Bethlehem vibes: walls, lovely people and some tear gas

After a couple of days in Jerusalem, I took a bus to Bethlehem where I am supposed to stay for the rest of my journey, more or less three weeks. Bethlehem is a good location to stay in since traveling around the OPT is easy from here. But the reason I originally ended up here is the Arabic course I’m taking at the local university. The first impression about the OPT is that staying here as a foreigner is way more chill than back in Jordan or even Lebanon. As contradictory as it is considering the overall situation, this feels like one of the safest places I've been to, obviously because I'm a foreigner (as long as you keep out from protests and confrontations). Already after two days, I had heard lots of stories about devastating incidents these people have gone through, and hopefully I will share some of these in my future posts.

Bethlehem is a popular destination for pilgrims around the world since it hosts one of the key biblical sites: The Church of Nativity, built in 323 to a site where, according to Christian tradition, the Christ was born. The old city of Bethlehem is filled with narrow alleyways and small shops, just as in Jerusalem but smaller in scale. The place I’m staying in is a lovely hostel about one kilometer away from the old city and daily exercising is guaranteed by the mountainous geography of the area. However, most of the Bethlehem attractions are in a walking distance which makes life easy.

So far, I’ve visited the old city and the modern city center, as well as the West Bank separation wall, which squirms around the West Bank, separating it from Israel. It was built during the Second Intifada and is considered by the Palestinians as an apartheid wall, by the Israelis as a security measure against terrorism. Here in Bethlehem the wall separates the city from Jerusalem, among other things making it impossible for Palestinians to build community with each other. At the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem the documents of all the people heading to Jerusalem will be inspected so carrying a passport at all times is a must. The Israeli citizens are prohibited by law to enter the Palestinian Authority Area A’s, which are the areas under the administration of the PA (The other areas according to Oslo Accords: Area B = administered by both, PA and Israel; Area C = administered by Israel), but they rarely check documents on the way out of Jerusalem.

Bethlehem sunset and an Israeli settlement right outside the city (the concentration of buildings on the opposite hill)

The wall in Bethlehem was impressive with all its graffiti and street art. From the nearby shops you can buy posters, t-shirts, mugs and other souvenir stuff, presenting the most influential graffitis on the wall. While I was walking along, I suddenly heard extremely loud, explosive sounds. I for sure could tell it was not gunfire, and after consulting some locals who were filming the smoke rising in between the apartment buildings some hundred meters away, I knew what tear gas canisters sound like when they go off. According to my hosts, this is regular in the area and usually a result of IDF house raids. When people and the neighbors get furious about the raids, the army easily starts using tear gas. Due to windy weather, I could soon feel the gas in my eyes and nose, and cannot possibly imagine how it feels from closer distance.

However, the people in Bethlehem are extremely hospitable and eager to introduce their cultural specialties and characteristics to you, as well as experiences and stories of life. For me personally, it is important to see things from different angles and this is the one I came here for (though not the only one, of course): to see how things are seen from the viewpoint of people living here, with my own eyes and ears.

So far, Bethlehem has treated me well and this seems to be a perfect place for studying Arabic, since the city itself is pretty quiet and calm. This means you don’t have any pressure to go out in the evening etc. And this absolutely suits my grandma-like personality :D