Bethlehem
remains a little town until today, despite a great story occurred in the town
about 2,000 years ago when the Christ was born.
As a biography,
this book is telling about Bethlehem from the very ancient era, told by
Nicholas Blincoe – an English author – who is living there after married with
Leila Sansour who born to an old Palestinian Roman Catholic family.
Reading the
history of Bethlehem in this book became interesting since Blincoe did not tell
only by reference books of history but he walked through his experience in
every corner of the town then wrote it.
The story
begins with a Christmas pudding that Blincoe brought as a gift to his
girl-friend’s parents in December 1994. From the pudding Blincoe told about
ingredients inside it, the origin where the ingredients came from, how it was
brought to the Bethlehem, who brought it until almost all of its became common
plants that are growing in garden of every house in Bethlehem today.
The history of
his pudding told the history of ancient Spice Route, the clash of cultures
--farmers and nomads-- then Roman era and Islamic age, the Crusades and Ottoman
rule, and so on.
Bethlehem is a town
where a lot of stories created. From the stone age to the bronze age, then the
iron age, the classical age when God chose the town for baby Jesus’ birth place
and keep following through from an era to another era.
One of the
important spots in Bethlehem is the Church of the Nativity, which is frequently
be used as a place of important occasions. In a Christmas time in 1995, Blincoe
attended a reception for Suha Arafat – a flamboyant Christian, the wife of
Yasser Arafat --the then new president of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The
next morning, Arafat gave a speech from the roof of the Church of the Nativity
to announce his return from exile.
Bethlehem has
population of two hundred and ten thousand people of which about 25 percent is
Christians.
The life of
tolerance in Bethlehem is actually quite well developed. Muslims and Christians
live together. There is a tradition that reaffirmed by PA that mayor of
Bethlehem must be a Christian (Anton Salman is the mayor of Bethlehem today).
Since thousand
years the town has been making-up the history –culture, power and politics, war
and peace, hate and love—all mixed until today, yet Bethlehem remains a little
town, lay down in West Bank, Palestine.
Although
Bethlehem located only 10 km distance from Jerusalem, the generation has grown
up that has rarely –and even never—visited Jerusalem, a city which becomes a
central of conflict for decades. Apparently, hostility remains alive between
the two nations.
Perhaps the
Israelis and Palestinians should remember the love story of Boaz and Ruth --An
Israeli and a Moabite-- and need to carve it on their heart.
***
Serpong, 10
Jul 2021
Titus J.
1 comment:
A new online slot machine with casino and slot machines - JtmHub
Slot machine machines are 영천 출장마사지 one 속초 출장안마 of the main 광주 출장안마 activities of the Casino Rewards program. The casino rewards members 강원도 출장샵 for giving them a free gift and 창원 출장마사지
Post a Comment