Church Of The Nativity Sanctuary
Seekers Still In Exile After 10 Years. Why?
07 August 2012
By Stuart Littlewood
The election of Egypt's president Muhammad Mursi
momentarily threw a spotlight on the long-forgotten
Palestinians exiled to Gaza after the Israelis'
infamous siege of the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem in the West Bank 10 years ago.
It is expected Mursi will at least allow greater
freedom to travel across Gaza's Rafah crossing into
Egypt, the besieged enclave's only door to the outside
world.
How did the exiles find themselves in the prison Gaza
has become? In 2002 a young girl from a refugee camp
triggered events that led to a 40-day siege of the
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This is probably
the oldest Christian church in the world, built by
Constantine the Great and dating from AD330. A member
of the girl's family had been killed by Israeli
occupation troops. Grief-stricken, she took revenge by
turning herself into a suicide bomber.
The Israelis responded by sending 250 tanks and
armoured personnel carriers, F-16 fighter jets, Apache
gunships and hundreds of soldiers into West Bank towns
like Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem late at night. In
Bethlehem they cut the electricity supply and invaded
the old township with helicopter gunships and occupied
all key points around Manger Square. Many innocent
Palestinians were killed by shelling and army snipers,
and the market and some shops were set on fire as
troops tried to hunt down suspected ‘fighters'.
Civilians tried desperately to hide from the troops
and a large number of people took refuge or arrived
for other reasons at the Church and found themselves
trapped, unable to leave.
A few years ago I interviewed one of the survivors,
who recalled that "248 took refuge there. They
included 1 Islamic Jihad, 28 Hamas, 50 to 60 Al-Aqsa
Martyrs. The remainder were ordinary townsfolk and
included 100 uniformed Palestinian Authority workers,
also 26 children and 8 to10 women and girls. The
Israeli soldiers would not allow them to leave, but
they escaped in the first week by a back door."
Priests and nuns - Armenian, Greek and Catholic - from
the adjoining monasteries brought the number to over
300 at the beginning. "Some of them went back to the
monasteries but some stayed with us every day for the
40 days."
‘Armchair slaughter' – the deadly new
video game
The Vatican was outraged. The Greek Orthodox Church of
Jerusalem called on Christians worldwide to make the
upcoming Sunday a "solidarity day" for the people in
the Church and the Church itself, and urged immediate
intervention to stop what it called the "inhuman
measures against the people and the stone of the
Church".
The Israelis set up cranes on which were mounted
robotic machine-guns under video control. According to
eye-witnesses eight defenders, including the
bell-ringer, were murdered, some by the armchair
button-pushers playing with their video joysticks and
some by regular snipers.
From the start, said my survivor, the Israeli troops
used psychological warfare methods – for example,
disorienting noise to deprive them of sleep, bright
lights and concussion grenades. They paraded the
families of the besieged in front of the Church to
pressure them to surrender. They also used illegal
dum-dum bullets which cause horrendous wounds and
trauma. "Most of those who were killed… it was because
of the dum-dums… so much bleeding, and it took so long
to arrange to send them to a hospital."
He said the soldiers fired tracer rounds into two of
the monasteries and set the ancient fabric of the
buildings alight.
15 days into the siege those inside managed to
recharge their cellphones using the mains that
supplied the Church towers and call for help. The
Israelis had overlooked the fact that this was a
separate supply coming from the Bethlehem
municipality. Friends responded by sending food to the
medical centre. From there it went by ambulance, along
with authentic casualties, and was delivered to houses
near the Church. At night young girls carried the food
in plastic bags from house to house until supplies
reached the dwellings nextdoor to the Church. The bags
were then thrown from roof to roof. This went on for 6
days until one girl dropped a bag, which the soldiers
found. The Israelis, now alerted, shot and paralysed
another young man. It put an end to the food
operation.
"Inside the Church we vowed not to harm the soldiers
unless they actually broke in. When soldiers did gain
access and killed one of the resisters, 4 of them were
shot."
Those trapped inside the Church were surprised to
discover an old lady living within the complex. She
had a small horde of olives and wheat, with which they
made bread. So they managed to eke out the food for 28
days.
The Governor of Bethlehem and the Director of the
Catholic Society were among those holding out in the
Church. According to my survivor's first-hand account,
those inside only opened the door if someone died or
was injured. He recalled watching through a peephole
and seeing people approaching across the forecourt.
"They were from the Peace Movement, 28 of them. By now
the world media were watching. 17 were arrested but 11
took a big risk, managing to bluff their way in and
bringing food in their rucksacks, which lasted another
4 days, and basic medicines.
The worst time, he said, was the final week - no food
and only dirty water from the well. They resorted to
boiling leaves and old chicken legs into a soup. He
ate only lemons and salt for 5 or 6 days. "Many were
so ill by this time that they were passing blood."
Outside some 15 civilians had been indiscriminately
shot in the street or in their homes. The Israelis
refused to allow the dead in the Church to be removed
for decent burial. "In the end, the Governor decided
it was better to be in jail than die. So we opened the
door and surrendered on the 40th day. 148 had
survived. We were promptly arrested and interrogated.
"13 were exiled to the EU, 26 were exiled to Gaza, 26
were wounded, 26 had surrendered because they were
under-age. 8 were killed inside the Church, and with
Samir (the bellringer) makes 9. They shot Samir in
front of the Church as he came out to surrender."
The rest were allowed home, including my survivor.
"The Israelis said to me, ‘Do you know why you are
going home? Because America wants it'." The adverse
publicity had prodded the CIA and EU into taking a
hand in deciding the fate of the survivors.
The whole disgraceful episode would no doubt have
ended in more carnage if the world's media hadn't
tuned in and ten international activists, including
members of the International Solidarity Movement,
hadn't managed to enter the Church.
I hear that the exiles have not been allowed to work
since or receive visits from their families. According
to some reports they were not even allowed to say
goodbye to their loved ones before being packed off.
What exactly were they guilty of? They may have been
Palestinian gunmen but the last time I checked it was
perfectly OK to put up armed resistance against an
illegal military occupation. Israel's gunmen happen to
wear uniform and are equipped with the best weaponry
American tax dollars can buy. They are fond of saying,
"We have a right to defend ourselves." So do the
Palestinians. Obviously.
So why did America and the EU lend themselves to this
shameful act of exiling... a helpful little boost to
Israel's ongoing programme of ethnic cleansing of the
West Bank?
And having got their hands dirty isn't it time, after
10 years, they cleaned up and insisted that these
forgotten men be re-united with their families?
A few weeks ago the Israeli press was practising their
usual
distortions and telling readers that "the
terrorists took shelter in the famous church, and used
about 40 priests and nuns as a shield, knowing Israel
would not take a chance on inadvertently hurting
priests and nuns".
But for Israel's gunslingers it had been open season
on bellringers and other innocents.
Stuart Littlewood's book Radio Free Palestine can
now be read on the internet by visiting
www.radiofreepalestine.org.uk.
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