Friends of Bethlehem
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 Dreams of Home Marrickville Council’s Chrissie Cotter Gallery will host an exhibition of photographs taken by children of Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. 21 May to 1 June Wed- Sun 11am-4pm Chrissie Cotter Gallery, Pidcock St., Camperdown (off Mallet St., under Camperdown Bowling Club) 'Dreams of Home' results from a project that explored issues of identity as Lajee Center's children went back home to their original villages to seek out links between the memories of survivors of Al Nakba and the contemporary realities of these depopulated villages. The project involved the children interviewing survivors of Al Nakba about life in their villages before 1948 and the events of Al Nakba itself. These interviews were written up into stories by the children to be included in the book and this gave the children a solid background of information and knowledge of their own history. The exhibition is curated by Rich Wiles, from Britain, and artist in residence in the Aida Camp. Wiles will give an Artist Talk in the Chrissie Cotter Gallery, on Saturday 24 May at 2 pm. He says that he wants his art to "develop a greater understanding of life in Palestine through positive cultural work, and to give Palestinian children and people a means of communicating with other children and people around the world". Interested schools can book free art/photography workshops for students with Wiles who has worked extensively with young people in the U.K. and in Palestine. A selection of Rich Wiles own photographs ‘Portraits of Palestine 2003-2007, showing images of people’s daily lives will complement the Bethlehem children’s photographs. The exhibition is being coordinated by the Friends of Bethlehem, an independent community group formed in 2007 to create local awareness of issues affecting people living under the occupation in Palestine, especially in the city of Bethlehem. Friends of Bethlehem supports development of civic ties between Marrickville and Bethlehem, encourages interfaith and related community education on peace and justice in Bethlehem and Palestine and wants to builds broader public awareness on these issues. ‘Dreams of Home’ at the Chrissie Cotter Gallery from May 21 to June 2008 is their first community awareness event.  NEWS FROM BETHLEHEM French Consul General detained at Bethlehem checkpoint 26 / 01 / 2008 Israeli forces held the Jerusalem-based French Consul General for more than three hours at a military checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Friday 25th January, according to sources in the French consulate. They said Consul General Alain Rémy and his party were going to Jerusalem when they were stopped and held at the Israeli checkpoint. Israeli soldiers attempted to inspected their bags, despite the consulate staff's efforts to prevent them from doing so. MORE... 11 injured in anti-separation wall demonstration near Bethlehem Date: 25 / 01 / 2008 Eleven people were injured in a demonstration against the Israeli separation wall in the village of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem on Friday. The proposed route of the wall will appropriate more than 20,000 dunoms (200,000 square metres) of village land and 75,000 dunums (750,000 square metres) of land belonging to the West Bank city of Bethlehem. MORE... FRIENDS OF BETHLEHEM - What's happening:  The interim committee has put the group on a sound footing by registering the organisation and starting a bank account. The committee will meet early in the new year to organise a general meeting and the election of a committee for the coming year. Marrickville Peace Group: Marrickville Peace Group will be showing the film "The Iron Wall" at 7pm on Tuesday 12 February 2008 at the Seaview Community Hall which is in Seaview Street, Dulwich Hill. If you have missed the previous screenings of this film in Sydney, don't miss it this time! If you'e ever had friends who say that they just can't understand why Israelis and Palestinians can't get along? Or who say that the problem is that there are extremists on both sides? Or that peace can only come through dialogue? Then The Iron Wall is a film that you should really get them to see. This is not a film about state or non-state terrorism. It's not about a peace process or a cycle of violence. Instead it concentrates on the core issue of the Israel-Palestine conflict: the ongoing colonisation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories by non-stop development of illegal Israeli settlements, a process known in Israel as kibosh ha'adama - “conquest of the land”. www.marrickvillepeacegroup.org Our Christmas Cards sold well  Our cards showed the three wise men obstructed on their journey by the ‘apartheid’ wall being built by Israel on Palestinian land. This illegal structure acts as a prison wall, blocking the aspiration of all Palestinians to freedom and self-determination. The funds raised will be used to support the charitable work of the Arab Women's Union in Bethlehem. Congratulations Marrickville and Bethlehem -  sisters at last! Marrickville and Bethlehem, Palestine, formalised a long-standing sister city agreement on Friday 31st August at a civic reception held at the Marrickville Council Chambers in Petersham. Mayor of Marrickville Morris Hanna OAM and Mayor of Bethlehem Dr Victor Batarseh signed the sister city agreement, which replaces the Memorandum of Understanding that the two cities have shared since 2000. The signing of the sister city agreement was attended by many local residents who welcomed the delegation from Bethlehem, which included Dr Victor Batarseh, his wife Marcelle Batarseh, Clr Anton Salman, Father Amjad Sabbara, and Bethlehem citizen Issa Al Hihi. The visit of this delegation provided the opportunity to finally formalise the agreement between Marrickville and Bethlehem. Marrickville Council believes that twinning with Bethlehem matches both cities’ goals to promote mutual understanding, encourage social, cultural and economic exchange, and foster a close civic friendship and contribute to world peace and prosperity. building bridges not walls... Friends of Bethlehem is an independent community coalition of people who have been working together since Marrickville Council decided to formalise its sister city relationship with Bethlehem in June 2007. A group of supporters started to work together to support the Council when outsiders tried to deter our Council from going ahead with this long-planned sister city agreement. We encouraged Marrickville Council to engage Bethlehem as a sister city and their efforts to support the people of Bethlehem to live in peace. If these efforts can help to let the people of Bethlehem know that others do care about their plight then we have achieved something for the humanity of the world. Although we are started as an organisation for Marrickville residents people from other parts of Sydney have joined us because Bethlehem has a special place in many hearts. As Sydneysiders, we love to help, and the people of Bethlehem suffer extreme hardship. under military occupation, suffering high levels of poverty and surrounded by an 8m high imprisoning wall. The people of Bethlehem need their international friends. Our membership already includes a wide range of people who support our aims. Bethlehem’s other sister cities include Athens and Assisi, Glasgow, The Hague and Milan, so in our view it is a great honour for Marrickville to be included in this network.  New in Marrickville, an Australian first... SISTERS: MARRICKVILLE AND BETHLEHEM Marrickville might be a long flight from Bethlehem but there are many similarities. Marrickville is one of Sydney’s most multi-cultural communities. Bethlehem has famously, along with Jerusalem, been one of the Middle East’s most successful multi-cultural cities. Residents of all religions have learned to live together in harmony. A walk down the main streets of Petersham, Marrickville or Dulwich Hill show people of all ethnicities and religions. The 2006 Census shows the main foreign languages in Marrickville as Greek, Vietnamese, Arabic and Portuguese. The main religions after Catholic and Anglican are Eastern Orthodox and Buddhism. And the main overseas birthplaces are: Greece, England and Vietnam. Bethlehem has a history of hospitality to a variety of regional and international visitors. It is surrounded by many villages which once fed its local character. This has included everything from its local cuisine – especially its famous yakhni kusaa b’laban (zucchini stew with rice) – to women’s embroidery. But Bethlehem’s population mix has been changing fast under the impact of the Israeli occupation. Since the beginning of the era of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2000 – which began the second Palestinian intifada – Bethlehem has lost 10 percent of its Christian population. In December 2006, the Open Bethlehem organisation conducted a survey of three centres of urban Bethlehem where Muslim and Christian populations number about equal. Some 78 percent of the Christians of Bethlehem blamed the exodus of their fellow Christians from Bethlehem on the Israeli blockade of the city using the illegal concrete Wall and its military checkpoints. Interestingly, the Christians of Bethlehem in the survey do not blame Muslim Bethlehemites for their emigration. Some 92 percent said they had Muslim friends). The Chief Executive of Open Bethlehem, Ms Leila Sansour, said: “Our survey of Bethlehem’s own citizens shows the city cannot retain its heritage and its Christian community while the Wall remains.” WHY OPEN BETHLEHEM? To most Western people, Bethlehem is the pre-eminent Christian city, the birthplace of Jesus. But for Jews and Muslims the presence of the tomb of Rachel, Abraham’s daughter-in-law and Jacob’s wife, in the south of the city, makes Bethlehem a special place for the world’s three great Abrahamic, monotheistic faiths. And for the past 1400 years Muslims and Christians have shared the city. When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion in the fourth century AD, it replaced a temple to Adonis on the site of the cave where Christ was said to have been born with a Christian church, the Church of the Nativity. Today, that church, with its remnants of the original Byzantine mosaics, stands above a grotto in Bethlehem. Within it, three Christian convents – Armenian, Catholic Franciscan and Greek Orthodox – maintain the church. Outside the internationally famous church is Manger Square, the centre of the city of Bethlehem. Spreading out from the centre, past the city’s Islamic Mosque, the Mosque of Omar and the nearby Bethlehem Peace Centre, the four quarters of this 3,400 year-old Arab city spread out. In the near distance, only 10 kilometres to the north, lies Jerusalem. Bethlehem’s district population is 175,000 – including 14,000 in three Palestinian refugee camps established in 1948 when Palestine was divided by the United Nations and Israel established. Palestinians were left with 22 percent of their original land. Bethlehem is part of the West Bank (of the Jordan River) which was left for Palestinians. In June 1967, Bethlehem was occupied by Israeli military forces along with the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The city has remained under occupation in the 40 years since then. Like other Palestinian towns, it now has a huge concrete wall around it, severing it from nearby olive farms, roads, forests and housing. The Wall has been condemned as illegal by the International Court of Justice. Just outside the Wall, three illegal Jewish settlements have been built on Palestinian land. The effect has been to starve Bethlehem of its main trade: tourism. From 92,000 tourists in the year 2000, numbers dropped to 7,249 in 2004 and continue to fall. The economy of the city is collapsing. It needs our help. More information: www.bethlehem-city.org |