Bethlehem Day

I had a lovely day planned today. It is surprising what kind of American food you crave when you are no longer in the United States. For that reason, a couple of my coworkers, Tina and Lydia, and I decided to have a pancake breakfast, well brunch is probably more like it. Tina had us over for a pancake breakfast, complete with strawberry and banana topping, blueberry pancakes, syrup, bacon, sausage, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It is nice to have a taste of home sometimes, even though this city is that foreign all the time. After, we planned to go into Bethlehem. I have been to Bethlehem, but I still had not seen some of the traditional sites there, like the Church of the Nativity, Manger Square and the Old City of Bethlehem. All of those I got to see.

I very much enjoyed the Church of the Nativity. It is owned by three different denominations: Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Catholic. All of the churches have to agree on changes or refurbishing work that is done to the church. Agreement, however, is a hard thing to come by. Therefore, the church sort of has a rugged, natural look. In the church there is a portion of the floor mosaic uncovered from Byzantine times. There is a cave, where it is said Jesus was birthed and laid in the manger. In the third picture here, I am kneeling by the place where Jesus was born. The fourth picture is of the place where the manger supposedly was. Below the caves where Jesus was born, is the cave of St. Jerome. It is said to be the cave where he lived for months while translating the bible. His translation became the Latin Vulgate.

Unfortunately, manger square and the Old City of Bethlehem were not that thrilling today because all of the shops were closed. The reason for this, was a strike. Today there was a strike throughout the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem. All people were required to close their shops to show solidarity with the people of Silwan. Silwan is a neighborhood south of the Old City in Jerusalem. It is a primarily Palestinian neighborhood. Recently, however, 88 homes have been given demolition orders on their homes from the Israeli government. The demolition of these homes would make room for a park. The demolition of these homes would leave 1500 people homeless! Of course, the Israeli government says that these homes must be demolished because they built without permits. But as I have said before, it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to get permits to build. With the growing population, it is necessary to build so that people have homes. Not to mention that some of the homes that receive demolition orders are even built before 1967, the year Israel occupied East Jerusalem. The West Bank and East Jerusalem planned a strike to show solidarity with these 1500 people who could soon become homeless. To read more read this article.