‘Visit the cradle of Christianity’ – plea to world
16 September, 2007, The Catholic Weekly
The Catholic Mayor of Bethlehem, Dr Victor Batarseh, visited Sydney last month to 'twin' his ancient, multi-racial home city with the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, one of Sydney's most multi-cultural communities, and to invite Australians of all religions to visit Bethlehem. A retired surgeon, Dr Batarseh, 72, seeks in his world travels to highlight the sufferings of his city, to win as many friends as he can in an international campaign, Open Bethlehem, a core component of which is the "granting" of a Bethlehem 'passport'. His goal is to increase employment in the troubled city and to rebuild its tourist status. At the heart of the campaign is provision of free access to and from the city.
In a conversation with Brian Davies, Dr Batarseh explains the stress and hardships of life in the pilgrims' city and its first problem. “They (Israeli forces) come over looking for anyone who might do anything against Israel, try to imprison them and, if they do not give themselves up, then they take them by force or sometimes they shoot them. All this has had a terrible impact on the people of Bethlehem. It’s why tourism has come down to 10 per cent of normal tourism; even when the tourists come over they don’t stay overnight in Bethlehem. They just come to the Church of the Nativity and then go back to Jerusalem.”
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Q. So it’s no wonder tourism has faded drastically?
Well, they used to stay in Bethlehem, but, you know, the bad propaganda propagated by outside travel agents linked with Israel puts them off. They say Bethlehem is unsafe, that it’s more expensive than Jerusalem. It has had a very bad effect on tourism to Bethlehem and with this wall Israel has built and its checkpoints – this wall is a big syndrome against tourism to Bethlehem. And, you know, tourism is the main source of income in Bethlehem, for its citizens. The other contours of income include labour in Israel proper, but this has come down, too, to about 15 per cent, because any person who wants to leave Bethlehem to go to Israel has to get a special permit from the Israeli authorities which is rarely granted to anyone; they can take days to be issued. Even on health, you have to change ambulances and that can still be a 24-hour delay. So labour in Israel for us in Bethlehem is also down to about 15 per cent. Our other income was agriculture and most of the agricultural land in Bethlehem is now cut off by the Israeli wall of separation. All of our olive trees are behind the wall so the citizens cannot go and harvest their olive trees. That’s why we have economic stress, very high economic stress. More than 55 per cent of the population in Bethlehem lives below the poverty line.
Q. How are they supported?
Non-government organisations have set up in Bethlehem and we have some international aid agency support.
Q. Just going back to the Open Bethlehem campaign and the message you take with you about the plight of Bethlehem, what sort of impact have you had elsewhere?
Well it has given a good result: we had one day in Italy where they brought along about 40 travel agents and we spoke to them for most of the day, stressing how safe Bethlehem is for tourists and how Bethlehem is much cheaper than Jerusalem. We really had a very good result after that, but a few months later the Israeli and Lebanese war started and everything went bad again.
Q. That sounds a bit like the mayor of any city wanting to promote his against rivals; what you don’t refer to is the political situation that gives rise to these problems. When do you talk to political leaders of influence?
I talk not only to travel agents, but to political leaders abroad. Some of these leaders say that it is unsafe to go to Palestine, unsafe to go to Bethlehem. This is due to the powerful Zionist lobby all over the world and you know also the media is biased all over the world against the Palestinians and this adds up to preventing tourists and pilgrims coming to Bethlehem.
Q. Can you foresee a point at which Israeli policies and the situation of Palestine will somehow or other resolve amicably or how else do we arrive at a resolution of the problems you’re describing?
We hope this conflict can be solved peacefully, resolved peacefully, because this is the only way. Palestinians do not have an army. Israel has the mightiest army in the Middle East; they are a nuclear power and the only way we can reach peace is through peaceful ways, but we have to have world support on the UN resolutions, the key words to force Israel to comply with the UN resolutions . . . if the world won’t pressure Israel to meet these resolutions then I don’t see a way to peace, the only way to peace we would have liked, the ideal solution – a one state comprising all three religions. The Israelis would not accept this; that’s why we now accept a two-state solution, but tell me, where is the Palestinian state going to be, with all these settlements dividing the Palestinian citizens among themselves and into by-roads? There is no more land to build a viable Palestinian state.
Q. What would it take to persuade Israel to make whatever concessions are appropriate – yours, too – to achieve the two-state solution?
We have given all our concessions as Palestinians. All our land has been taken by the Israelis. Whatever they are going to give in way of concessions they are giving us back part of what we owned in the historical time and this part is only 13 to 18 per cent of historical Palestine and we are ready to accept that small part of our original land, but, unfortunately, until now Israel is manipulating the whole world and playing with words and building something solid on the ground: these illegal settlements in the West Bank. And they’re still building, up and down. These settlements will be a hindrance to the future, a hindrance to peaceful solution..
Q. You obviously see the Palestinian-Israeli situation as the core of the Middle East? If it was resolved might much of the difficulties of the rest of the Middle East also be resolved? What’s your view?
The core and the centre really of this problem in the Middle East is the Palestinian-Israeli issue. If that was resolved then we would have peace in the Middle East and all over the world and I think the US and the European Union should think better; they should try to be more balanced in their policies. They should really make Israel accept all the UN resolutions. They should not use force of arms; there are other ways of forcing Israel to listen. Remember what happened to South Africa, how change was finally made there by boycotting? Boycotting Israel – this is the way. You might go for one year or so, but it is a way, a peaceful way of forcing Israel to adopt the UN resolutions.
Q. So you would turn to the UN and Europe and the Western world to follow that through ?
Yes, of course . . .
Q. Do you see a role for the Vatican and the Church generally?
A big role. Don’t forget Bethlehem for Christians all over the world is the ‘mainland’ of the faith – the cradle of Bethlehem. Bethlehem and Palestine are the cradle of Christianity so they should look after it and not abandon this land. They should use their powers, the Church’s powers, the Vatican’s powers, to try to make peace in the Holy Land. By powers, I mean moral powers – and political power.
Q. What’s your message to Australians Christians in general, Catholics in particular?
I send a message from Bethlehem that the star of Bethlehem always shines and always sends messages of peace and love to all the world. To all, I say of this small city, this cradle of Christianity, don’t abandon Bethlehem. Bethlehem is the city of all Christians all over the world – every Christian anywhere in the world is considered by us to be a citizen of this holy city. Don’t abandon your city; come over, visit the city, visit the holy Church of the Nativity, spend some time in this city. In this way you’ll stand in solidarity with the city of Bethlehem and with the citizens of Bethlehem. We need you, we need your help, we need your prayers, we need to see you among us. By coming in hundreds and thousands you will, psychological, break this wall of separation that has been built by Israel.
Q. Others would say Bethlehem is not entirely Christian; after all it’s also very important to Muslims and Jews.
We have them all living in the city of Bethlehem, OK? We have been living together as good neighbours and we will remain living together as good neighbours . . . living together in the city of Bethlehem – a model of co-existence between these religions. Palestine was a model of co-existence between the three religions before the existence of Israel, before 1948. That is what we care for. This is what we aim for – to have co-existence between all religions and all nations.
Copyright © 2007 The Catholic Weekly - Sydney
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