Christmas Carols in Bethlehem and Jerusalem

Singing Christmas Carols in Bethlehem’s Manger Square on Christmas Eve was interesting and mostly enjoyable. The square was packed with Arab men, hardly a women in sight. When some teens came up from behind Nathan and untuned his guitar while he was playing it, he gracefully turned it into a drum. When other boys were getting too aggressive with making sexual faces at Renae, Karen pulled her in close and returned a glare only a protective mother could give, asking, “Don’t you have a sister?” in an attempt to shame them. Many, if not most, Arabs in Bethlehem understand English because their livelihood depends on the tourist trade. Despite these uncomfortable instances, the time was great fun and many gospel tracks in Arabic were handed out.
It was not surprising to note that the news networks, CNN/FOX, used the occasion to cast criticism on the Israeli security wall that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. It was 2002 when Arabs militants took over the Church of the Nativity and held about 60 priests, monks, and nuns hostage for over a month. Manger Square has seen much violence. Nobel Peace prize winner Yasir Arafat, his own compound under siege for his continued violence against Christians and Jews, did little to order his terrorists to release their human shields. Nuns with guns to their heads in the birthplace of Christ, the Prince of Peace. It is no wonder the Christian population has fled Bethlehem in the past six years. And the media networks have the audacity to blame the decision for the Christian exodus on the Israeli “apartheid barrier”.

On the subject of Christmas Carols, some of us decided to play a few days later on Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda street near the unofficial anti-missionary office. Here is a video of “Joy to the World”, without words.