“A wall” is being built by “Israel” between itself and “the Church of Nativity

Source: Haaretz, 15-12-2005.
By Meron Benvenisti
In another few days, Bethlehem will once again, for one night, win the world`s attention. Only a few of the hundreds of millions of Christmas celebrants will spend the night in the city of the Nazarene`s birth, but that will be a symbol of the desire for peace that beats in the hearts of all humans, from all religions. The few who do reach Manger Square and take part in the midnight mass will not be able to avoid wondering about their experiences at two opposing places that symbolize Bethlehem in 2005 - the Church of Nativity and Rachel`s Crossing. The first symbolizes the hope that emerged with the birth of the baby, and the second represents alienation, hostility and aggression.
Defining a border crossing, so functional a matter, as a symbol might seem an exaggeration to the reader, but it is impossible to treat it as anything other than a provocative monument, because the practical, supposedly security reasons that dictated its position are totally baseless. Everyone knows that anyone interested in entering or exiting Bethlehem can do so at three places at least: the Hussan Junction, at the Talithakumi, and off the road to the District Liaison Office, near the settlement of Har Gilo. Rachel`s Crossing is meant for people with travel permits, tourists and VIPs, and especially for creating the image of "Israeli" control over the "natives."
A lot of architectural advice, engineering, security know-how and especially many dozens of millions of shekels were invested in building this monument to "Israeli" arbitrariness. The "corrals" - revolving steel doors, electric gates, exposed concrete corridors supervised from above, the X-Ray installations - exude horror. "I felt like a cow, it was very threatening, very sterile," said an American tourist. The Bethlehem mayor has characterized his town, which is reached through a huge iron door, as "an open-air prison."
Up until recently, there were complaints about the chaos at Checkpoint 300 - a primitive, dusty crossing that was improvised up the road and quickly became a kind of bazaar. Everyone knew that it was easily bypassed, and it exuded temporariness, and that communicated hope that the walls of hatred would disappear. The new "crossing" sends a message of concrete permanence, with stylized roofs, environmental design, orderly parking lots and electrical gates. "The crossing was built according to standards at border crossings in the country and around the world," a police officer says proudly.
A border crossing between Bethlehem and Jerusalem (al-Quds)? What perverse geography builds a border between those two twin cities? A cement wall, called the "separation fence," winding its way through the olive groves and the abandoned houses, proves its own absurdity. And one can already hear the representatives of the peace camp saying: Yes, this is an important crossing because it marks the border between "Israel" and the Palestinian state - ignoring the fact that Bethlehem is only a small enclave, south of which lies Gush Etzion, which is included in the map of consensus promoted by the center-left.
The crossing named for the matriarch Rachel is not on any geopolitical border, but on a cultural one: It strengthens the feeling that "Israel" is closing itself in behind the ghetto walls it created for itself. True, there are similar "crossings" elsewhere in the West Bank, but the route into Bethlehem, which is mostly used by tourists, emphasizes that "Israelis" are losing their tie to the Western European culture to which they claim to belong. Anyone building a wall between himself and the Church of Nativity sends a message of aversion to the sanctities of Christianity, the traditions of the gentiles - from Christmas carols to having the world peering out from innumerable works of art, without which there is no Western culture.
And who chose to give the monument to "Israeli" arbitrariness the name of our matriarch Rachel? After all, the planners of the "crossing" didn`t hesitate to harm her memory by changing the traditional route "in the way to Efrat, which is Bethlehem" (Genesis 35:19). The traditional road was cut off by the separation fence, and Rachel`s Tomb itself has been turned into a bunker that is only accessible via a bypass road that ends in a thick wall. An armored bus, with an armed military escort, helps a group of ultra-Orthodox women, and a soldier shouts at them to "get in quick," for fear of "Arabs." That`s not the message that the designers of the monstrous complex on the road to Bethlehem intended. The huge walls, the sealed iron doors, the road system, the "crossing`s facilities" and equipment all communicate the opposite: Fear, closures and aggression. Sorely lacking from the group that built the complex was a person with enough sensitivity to the historical and religious background of Bethlehem`s borders, who would have helped prevent the cultural and environmental disaster that was created. But who would even listen to such a person.