Bringing Bethlehem Home

For five weeks this spring, the world watched the standoff between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants--many of whom were wanted by Israel for acts of terrorism--at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A month into the siege, Carolyn Cole of The Times was taking photographs outside the church when 10 aid workers sympathetic to the Palestinians outraced soldiers to enter the structure. Cole went with them. She was the only photographer to record the standoff from inside the church, where she remained for nine days before the siege ended May 10. Some of her photographs were smuggled out and published by The Times. Most of them, however, were not available until she returned to California days later. Writer Eric Pape interviewed many of the people in the pictures and his text accompanies Cole’s exclusive photographs.