Christians in Bethlehem: not only leaving, but returning
(from Bethlehem) “We live in an open-air prison, faced with numerous hardships, but we prefer to remain in Bethlehem.” A Christian faith that is never flaunted, but rooted in the land where Jesus was born, underlies these thoughtful, carefully reasoned words. Eliana, Samiran, Georgette, Jack, Stephanie and Noura are members of Bethlehem’s Christian community. In the last few days, they met with a group of pilgrims (laity, nuns and priests) from the Italian dioceses of Milan, Trento, Brescia, Tortona, Piacenza and Novara, coordinated by Adriana Sigilli (Diomira Travel). It was a Jubilee pilgrimage. Its purpose was to express solidarity and spiritual closeness with the local Christian community. As such, it was marked by numerous encounters with the “living stones” of this tormented land. Their stories reflect the message of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Card. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, during the midnight mass in Bethlehem last Christmas: “To believe or to leave, to inhabit this land of ours and live our history or go our own way… We must make our families and our communities the cradle of a future of justice and peace that has already begun with the coming of the Prince of Peace.” These are important choices to make, especially in a situation such as that of the Holy Land today.
A carefully considered decision. Many Christians from Bethlehem and elsewhere in the West Bank have left to seek a better future elsewhere. Others, like Eliana, Georgette and Noura, have chosen to return after a period of studies in Italy. “Ours was a carefully considered, deeply thought-out decision. Many Christian families have left and are still leaving the Holy Land; I decided to take the opposite path: to return. The Holy Land must not be left without any Christians.”
The women, all of them married and some of them expectant mothers, are suffering the consequences of this decision. Yet they are not desperate, on the contrary, they have shown courage and resilience. Eliana explains: “I am happy to have been born in Bethlehem, despite the difficulties we face every day.
“It’s a heavy cross to bear, and yet I see it as a mission to continue living here, in the certainty that our Father will never abandon his children.”
Difficulties in Bethlehem and the West Bank worsened further after the COVID pandemic and now with the ongoing war in Gaza, which broke out on 7 October 2023, owing to the lack of jobs – “the Israeli army has revoked the work permits of Palestinians who used to go to Israel to work” – and security. Eliana used to leave Bethlehem every morning to work in Jerusalem for as long as she could: “In the Holy City I was in charge of reservations for the guest houses of the Custody of the Holy Land, ‘Casanova’ in Bethlehem and Nazareth. I had to pass through Israeli checkpoints every day. This is not easy for a woman. Before the 7th of October, thousands of workers passed through the checkpoints, eager to get to work as quickly as possible, and therefore not particularly inclined to show courtesy. Life is difficult here, people often struggle to make ends meet, perhaps even juggling two or three jobs. Wages in Bethlehem are much lower than in Jerusalem, and the cost of living is high. Buying a house is almost impossible, everyone here has mortgages or loans to pay, that’s the reality. But we rolled up our sleeves: we are trying to move forward, bearing our Christian witness.”
The future of their children. The women share their concerns about their children’s future: “I don’t want my daughters to go through what I went through with the war in Gaza and the clashes in different areas of the West Bank,” says Eliana, who adds that she has considered leaving the Holy Land, even though “for a short period of time. We had plans to move to Italy to give some respite to our daughters, but since Italy does not recognise Palestine as a state, we could not get a visa, except for study or tourism. As Palestinians, we are not included in migration flows. This is perhaps a sign that we should not leave this land,” she says. However, they need support, and although they can count on the help of the local Church, much more support could come from the pilgrims who are not here now, “but we expect them to be here soon”. It is not just a question of finding new jobs – many Christians are employed in the religious tourism sector – it is also a question of human and spiritual closeness.
“We expect pilgrims and visitors from abroad to ask us ‘how are you? We often feel alone, left to ourselves. Just being here with us, talking to us, is a great gift that repays us for so much suffering. It makes us feel that there is someone who is thinking of us.”
Samiran spent 18 years of her life working as a cook at the Bethlehem University of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to leave everything behind to undergo medical treatment. Now in better health, she says: “In Bethlehem, we try to be strong for our children and grandchildren, to give them a better life than ours. But in Bethlehem. Georgette, like Eliana, was a student in Italy before deciding to return to start a family. The decision to return was a very “courageous” one, she explains, “after having tasted freedom in Italy.” Georgette is pregnant, “my princess will be born in March,” she says with a smile. Stephanie is also pregnant. Although the fear of war remains ever-present in both women’s lives, these babies are “a sign of hope and a source of courage to move forward with confidence.” “There is not a single Christian family here in Bethlehem that has not been affected by the war in some way, be it emotional, professional or in the social sphere.” “However,” adds Georgette, “our spirits are lifted when we come across the pilgrims along our streets. They are a sign of hope for us. They are a sign that we are not alone and that a dignified future is possible for all of us here. Their presence is a source of courage and hope for the people of the Holy Land.”
Avoid being caught in the present. Jack is a father of two. He lived through the first and second Intifadas. And yet, he insists, “we never lived through a period like this.” He calls for looking ahead: “We must not remain caught in the present. We must think of our children’s future. It’s important for pilgrims to come here and see the truth with their own eyes. When they return home, they should tell others what they have seen. Without pilgrims and without the help of the Christian community, it will be difficult for us to continue living here”. From Italy to Bethlehem: Eliana and Georgette followed the same route as Noura. An enthusiast of beautiful Italy, “Milan, Perugia, Rome, but Florence is the most beautiful of them all,” she says. She now works part-time in a school of the Custody in Jerusalem. Her story is a story of “projects, dreams, only to be confronted with the same “unforeseen event, a war or another conflict that destroys everything. But we never stop hoping, especially when we see the pilgrims arriving. It is this hope that enables us to cross the Israeli checkpoints on our way to work, to overcome the nerve-wracking queues, to “get our permits stamped on our way out of Bethlehem and on our way back in the evening”, headed back to the “open-air prison.”
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