| Submit your comments on this article |
| Middle East |
| Hardships Leave Bethlehem With No Holiday |
| 2003-12-24 |
| EFL BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) - There is no Christmas tree in Aida Ghaneim’s Bethlehem home this year. No festive lights hang from the ceiling, and the 48-year-old mother of four has no plans to cook her usual feast. It is not that Ghaneim is abandoning Christmas. On the contrary, she said, "It abandoned us." My heart pumps peanut butter for ya Aida. A shriveling economy, continuing Israeli restrictions and other hardships caused by three years of Mideast violence have left Christians living in the traditional birthplace of Jesus with little desire to celebrate. Yep, all the fault of the Jooos, never mind the other inconvenience the writer forgot to mention. Few of Bethlehem’s usual decorations are in place: A Santa outside one shop, a few lights outside another. Many of the red, green and blue lights strung over the streets around Manger Square are burned out. The Palestinian Authority, saying What, no donation from Hamas? "The whole atmosphere of Christmas is gone," said Jane Bandak, 18, whose family’s traditional 30-person Christmas meal will shrink to half a dozen guests this year. Some Christians have decided to ignore the holiday that was once the high point of their year. Others have fled abroad Checkpoints, curfews and closures, enforced by Israel to stop Palestinian suicide bombings that have killed more than 400 Israelis over the past three years, make it hard for families spread across the West Bank to get together. Well sure, that being the object of a checkpoint, curfew or closure. Israel says it plans to ease travel restrictions for Palestinian Christians over the holiday, but many Palestinians are skeptical. They say they do not want to spend their holiday waiting at roadblocks. Stay home and drink the eggnog, folks. The Rev. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, complained that while Christians around the world prepare to sing Christmas carols harking to this town, few appear concerned with the plight of the place where Jesus was born. "The majority of Christians really don’t know what is going on in the little town of Bethlehem," he said. Perhaps they should, that might hasten Yasser and Rantisi’s end. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #13 Steve Martin was an economist?? I are a high-school graduate, in spite of getting D's and F's in English. I did always read a lot. I noticed Kid was terrible at spelling until she got hooked on sci-fantasy books. Her spelling and articulacy improved dramatically and I attribute it to the reading, getting used to seeing what words should look like on paper. I don't even think it matters what you read. I sometimes read history books for relaxation. Or grab a random encyclopaedia (Brittanica, as evinced by the spelling) off the shelf and crack it open in the middle. They're full of interesting stuff. I don't have patience for novels, etc. Someone gave me a copy of Da Vinci Code as a b'day present last month. I'm still fighting with it. |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-24 11:37:45 PM |
| #12 Sorry about the spelling and grammar. My dad and sister both teach english at the high school level. They verbally beat me about the head and shoulders anytime that we meet up. Their (input and yours) keeps me taking myself too seriously. I come to Rantburg to learn and for the mental challenge of rapidly assimilating the ideas that the regulars toss back and forth. I would process my posts through Word, but usually need to continuously reference the text of the post and other comments for inspiration. Steal and revise as you see fit. I think the cruel shoes is actually a Steve Martin shtick from the late 70's. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-24 9:29:27 PM |
| #11 Ship: I once wrote offline to Fred bitching about spelling / grammar / homophone errors by the posters here, suggesting not that they watch their language, but rather their use of it. In fairness, I find from experience it's [here it's is proper] like a shark being chummed, one gets into a posting frenzy in its [here its is proper] grandeur, one gets sloppy. |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-24 7:59:08 PM |
| #10 GMTA It is a memorable line. Poor SH now he's got to go thru the dread RB vetting process. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-24 5:51:38 PM |
| #9 Economics is often marches with it's cruel shoes over the prone bodies of the stupid. Damn! That's good. Consider it stolen. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-24 5:41:48 PM |
| #8 Economics is[sic] often marches with it's[sic] cruel shoes over the prone bodies of the stupid. Wow, that's a great line, SH, and you made that up as you went along, didn't you? May we quote you? I mean, after cleaning it up. No apostrophe in possessive of "it." |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-24 5:41:00 PM |
| #7 It's my understanding that indigenous Christians are leaving most Middle Eastern countries due to persecution. Complaining about the economic impact on muslims seems like the same Dixie-Chick type logic that Bob Mugabe uses. Economics is often marches with it's cruel shoes over the prone bodies of the stupid. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-24 5:03:15 PM |
| #6 I guess that the Arafish will not make services at the Bethlehem Church of the Nativity this year. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-24 3:57:53 PM |
| #5 Everybody... Boo Fuckin' Hoo Hoo. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-12-24 3:12:41 PM |
| #4 Tsk tsk. Just another example of Arafart and his cronies' "Midas touch". The only problem is that what they're touching isn't turning into gold. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-24 11:10:09 AM |
| #3 The Christian community in Bethlehem is one of the most dhimmized communities in the world. The Christians there, in general, will blame their problems on Israel. The Christian clergy (most of them, there were a few dissenters) didn't even think twice before giving sanction to Hamas with |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-12-24 10:56:39 AM |
| #2 I saw a segment on ?CNN? about how the Christain are leaving Bethlehem because of the economic hardships. Thats what you get for trusting Arafart. Even if the JOOOOS left last week, few people would venture to the Holy Lands. Who wants to get blown up on Christmas? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-12-24 9:57:03 AM |
| #1 I saw a segment on ?CNN? about how the Christain are leaving Bethlehem because of the economic hardships. Thats what you get for trusting Arafart. Even if the JOOOOS left last week, few people would venture to the Holy Lands. Who wants to get blown up on Christmas? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2003-12-24 9:57:03 AM |