Author
IMEMC
A Special Report On Christmas Day, 2004
The family that lives in a manger, in Bethlehem
December 25, 2004
5:52 MP3
The family sits on the floor of the manger, sharing a meal, smiling and laughing at the smallest child's antics. Next door, the animals are crowded together, goats, chickens and roosters. The animals have had to make room for the family, who are living in this manger after their home was destroyed three times by the Israeli army. They are refugees, originally from what is now Israel -- pushed from one refugee camp to another -- from Bethlehem, to Lebanon, to Libya, and back again. They prefer to live in Bethlehem, a holy site for Christians like the Mughrabe family, and moved back here several years ago after the children, raised in tents in the Libyan and Lebanese desert, were almost fully grown.
Bethlehem has been a predominantly Christian town for the last 2000 years, with most of those living here being Palestinian Christians. Although the majority of Palestinians are Muslims, Christians make up nearly ten percent of the Palestinian population, with most of them living in forced exile in various parts of the world.
At the time of the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, it is estimated that the Christians of Palestine numbered some 350,000. Almost 20 percent of the total population at the time, they constituted a vibrant and ancient community; their forbears had listened to St. Peter in Jerusalem as he preached at the first Pentecost. Of the 750,000 Palestinians that were forced from their homes in 1948 for the creation of the state of Israel, some 50,000 were Christians—7 percent of the total number of refugees and 35 percent of the total number of Christians living in Palestine at the time.
When the Mughrabe family returned to Bethlehem in the late 1990s, they settled in Deheishe refugee camp, on the west side of Bethlehem, and tried to establish a home. When the Al-Aqsa intifada began in 2000, the four sons of the Mughrabe family were teenagers and young men. The boys didn't participate when others went out to throw stones -- they just wanted to maintain peace. But then, in 2000, the youngest son, Mahmoud, was coming home from school and saw a ten year old child get shot in front of his eyes. He picked up the child and started running for the hospital. But the child was shot in the head, and never made it to the hospital. The child died there in his arms. For days Mahmoud couldn't eat or sleep, and two months later, he was out with the other boys throwing stones at the tanks. He was shot by Israeli soldiers -- first in the leg, then, when the soldiers saw him lying helpless on the ground, he was shot in the head. With their youngest brother dead, the other brothers could not be convinced by their father to remain peaceful any longer. They, too, began to pick up stones, and a couple of them picked up guns. They were all arrested by Israel, and are currently in jail for being part of the resistance.
The eldest son, Ahmed, has never seen his two year old son, Mahmoud, named for his dead uncle. For Ahmed is serving a life sentence in Israeli prison. His wife:
Now, in 2004, this Christmas, the family is living in a manger, For they have had their family home destroyed by the army three times -- collective punishment for having family members in jail. The last time was just two months ago, and they are afraid to rebuild the home because they are sure that the Israeli army will just destroy it again. So they live in a manger in Bethlehem, cast out from every place they tried to seek refuge from this storm.
Punitive home demolitions such as these, despite being illegal by international law, are carried out frequently by the Israeli army against Palestinian families. Jimmy Danson works with the Israeli Committee against Home Demolitions:
The mayor of Bethlehem this week issued a statement challenging the international Christian community to stand up to the injustices suffered daily by the residents of Bethlehem.
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