Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Toggle search form
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 American Arabs
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd American Arabs
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022 Activism
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast Arab News
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols interviewed on live Arab American radio in Detroit with host Ray Hanania Friday Dec. 9, 2022
    Nichols discusses need to improve Arab-Black relations in Chicagoland American Arabs
  • Voting sticker issued to voters in Cook County elections in 2016. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Gov. Pritzker Announces Six Appointments to Boards and Commissions — no Arabs included American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Pritzker again ignores needs of Arab businesses in latest appointments Activism
  • Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) official candidate endorsements for the November 8, 2022 General elections.
    Arab American Democratic Club issues endorsements for Nov. 8, 2022 Cook County Illinois elections Activism
  • Arab Democrats urge NO VOTE on Gov. J.B. Pritzker re-election bid Activism
  • Assyrian American GOP issues endorsements in Nov, 8, 2022 elections
    Assyrian American GOP group endorses candidates in Illinois Activism
  • Abdullah Hammoud, elected Mayor of Dearborn Nov. 2, 2021. Photo courtesy of Abdullah Hammoud Facebook Page
    AHRC’s 2022 Spirit of Humanity Gala a Great Success American Arabs
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts Arab World
  • Rep. Cyril Nichols to be feted by supporters at fundraiser Saturday Oct. 22 Activism
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri Activism

Israel’s Wall in the Little Town of Bethlehem

Posted on December 18, 2014October 9, 2018 By Eileen Fleming No Comments on Israel’s Wall in the Little Town of Bethlehem
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

By Eileen Fleming

 

Banksy, the graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter depicts 21st century Bethlehem reality onto holiday greeting cards and informational cards with this message: IfAmericansKnew

 

Towering walls and militarized fences now encircle Bethlehem, turning the 4,000-year-old city into a virtual prison for its Palestinian Christian and Muslim citizens. Bethlehem has only three gates to the outside world, all tightly controlled by Israeli occupation forces.

Israel has confiscated almost all the agricultural land in the area for illegal settlements, making it impossible for many Palestinian farmers to continue tending their land. Outside the town, the fields where shepherds once watched their flocks are being filled by Israeli housing blocs and roads barred to the descendants of those shepherds.

“It is unconscionable that Bethlehem should be allowed to die slowly from strangulation,” says South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Bethlehem’s residents increasingly are fleeing Israel’s confining walls, and soon the city, home to the oldest Christian community in the world, will have little left of its Christian history but the cold stones of empty churches.

Though most Americans don’t know it, we are directly involved in Israel’s strangulation of Bethlehem…

 

 “We are living in a tomb, we are buried alive…When Hillary Clinton visited Jerusalem and said the wall was not against the Palestinian people, she killed us too! Christians who do not care kill us too!”- Claire Anastas

The view from every window in Claire's third story apartment is of Israel's Wall http://www.anastas-bethlehem.com/about-us/
The view from every window in Claire’s third story apartment is of Israel’s Wall
http://www.anastas-bethlehem.com/about-us/

 In February 2003, the Palestinian Authority informed Claire Anastas and her family of fourteen that Israel’s Wall would soon be coming to their neighborhood.

 

Claire’s three-story home with a first floor store had been the closest gift shop to Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem.

 

Today Claire’s home and store are entombed on three sides by Israel’s Wall.

 

The family had moved into their home in 1967, and would spend hours in their back yard garden which had a view of open green space.

 

“We would watch the pilgrims and tourists visit Rachel’s Tomb and then welcome them into our gift shop” Claire explained as we walked on her land encircled on three sides by thirty feet high slabs of concrete.

 

For months the family helplessly observed the preparation work all around them, and then one week before Christmas 2003, Claire’s children went to school and came home to discover that every view from every window was of the concrete monster.

 

A Little History:

On February 21, 2003, Raanan Gissin, Spokesmen for Ariel Sharon was interviewed regarding Israel’s Wall and claimed, “The main purpose here is not to annex that land, but to provide security [and to ensure] freedom of access and freedom of religion.”

Israeli Jews have freedom of access and religion, but ‘Arab Israelis’ meaning the Palestinian population are denied access to their land, resources and holy sites.

Dr. Jad Issac, the director general of the Applied Research Institute examined a satellite photograph of the area stated:

“Bethlehem is the Bethlehem ghetto now…rather than seeking to ensure freedom of religion, Israel was pushing Bethlehem’s Christian Palestinians to pack up and leave. About 360 Palestinians would be left on the Israeli side and once they get rid of the Christians, then they will label the rest as terrorists.”

 

Dr. Shmuel Berkovitz, an expert on Jerusalem and Jewish holy places, said The Wall effectively annexed Rachel’s Tomb to Jerusalem from Bethlehem “as a matter of technical separation, without an official declaration. Right now, you can’t see any romantic place there; you can see it only as a military position.”

Rachel’s Tomb is a small stone building with a dome, which was built during the Ottoman rule and is now completely enclosed by fortifications built in 1996 and 1997.

 

Eileen Fleming at Claire's home and shop encircled by Israel's Wall. Copyright Meir Vanunu
Eileen Fleming at Claire’s home and shop encircled by Israel’s Wall. Copyright Meir Vanunu

During my first visit to Claire’s shop and home she told me:

“When the Israeli army blocked the main street in Bethlehem we hoped it would be temporary. We could not imagine anyone could block another human being and isolate them like they have done to us.

“A week before Christmas my children went to school and when they returned they were faced with the concrete wall in front of them. They cried and cried and wanted to know how could such a thing be done to them?

“We are living in a tomb, we are buried alive.

“My children suffer and their mother and father can do nothing.

“In another ten years there will be no more Christians in Bethlehem if things do not change soon.

“Everyone is leaving, we need work, and we need to feed our children.

“Jesus was born here but we are dying. My children suffer, they are angry and shout because nobody comes to visit us anymore and the children must stay inside after school.

“We use to enjoy being out in our garden watching the people, the trees, the cars that would pass by, but now we only see concrete walls. Our lives have been stolen!

“My family use to go to Haifa on the weekends, we use to live a peaceful and comfortable life. But now our business is bankrupt and we are in prison for being Palestinians.”

“Do Americans understand what happens to children when they are buried alive?

“We need a solution fast so that our children can live like American children! We want human rights!

“When Hillary Clinton visited Jerusalem and said the wall was not against the Palestinian people, she killed us too! Christians who do not care kill us too!”

 

View Israel’s Nuclear Whistle Blower, Mordechai Vanunu’s invitation to Hillary Clinton and all Christians regarding “the real Wailing Wall the Apartheid Wall” at YouTube

 

Christmas2014pianotop During my last trip to Claire’s shop and home, I purchased one of her hand crafted olive wood nativity sets and it remains a centerpiece on our piano among a collection of nativities.

 

On Christmas Eve as we sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” I will remove the removable wall and because I still believe in miracles I will say another prayer for the end of American Tax dollars that perpetuate injustice, violence, and conflict and for US support for a just peace in the Holy Land so that Israel’s Wall will fall. ChristmasPiano2014

In 2005, Eileen Fleming established WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall as a public service.

In 2012, Eileen Fleming ran for US HOUSE of Representatives

Eileen is the Administrator for FREE VANUNU and TNT/Telling Nuclear Truths

Follow her at TWITTER, read her sixth book as she lives it HERE.

Her fifth book, The Vanunu Legend Israel’s Nuclear Whistleblower’s Struggle for Freedom was published 24 September 2014, as a FREE EBook.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Eileen Fleming
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for TADN at The Arab Daily News
Senior Non-Arab Correspondent for The Arab Daily News
Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" who founded WeAreWideAwake.org in response to her first of 8 trips to both sides of The Wall in Palestine Israel.
In 2012, Eileen ran for US House of Representatives District 5, in Fl.
Read her FREE eBooks and more at:http://www.eileenfleming.org/
Latest posts by Eileen Fleming (see all)
  • Vanunu still has more nuclear secrets to spill, Israeli court declares - December 29, 2021
  • 9/11 and a 20th Reflection of That Day - September 5, 2021
  • Mordechai Vanunu: Final Annual Update and this Writers Next Steps - June 19, 2021

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
American Arabs, Arab World, Bloggers, Eileen Fleming, Palestine & Jordan, Video Tags:Arab people, Arab World, Bethlehem, Christians, Christmas, Hillary Clinton, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, Palestinian people, politics, Religion and Spirituality, United States, Vanunu, West Bank, Youtube

Post navigation

Previous Post: Exclusive: Hamas leader Meshaal: Israel risks religious war over Jerusalem
Next Post: Etihad Airlines unveils first Airbus and Boeing 787

Related Posts

  • Christian and Muslims iconic religious images in Occupied Jerusalem, Palestine. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Guest Op-Ed: Samaritan Values in understanding the facts in the Israel-Palestine conflict American Arabs
  • Israeli Knesset Deputy Speaker Ahmad Tibi is beaten by Israeli police while participating in a protest against the relocation of the US Embassy Monday May 14, 2018. Photo courtesy of MK Ahmad Tibi
    US Embassy protestors attacked by Israeli police Arab World
  • Pennsylvania Legislators Claim USS Liberty Veterans and Friends are Bigots American Arabs
  • Resurrection of Mordechai Vanunu Ends the Legend of Vanunu American Arabs
  • Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) official candidate endorsements for the November 8, 2022 General elections.
    Arab American Democratic Club issues endorsements for Nov. 8, 2022 Cook County Illinois elections Activism
  • Anti-Semitism and the USS Liberty Arab World

More Related Articles

Pollard Free in Israel: Vanunu Remains Captive Arab World
Image of George Hanania in Chicago in 1926 American Arabs need to better document their history American Arabs
Orlando’s PULSE and a Global Response American Arabs
Lipinski, only one of 15 Illinois candidates to benefit from AIPAC American Arabs
Senator Carl Levin, courtesy of the U.S. Senate Losing Michigan’s Senator Carl Levin American Arabs
Yoga Day and Yoga as a Discipline Arab World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Tiktok.com/@RayHanania
    Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States
    January 19, 2023
  • Ghassan Rubeiz
    To what extent is Hezbollah responsible for the current crisis in Lebanon?
    January 17, 2023
  • Image from Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's "A Compendium of Chronicles. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
    Why allow religious extremists to re-define Islam in the West?
    January 10, 2023
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    This Thanksgiving, let’s use our Blessings for good
    November 23, 2022
  • NEWS
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022
    January 4, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri
    October 19, 2022

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme