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Arab News, Saudi Arabia
July 25 2005
Third Intifada May Not Be Long in Coming
Robert Bryce, Arab News
After a week in this country, and four trips to the West Bank (three
of them to Ramallah, which requires passage through the chaotic,
dusty, noisy checkpoint at Calandia) I find that the sense of anger
among the Arab population is palpable. More interesting perhaps, is
that both Israelis and Palestinians alike believe that the third
intifada is coming and that it won't be long in coming. And as one
Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem told me, `three is a magic
number.' Thus, the third war will be bloodier, longer, and nastier
than the first two intifadas.
This picture is from the top of the Mount of Olives, in the town of
Bethany. For Christians, Bethany is one of the most important
locations in the Holy Land. Bethany is where the Palm Sunday
procession began. Bethany was the home of Mary and Martha, in whose
home Jesus stayed. Today, a nine-meter high wall has divided Bethany.
For residents of Bethany, getting to the other side of their town now
requires a 30-minute drive around the `separation wall.' The
impoverished little town that has a couple of Christian enclaves has
been sliced in two.
I didn't come here to write about the plight of Christians in the
Holy Land. That said, it's more than obvious that the holiest places
in Christendom are besieged. Roadblocks, checkpoints and the ongoing
construction of Israel's `separation' wall are garroting Bethlehem,
the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
I just got a UN report that says that ten percent of Bethlehem's
Christians have fled the city in the past four years. The report,
issued in December 2004, begins by saying `The glory of
Bethlehem...is vanishing.'
The Mount of Olives has been carved in two by the wall.
In the Old City, in Jerusalem, the Christian Quarter is a stark
contrast to the Arab and Jewish Quarters. In the other two quarters,
the two faiths appear to be locked in a population race. Nearly every
Orthodox Jewish couple is pushing a stroller or carrying a baby. In
the always-mobbed Arab Quarter, teenagers and kids are everywhere.
The statisticians say that half of the Palestinian population is
under the age of 17.
In both the Jewish Quarter and the Arab Quarter, you have to watch
where you walk, and keep your arms at your sides, because people are
everywhere, squeezing through the narrow passages of the Old City. In
the Christian Quarter - except perhaps, for the areas directly
adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - you can walk with your
arms akimbo, hell, you can walk with your arms stretched full out,
and you probably won't hit a single person. It's a ghost town.
So, after a week in Israel, the question that jumps out at me is
obvious: Why don't American Christians give a damn?
The fundamentalist Christian movement in America has never been
stronger. President George W. Bush frequently professes his faith and
has even declared that God guided his war in Iraq. Tom DeLay, the
House Majority leader, is born again. The Religious Right dominates
the discussion on abortion, prayer in schools, and many other
matters.
And yet, when it comes to the Holy Land, there is silence. Is this
Christian eschatology run amok? Do America's conservative Christians
simply not understand what's happening in Israel? Or, more cynically,
do they simply not care? When it comes to their faith, do these
Christians not care about the turf that provides the physical
underpinnings for their faith? My friend, Saro Nakashian, is an
Armenian Christian who lives in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City,
in a small house that is 300 years old. He's exactly my age, 44. He
studied in the states for six years. He works in Ramallah as a
consultant to the Palestinian Authority. He speaks four languages:
`Armenian at home. Arabic at the market. Hebrew to pay my phone bill.
And English for business.' Saro has lived in Jerusalem since 1968. At
that time there were 18,000 Armenian Christians in the Quarter.
Today, there are 2,000. When I asked him why the Americans aren't
interested in what's happening the Holy Land, he replied, `The
American churches only care about expanding the size of their
congregations. They don't care about what's happening over here.'
Finally, after a week in this town, walking all over, taking taxis
all over the region, I expected to see just a bit of a Catholic
presence. Yet, in all my time here, I have seen exactly one Roman
collar. And that collar was on a Japanese Catholic priest and he was
in the plaza in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And I
might be mistaken about his collar. The Vatican may be expanding its
influence in Africa and Latin America, but it's got nothing happening
in Jerusalem.
I want to like Israel. I want to see peace here between the Jews and
the Arabs. Alas, after seeing the wall, after seeing what's happening
in the Old City, after seeing the daily humiliation of the
Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces, I'm not
holding my breath.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9&section=0&article=67522&d=26&a mp;m=7&y05&pix=community.jpg&category= Features%22
July 25 2005
Third Intifada May Not Be Long in Coming
Robert Bryce, Arab News
After a week in this country, and four trips to the West Bank (three
of them to Ramallah, which requires passage through the chaotic,
dusty, noisy checkpoint at Calandia) I find that the sense of anger
among the Arab population is palpable. More interesting perhaps, is
that both Israelis and Palestinians alike believe that the third
intifada is coming and that it won't be long in coming. And as one
Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem told me, `three is a magic
number.' Thus, the third war will be bloodier, longer, and nastier
than the first two intifadas.
This picture is from the top of the Mount of Olives, in the town of
Bethany. For Christians, Bethany is one of the most important
locations in the Holy Land. Bethany is where the Palm Sunday
procession began. Bethany was the home of Mary and Martha, in whose
home Jesus stayed. Today, a nine-meter high wall has divided Bethany.
For residents of Bethany, getting to the other side of their town now
requires a 30-minute drive around the `separation wall.' The
impoverished little town that has a couple of Christian enclaves has
been sliced in two.
I didn't come here to write about the plight of Christians in the
Holy Land. That said, it's more than obvious that the holiest places
in Christendom are besieged. Roadblocks, checkpoints and the ongoing
construction of Israel's `separation' wall are garroting Bethlehem,
the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
I just got a UN report that says that ten percent of Bethlehem's
Christians have fled the city in the past four years. The report,
issued in December 2004, begins by saying `The glory of
Bethlehem...is vanishing.'
The Mount of Olives has been carved in two by the wall.
In the Old City, in Jerusalem, the Christian Quarter is a stark
contrast to the Arab and Jewish Quarters. In the other two quarters,
the two faiths appear to be locked in a population race. Nearly every
Orthodox Jewish couple is pushing a stroller or carrying a baby. In
the always-mobbed Arab Quarter, teenagers and kids are everywhere.
The statisticians say that half of the Palestinian population is
under the age of 17.
In both the Jewish Quarter and the Arab Quarter, you have to watch
where you walk, and keep your arms at your sides, because people are
everywhere, squeezing through the narrow passages of the Old City. In
the Christian Quarter - except perhaps, for the areas directly
adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - you can walk with your
arms akimbo, hell, you can walk with your arms stretched full out,
and you probably won't hit a single person. It's a ghost town.
So, after a week in Israel, the question that jumps out at me is
obvious: Why don't American Christians give a damn?
The fundamentalist Christian movement in America has never been
stronger. President George W. Bush frequently professes his faith and
has even declared that God guided his war in Iraq. Tom DeLay, the
House Majority leader, is born again. The Religious Right dominates
the discussion on abortion, prayer in schools, and many other
matters.
And yet, when it comes to the Holy Land, there is silence. Is this
Christian eschatology run amok? Do America's conservative Christians
simply not understand what's happening in Israel? Or, more cynically,
do they simply not care? When it comes to their faith, do these
Christians not care about the turf that provides the physical
underpinnings for their faith? My friend, Saro Nakashian, is an
Armenian Christian who lives in the Armenian Quarter in the Old City,
in a small house that is 300 years old. He's exactly my age, 44. He
studied in the states for six years. He works in Ramallah as a
consultant to the Palestinian Authority. He speaks four languages:
`Armenian at home. Arabic at the market. Hebrew to pay my phone bill.
And English for business.' Saro has lived in Jerusalem since 1968. At
that time there were 18,000 Armenian Christians in the Quarter.
Today, there are 2,000. When I asked him why the Americans aren't
interested in what's happening the Holy Land, he replied, `The
American churches only care about expanding the size of their
congregations. They don't care about what's happening over here.'
Finally, after a week in this town, walking all over, taking taxis
all over the region, I expected to see just a bit of a Catholic
presence. Yet, in all my time here, I have seen exactly one Roman
collar. And that collar was on a Japanese Catholic priest and he was
in the plaza in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And I
might be mistaken about his collar. The Vatican may be expanding its
influence in Africa and Latin America, but it's got nothing happening
in Jerusalem.
I want to like Israel. I want to see peace here between the Jews and
the Arabs. Alas, after seeing the wall, after seeing what's happening
in the Old City, after seeing the daily humiliation of the
Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli Defense Forces, I'm not
holding my breath.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9&section=0&article=67522&d=26&a mp;m=7&y05&pix=community.jpg&category= Features%22