January 6th was the Orthodox Christmas and this is normally a big celebration in Bethlehem - particularly at the Church of the Nativity in Manger Square. We arrived to see the Patriarchs of the Orthodox Churches, as they led the processions from Manger Square around the town. Standing in Manger Square it felt deserted. Where were all the people?
It turned out that the Greek Orthodox Patriarch had leased and sold some of their land between Bethlehem and Jerusalem for use by the Israelis and as a sign of their discontent many had decided to boycott the Christmas celebrations. This was a painful decision for what symbolises the central image of this town. Even our taxi driver explained to us that he was not happy with the Patriarch and some people put up banners saying "The Holy Land is not for sale or lease" and "The Patriarch has damaged relationships with our Greek neighbours".
What must it feel like to discover that your church has started selling and leasing land to those who are keeping you prisoner and destroying your business? From whence does their hope come then? You have to choose to absent yourself from the most special holiday of the town, in a life which already has most celebrations dented in some way because of the illegal occupation. Who is going to speak out to change this? Who is going to stop other churches from feeling pressured into taking similar decisions?
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