Annet Meeuws

This week, people around the world will sing “O little town of Bethlehem” and say “peace on earth, goodwill to all people.” However, in the land where Jesus was born, there is no peace and people suffer from daily violence. Imagine if, today, Joseph and Mary would leave from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Would they manage to arrive in time for their son’s birth? Would they be allowed to pass through various checkpoints and roadblocks? If Mary and Joseph were to arrive in Bethlehem, not only would they need permits to pass the roadblocks and checkpoints, but they would also have to make a detour to get into the town. Surrounded by Israel’s Wall on two sides, Bethlehem has become a prison.

This week, people around the world will sing “O little town of Bethlehem” and say “peace on earth, goodwill to all people.” However, in the land where Jesus was born, there is no peace and people suffer daily violence. Imagine if today, Joseph and Mary needed to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Would they manage to arrive in time for their son’s birth? Would they be allowed to pass through various checkpoints and roadblocks?

I just spoke with my sister over the telephone. Of course as everybody and always we talked about the situation here.

“The Israeli police evacuates Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah”, I wrote on the website yesterday. It is a long complicated story. Imaan, a colleague, is willing to explain it to me. Last week she visited the families when they were still living in their homes.

Yesterday afternoon, we were in the office of Women Center for Legal Aid and Councelling. Maha, the director, was on the phone with a cousin from Jenin.

It is 10 am and I am in the office. For a couple of minutes sirens can be heard all over the city of Jerusalem to remember the horrors of the Holocaust.

Like if it is just another day, I arrive at the office in East Jerusalem. The a-Ram checkpoint was calm this morning after the demonstration of yesterday, ‘only’ about 45 cars were waiting to be checked. My identity was checked like every other pedestrian crossing the checkpoint on foot.