| Levant-The Rising: Photographs of Israel-Palestine by Skip Schiel |
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©Skip Schiel, 2004 |
Bullet holes from the siege of Bethlehem in 2002, Church of the Nativity, November 2003 A recent history, the siege that resulted in the bullet holes. This occurred less than 2 years ago, April 2002, when the Israeli army, seeking to capture armed Palestinian militants, laid siege to the town and the Church. Some 200 people sought refuge in the Church, among them a handful of armed fighters, along with civilians, policemen, and Christian clergy. After the 39 day siege and thru the good offices of international organizations, 13 fighters on the Israeli most wanted list were exiled to Europe and 26 associated with targeted factions were exiled to the Gaza Strip. No one was killed in the Church, although Israeli snipers killed 7 Palestinian civilians. I recall hearing this news as it happened, horrified that such a sacred spot would be so desecrated by fighting. In the presence of the sacred, with my peers and our guides, standing in the Church, kneeling at the shrine deep within the bowels of the Church, smelling the candles, absorbing the silence, while above me in my imagination bullets and rockets whizzed thru the air, I was awed. To the stars over rough roads, oh, valiant friends. |
