DAY  14

Wednesday, 20 January

We wake around seven, and quickly shed layers of clothing, splash our faces with cold water and move to the family area where the teenage girl is overjoyed that the TV is back on. She, Betty, the mother and I have a breakfast of warm pita and cheeses, olives and omelets fried in olive oil, tea and pastry. After a terrifying ride on slick, muddy paths at high speeds and liberally distributed sharp turns up steep hills, we arrive at the Rapprochement Center. It takes a few minutes for all of our group to be dropped off by their respective hosts, and I take advantage of the time to have two cigarettes outside, where I am joined by several of the men who spoke to us the previous night. When everyone has been accounted for we head off towards Shepherds’ Field. This place is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures as the field of Boaz, famous for hooking up with Ruth, forerunner of David and Jesus. In the Shepherd’s Fields we see the ruins of a Byzantine monastery destroyed in 614, then walk through a stone arch and down steps to the caves. This is where the shepherds spent the nights with their flocks, sleeping in the doorways to prevent sheep from wandering out and wolves from wandering in. Many of the caves have been converted to chapels; they are administered by benevolent Franciscans who tend to stray cats.

The entrance to Sheperds' Fields

One of the shepherds' caves, converted into a chapel

Back outside, we ascend a hill to reach a white limestone Church, octagonal in shape, with bronze doors and a bronze angel, arm raised in a gesture of annunciation, over the entrance. This is the Shepherds’ Church.

The entrance to the Shepherds' Church

Inside the Shepherds' Church

We get back onto our bus and drive as far as it is possible to go in a vehicle. Then we walk through mud and crumbling rocks to the local YMCA, where we are met by Nidal Abu-Zoluf, the assistant director. He describes for us a program established by the YMCA in 1989 to help Palestinian victims of the intifadah. The program provides physical rehabilitation and psychological, social and vocational counseling. It seeks as well to help integrate the physically disabled into families and communities; since 70% of Palestinians live in remote areas, there is a real need for education about disabilities and handicaps. Nidal tells us that the intifadah is not over—there are daily clashes—and so the program also provides training for counselors, social workers, vocational counselors and Palestinian police. Since 1967, Nidal says, 700,000 Palestinians have been imprisoned, and 40,000 have been “martyred.” During the intifadah, 80,000 Palestinians were detained, including Nidal, his father, his two brothers and sister, our guide and the director of the YMCA. Many of the detentions were administrative, which means people can be kept for up to four years without a charge being filed. In Gaza, there are now street children—a problem that never existed before. Nidal spoke for about an hour, then Avraham came in bearing an ornate tray laden with little plastic cups of steaming hot Turkish coffee—a welcome treat. After the coffee, Nidal takes us to one of their centers. He tells us that victims can come here to tell their stories and listen to the experiences of others. In the center there is a mirror; along the bottom of it is printed the word “Wanted”. Next to that hangs a pencil drawing of a man being tortured, and a postcard of Che Guevara with the caption “Hasta la victoria siempre!” Leaving the YMCA, we have a few minutes to wander around. The rain is no longer, but it has left behind for us a rainbow amid the rubble and crumbling streets of Bethlehem.

Boarding the bus again, we drive to the checkpoint, where we can see Roni, Eli and our Israeli bus waiting for us on the other side. In a few steps, we have left the West Bank and entered Israel. Our next destination is Gush Etzion. Formerly part of Judea/Samaria, Gush Etzion is a Jewish settlement in the mountains between Bethlehem and Hebron, two strong Arab cities. When we arrive, some of the history of Gush Etzion is explained to us. 1943 saw the third and final attempt at Jewish settlement here. They established Kefar Etzion, a religious kibbutz. The new settlement was surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors, and the land was hard to cultivate, but they persisted. Gush Etzion is in a strategic location on the route to Jerusalem. Many of its settlers were Holocaust survivors, and they decided to stay during the War of Independence. On 15 January 1948, a small group of Jews set out from Hartuv to bring supplies on foot to the besieged people of Gush Etzion. One broke his leg and had to turn back with two friends; those three were the only members of the group who made it out alive. The remaining thirty-five (lamed hey) were ambushed by Palestinians from two villages; they were killed, and their bodies mutilated beyond recognition. In March of 1948, convoys carrying supplies were also ambushed; fourteen Jews were killed, but the com-

Bethlehem, after the rain

munity persevered. May of 1948 saw the final battles here between the Jews and the Arabs. On 13 May the Gush Etzion fell; the settlements were destroyed, and 130 Jews surrendered, but were shot anyway by the Jordanians. The next day, Israel was declared a state. In 1967, after the Six Day War, the children of some of the original settlers who had been sent away before the final battle returned to Kefar Etzion and resettled. We stand now in front of the Tree of Gush Etzion. This tree is of great symbolic significance to the Jews here. An ancient oak tree, it was one of the few not uprooted by the Arabs when they destroyed the settlements in 1948. From 1948 to 1967, the tree was all that could be seen of Gush Etzion from the border, and children of killed Jewish settlers could look at it and point out where their parents had died.

The Valley of Gush Etzion, where the thirty-five were ambushed and killed.