Every day, tour buses come to Bethlehem, drop off a load of passengers at the Church of the Nativity, and then load them back up and leave Bethlehem and the West Bank. For many, all they see of Bethlehem is the church (a very famous church, granted). After living a few miles down the road […]
There’s a quiet, terraced, Arab village outside of Bethlehem called Battir where water from a cold spring flows through an ancient water system to hydrate abundant olive trees and vegetables that have grown here for thousands of years. Battir is off-limits to me for personal travel, as are many towns in the West Bank and […]
Last weekend, hoping to catch the Christmas spirit, I went on a tour of Bethlehem (which is just a 15-minute drive from Jerusalem, a fact I was totally oblivious to until arriving here two months ago). While my new city is the place where Jesus is believed to have died and been resurrected, Jerusalem […]
The Next Dinner Party 