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After the breakfast we met with one of the drivers of Abu to go to the Bethlehem checkpoint, from where we visit by ourselves the Nativity Church and a refugee camp close to the city with Yasser, a friend of Abu, we should phone him when we finish the visit in Bethlehem.
But before, we had time for a walk by the Old City and visit again the Wailing Wall after a new trying without success to enter to the Mosques esplanade. The area of the Wailing Wall is more lively than the other day and David decide to enter inside the restricted area for praying and so to take better photos. He asked permission to one of the guards of the precint and he granted me if I wear a kipa.
When I was finnish of taking photos and I was getting ready to go out, a man asked me to go with him because he wanted to show me something. Confidently I followed him to inside of the sinagoge which door is located in one corner of the square, where in few 15 seconds he shown me the interior of the small grotta, where there were some absorbed rabbis prayed and have discursions.
That was a place of intense activity almost no one payed attention to me, until the man who came with me to the sinagoge notified a blind rabbi who seem an authority and who after asked me if a was married and my name and the name of my wife, blessed me in hebrew.
Until here everything is ok: although I'm not a believer of any religion, but a blessing is always welcome. What happenend after didn't be pleasant : this person and the other surrounded me and they were very demanding for a donation for the sinagoge, in the face of that I asked that I hadn't planned to do a donation in that moment.
With the vision of the angry and threatening faces due my scarce colaboration, I offered them 20 NIS, and one of them laughted saying if I was kidding. I said that it's the only I could afford and that excuse seems to convince to one of them, but no to the other... in that moment, when both began to argument I took advantage on this and go out in a hurry. Everyone can follow their own conclusions.
After the small extortion of this morning, we went to meet with the driver who came with us to the Bethlehem checkpoint, a place where as usual it couldn't be crossed by car and it has to be crossed by walk after the questionary and passport check by the soldiers.
From the checkpoint we could see over an small near hill the jew settlement of Har Homa, which expansion is delated by some enormous derricks. Theoretically, with the agreements of the Road Map, Israel should retire of the area like a previous step to the recognition of the palestinian state. Nowdays nothing that we saw and heard says if someone is working on it. An elder man, with a donkey, tried to round the checkpoint, we supposed because he hasn't the correct permit, he was shouting requested by the soldiers to go back at the same time he was aimed with gun machines from the lookout post . The rest of the people were patiently queueing, this incident seems to be usual but for us it was frightful.
Next the checkpoint we met a taxi driver who drived to the centre of Bethlehem, but before he phoned his nephew who speaks spanish in order to the nephew show us the Nativity Church.
It's useless to say that we prefered to visit the Church by ourselves. When we arrived to the centre, the nephew was waiting for us ans speaking a percet spanish (from Móstoles) and convinced us to go to the shop of a relative after a quick explanation about the Church. Not him neither the taxi driver want to charge by their services, both agreed with the shop comission.
Curiosly, inside the shop we met with Anthony, who came with us the day before to Abu Dis. Sometimes, Palestine is a very small place. We bought a manger handmade with olive wood. Near Manger Square is the Bethlehem Peace Center and the Nativity Church. The place seems calm and quiet and it is dificult to imagine the scenes lived inside and round the Church last year, during the invasion of the israeli army in order to capture to the palestinian activists who took refuge here. A huge poster of Yasser Arafat presides the facades of teh square.
The Church of the Nativity interior is very spacious, again, with some attached rooms each one belongs to each christian confession. The main passage of columns drives to the main altar which belongs to the greek orthodox church, that now are the people in charge of take care on it.
A stair at both sides of the altar, goes to the shrinewhere is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, covered by silver star and the place we would be the manger. We were for long time ithout people in this mystic cave.
Next the visit, we phoned to Yasser in order to picked up nd we waited him in the gate of teh Church were some street souvenir sellers approached to us. We bought some things by solidarity, because now without tourists (when years before came by milliars) the situation is disheartening.
The atmosphere in the refugee camp of Daheisha is completly different. The misery prevails and the faces of the people who with we crossed shown the hardness of their lifes during years. This place began like a camp with tents but after the pass of the time, smalls buildings always thought like temporal by the locals, had appearing in an anarchical mode without basic services.
Yasser came with us in the walk and explained a lot of details of the palestinian reality that one could not understand until is face to face. Without doubt, it is an humanitarian disaster which nor United Nations neither international community knows how to solve. In the premises of the organization Karama (Dignity in arabic), directed by Yasser, they shown us some of the activities that this NGO dedicated to help to the children of the area.
The work of Karama is restoring the hope to a lot of kids who are in the organization. If you can help them, go to the site and make a donation, it's very easy. The money is well spent. The contact with the children was really warn and they showed affection and respect. In the streets of Daheisha we took photos to the children we met. It fascinated them and us. The few phrases in arabic captivated them. They only said "teacher, teacher".
It's time to go back to Jerusalem. A taxi carried us to the checkpoint, where in the other side is waiting the Abu driver. He had to wait for us about an hour, the time we were restrained, without apparent reason, until the soldiers of the checkpoint decided resume the pass of people through it.
When we arrived to Jerusalem we went for a walk for the north area, where are located the jews neighbourhoods. The contrast with the arab neighbourhoods, not only for the clothes but the bad expression to us. After walked for a while, a poster explains the rules for clothing through these streets. Obviosly, we were out the rules and we decided return to the hotel to have dinner. Next the dinner, we talked with Rouhi by phone and met with him to visit tomorrow Ramallah.
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