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U.S., Iraq conflict
02416
October 24, 2002

U.S., Iraq conflict

Bethlehem worries that Israel may impose curfew

by Alexa Smith

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - "Of course," the woman said, "all of us here, we are
very afraid."
	She was standing in Manger Square, a few yards from the Church of the
Nativity, talking in heavily accented English about life in Bethlehem last
year, during the Israeli military crackdown, when Palestinians lived under
virtual house arrest for months on end.
Bethlehem became a prison when the Israeli army tightened up the checkpoint
at the northern edge of town, closing off the road to Jerusalem.
	Life was already plenty tough because of the Intifada, but it got
tougher about a year ago when Israeli military units undertook a series of
incursions into West Bank towns in pursuit of Palestinian gunmen, or
suspected gunmen. "Operation Defensive Shield" got under way around the time
of the United States' declaration of war on terrorism, when air strikes began
in Afghanistan.
	The Bethlehem curfew wasn't lifted until just two months ago.
Everyone expects that it will be re-imposed if the United States attacks
Iraq.
 During the Gulf War, Palestinians lived under 45 days of continuous curfew -
which amounts to house arrest for the entire population, with brief,
intermittent and irregular breaks for food shopping and other necessities.
	"Our situation is very hard," said the woman in Manger Square, who
asked that her name not be used. "First, there was no work. Before the
Intifada, there was money; now there is none. And there are children to feed.
And school to pay for. And clothes to buy. ... Life here is a hard thing to
face every day. Curfews. Closures.
	"We've gotten used to closing, closing, closing, closing."
The 45-year-old Christian woman is representative of all her neighbors. If
you ask any ordinary man or woman on the street, "How are you?", the reply is
either "Worried" or "Scared."
	Worried about Iraq. Scared of another curfew. Fretting about the
future.
	It's a cultural mantra.
	Fr. Sinorino Lubetke, a Franciscan priest who says Mass at the Church
of the Nativity, said there is lots to worry about. He came to Bethlehem in
1988 from Poland, and saw was happened to the Palestinians during the Gulf
War curfew. He said his parishioners see no end to the trouble, and struggle
against despair.
	Neither, frankly, does he.
	"How do you preach hope?" he demands. "We at the monastery, at the
convent, we don't see any solution. ... We see every day the situation
growing worse and worse."
Lubetke and his fellow Franciscans help families that need money for food,
but they know that's a short-term solution.
	The people of Bethlehem feel that they have a personal stake in the
seemingly imminent war against Iraq. They fear the economic repercussions in
an economy already nearly bankrupt should the war destabilize the entire
Middle East.
      They also remember that, during the Gulf War, the Iraqis responded to
U.S. air strikes by launching missles at Israeli targets. "Danger for Israel
means danger for the Palestinian people, too," one man pointed out.
      It also keeps fresh the old antagonism between the Arab world and the
Israelis, which in the past year has caused the deaths of nearly 2,000 people
- most of them civilians on both sides o the conflict. The clear majority of
the dead, however, are Palestinian civilians.
The violence has had a profound impact on Bethlehem.
       A pharmacist on Nativity Street said he used to get three shipments of
prescription drugs every week, but now gets one a week, sometimes one every
other week.
       His customers cannot afford their medications, so they ask him for
half-orders, or for loans. Meanwhile, he has to buy more at once to
compensate for the infrequent deliveries, which don't always get past the
Israeli checkpoints. Curfews and roadblocks in other towns - such as Nablus,
which has been under continuous curfew for four months - create further
problems. "Here in Bethlehem, we can't survive by ourselves," he said.
    Lany Nayef Ali, a grocer whose store is nearby, has similar problems. He
usually can get what he needs, but not necessarily when he wants it.
"Whenever the Israelis want to close down the Palestinian economy, they can
close it completely," he said.
      There is plenty of food in the stores, Fr. Lubetke said, but families
have no money to spend for it. "Spiritual needs are important," he said, "but
I'd have to say that the first need now for people in Bethlehem is money, to
pay the bills, the electricity, the water, for food."
Sandra Olewine, a United Methodist mission worker in Bethlehem, said many
Palestinians are worried that, if the United States attacks Iraq, it will
monopolize the world's attention, and the Israeli army will have even more
freedom to do what it wishes on the West Bank. It was during last year's air
strikes on Afghanistan that life got worse in the occupied territories.
"Who knows if those things are tied together?" Olewine asked. "But it
happened last time, and it is not an unreasonable concern." She said
Operation Defensive Shield brought "more land confiscations, more house
demolitions and more attacks on (refugee) camps."
	"This has been an unbelievable year," Olewine added. "Everyone says
it is worse than 1948, worse than 1967. The amount of violence (has been)
incredible." The missionary pointed out that the city is still encircled by
Israeli tanks.
	"The West Bank is basically a small prison," she said. "Every place
is becoming like Gaza, which we've always said is the world's largest
prison."

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