![]() ![]() Kairos is the Greek word for "an opportune or decisive moment". The chief activity of the group is the promotion of this document. She was also part of the KAIROS church leaders’ delegation to Palestine and Israel in November.Kairos Palestine is an organization primarily known for its issuance in Bethlehem in December 2009 of the Kairos Palestine document, full title of which is "A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering", a call by a number of Palestinian Christians to Christians around the world to help fight the Israeli occupation. Rev Helen Smith is a retired Presbyterian minister, who recently served on the KAIROS Steering Committee, representing the Presbyterian Church in Canada. As you sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, as you celebrate the birth of the Christ child there, pray for the people of Bethlehem, the people of Palestine and the people of Israel. Remember the story of how Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the refugees, escaped to Egypt, to return later, when it was safe. Some Christians see the only way forward is to emigrate. All of these tensions lead to crime, to drugs and to an all-round deterioration of life. Unemployment is the highest in the West Bank at 24.6%. There are 46,000 Christians living in the West Bank and half of them live in Bethlehem, a strangled city. As the Magi had their encounter with Herod when they arrived at the border, so the empire controls the borders, as is the case where two American congresswomen were banned entry to Israel last August, when their plans to visit Palestine became known. ![]() For Palestinians from nearby villages, visiting family, getting medical attention, travelling to work, getting produce to market, all are impeded by the dehumanizing checkpoints. There are 29 checkpoints around the perimeter of the city. It winds its way around the city of Bethlehem, now blocking off three sides of Bethlehem from surrounding villages, with plans to complete the circle. ![]() The infamous wall, deemed to be necessary for security reasons, is not built along the green line but in from the green line, on Palestinian land. The total area of the city is now around 21 square kilometres. There are now 19 settlements in the area around “the little town of Bethlehem” and 86% of the area is not under the control of Palestinians today. Bypass roads, which cannot be used by Palestinians, connect settlements to each other, again eating up the land. Another chunk is deemed a military zone for security reasons. And 20% of the land has been set aside for a nature reserve. Other settlements are stationed along the Dead Sea where they can take advantage of the tourism and mineral wealth, despite the international laws against occupiers taking resources. Ephrat is the name of one of the settlements). Israeli settlements have been built in the southwest, where the land is fertile (Ephratha means fruitful. Since that time, Bethlehem has been shrinking. Today magnetic cards, cameras, facial recognition, and algorithms that search social media are used for surveillance.īefore the Six-Day War, in 1967, Bethlehem’s borders went from the green line (the green line refers to the border separating pre-1967 Israel from the occupied Palestinian Territories and constitutes an internationally recognised border), to the Jordan river, a total area of 658 square kilometres. Back in the 1st century AD, the control of the Empire was evidenced by the census which led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem from Nazareth. At the time of Jesus’ birth, as it is today, it was an occupied city. Yet in many ways it is becoming, once again, a little town, a diminished town. The new reality: Today Bethlehem is a major destination for tourists and pilgrims. When Matthew writes many years later, he updates Micah’s words – “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah …” The difference is that Matthew is writing long after the birth of Christ, and Bethlehem has taken on new significance. Micah 5:2 gives us the wording for our hymn – “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah, but from you will come for me one who will be ruler of Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” ![]()
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