CPTnet
December 22, 1998
Bethlehem: Waiting for the King
by Joanne "Jake" L. Kaufman

On Tuesday, December 15, 1998, CPTers, Palestinians and tourists waited in
vain to see U.S. President William Clinton
in Manger Square in Bethlehem. This first visit of a U.S. President to Gaza
and the West Bank raised high hopes among Palestinians that Clinton's visit
would legitimize their dream of a state with justice, security and peace.

The CPTers and international friends held a banner saying "Peace Must Equal
Justice and Security for Palestinians" in hopes that Clinton would see their
message while he decorated a tree outside the Church of the Nativity, the
traditional birthplace of Jesus.

The anticipation in the sunny late morning was tangible as Palestinian
schoolgirls wearing brown scout berets and uniforms sang "Biladi," the
Palestinian national anthem, and squirmed to get a good view behind the metal
barricades.

Other young girls and boys wore blue baseball caps with the message, "My
Father is a Political Prisoner." Teenagers
waved officially-printed signs reading "Settlements Kill Peace," and "We Have
A Dream: Free Palestine," and "Welcome, President Clinton."

CPTers, helped by Bethlehem University students, held up handmade banners.
Palestinians standing nearby smiled and nodded at CPTer Anne Montgomery and an
international friend who stood for four hours on a pile of marble blocks,
holding up the sign saying "No U.S. $ for Settler Bypass Roads" with an Arabic
translation. CPT is concerned that $1.2 billion promised to Israel by Clinton
during his visit, ostensibly to help with costs of carrying out the Wye Accord
"redeployment," will actually be used for building bypass roads and
settlements in Israel's Occupied Territories which threaten Palestinian homes
with demolition.

After waiting for hours, and after several false alarms, a line of official
cars pulled up, with security personnel hanging onto the sides of the
vehicles. Someone waved a hand from inside an off-road vehicle as it pulled
in front of the Church of the Nativity.

Almost immediately the view was blocked by a row of cars, vans and buses
that separated the crowd from the president and his retinue. The people who
had waited for hours heard a choir singing, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," "Joy
to the World," and "Hark the herald Angels Sing," and saw a member of the
President's Air Force One crew. But the President did not speak to a crowd
eager for recognition from the world's most powerful leader.

On December 16, the President who went to the Holy Land to bring "peace" to
the Middle East bombed the country of Iraq, where 6-7000 children die each
month due to inadequate clean water, medical care and food, the result of
crippling sanctions. It was a sobering reminder that the hope and
anticipation of peace during Advent are represented not by a king riding on a
horse- or a president in a black limousine - but by a baby lying in a manger.