BETHLEHEM: A JEWISH PERSPECTIVE Nadia Matar Editor's Note: On December 24, the last night of Hanukkah, Israeli opposition parties and the Council of Jewish Towns in Judea, Samaria and Gaza organized a special candle-lighting ceremony at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. Incredibly, the Jews who had gathered suffered physical and verbal abuse from the Israeli police on the scene and were not permitted to enter the town because they were Jewish. Nadia Matar, leader of the Women in Green, was among hundreds who came to participate. The following is Matar's description of what happened that night. I parked my car 100 meters from the Israeli Army outpost at the entrance of Bethlehem and together with some 150 other Jews, started walking towards the army outpost to Rachel's Tomb. Others were already there but were not advancing. When we asked them why they were standing instead of just going to Rachel's Tomb, they said: "Because of Arafat's Christmas celebrations, the army (the Israeli army, we have to specify lately) is not letting Jews in, only Christians and Muslims." To my shock and horror, our soldiers were asking people: "Are you Jewish? Yes? You cannot go in!" Nearby, a group of Christians walked toward the entrance of Bethlehem. I quickly took off my green hat and joined them to see if the story was really true. The Christians surrounded me to make me look as if I belonged to their group to help me get into Bethlehem. I guess I was not quick enough. All of a sudden I felt a hand grabbing my shoulder, turning me around. It was an Israeli policeman shouting at me: "I saw you take off your hat! You can't trick me ! You are Jewish ! You cannot pass! Get out! And if you dare try one more of these tricks you'll be under arrest!"

And he pushed me violently back to the group of Jews. People could not believe their own eyes and ears. It was too hard to grasp. Some people who had their American passports handy said to the policemen: "We are American tourists, you have to let us in." So you know what the answer was? "Are you Christian or Jewish?" "I am an American who is Jewish." The Police: "You might be an American tourist but you are Jewish too and Jews are not allowed in!" We all started shouting: "Anti-Semites! How dare you not let Jews go to pray at Rachel's Tomb!" Then came one of the buses with more participants. They wanted to get off the bus in order to join us. The policemen blocked the bus doors from opening, and the bus was forced to reverse. By that time, we must have numbered 300 people. We tried to dance and sing without forcing our way into Bethlehem--that was already lost. We thought we could at least stay where we were, but no, an enormous number of policemen and soldiers appeared and pushed us with incredible violence back to the Gilo intersection. The pushing and shoving from the police was unbearable. Old people almost fainted, children were screaming. I was afraid somebody would be trampled to death. We asked them, "Where are you pushing us to? We are already 500 meters away from the entrance of Bethlehem, when will you leave us alone already?" The policeman in charge answered: "We will push you till Ramleh [halfway to Tel Aviv]..." They finally left us alone, but not before they beat up some of our people. No Jew went to Rachel's Tomb that night. "Jews, Out!" That was the message we got. It was terrifying. It reminded me of stories my grandparents told me. But the stories my grandparents told me did not take place in Israel! The challenge is now not to let Bethlehem be Judenrein again. We must keep a Jewish presence in Bethlehem. We must drive through it to go to work in Jerusalem, rather than use the shameful bypass road. If we let them force us to use bypass roads we will very soon be driving on the "bypass Israel road."+