli U.S.-made helicopters regularly pound on suspected terrorists’ homes, and the small number of Israeli settlements constantly seize more land for occupation, the Gazans have a steady United Nations supply of food and enjoy a degree of freedom not found in Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns under reoccupation.

The majority of the people in the Palestinian territories are Muslim, 99% in Gaza, and some have asked me why the Israeli military keeps assaulting Bethlehem, whose Christian establishments are dedicated to bringing pilgrims and peace to the historic birthplace of our faith. This Christmastime’s total curfew, like the siege of the Nativity Church this year, is going to drive out more of the businesses, empty more churches and reveal Ariel Sharon’s government’s aggression toward Palestinians, even those who want to coexist with the Jewish state.

David Bentley

Duarte

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You rightly mention that “Bethlehem was once overwhelmingly Christian; now its Christian inhabitants make up less than half the population.” Clearly, the population of the Arab Christians has been constantly diminishing over the last 10 years -- since Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have ruled the West Bank. The Times should write an article on the fate of the Christian Arabs in the West Bank and the atrocities done to them by the Palestinians. These atrocities are not dissimilar to what has happened in other Arab countries, such as the atrocities done to Christians in Egypt.

Fariba F. Ghodsian

Beverly Hills

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I was in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve seven years ago, just as the Israeli Defense Forces pulled out. It was packed with people in a most celebratory mood. I talked to many Palestinians who were hopeful about the future. How is it that seven years later, the town is reoccupied?

Arafat was brought into the territories by Israel to build a country that would live side by side with it in peace. Instead, he chose to arm his territories to the teeth, incite hatred and violence through speeches, media and, most heinously, schoolbooks for the young, and line his pockets and those of his corrupt Palestinian Authority with aid meant to better the lives of his people. I feel bad for the Bethlehem hotel owner who has not one guest booked for Christmas, but he and all of his Palestinian brethren need to place the blame on their “elected” leader who has taken away their hopes of a better life and led them down the path to disaster.

Joseph Gold

Torrance