We are led into a gray room with black tables and green doors and windowsills. The Rapprochement Center is dedicated to Palestinian-Israeli dialogue. We sit down, and a mournful Palestinian commences with our lecture. What follows is the best summary I can give of the evening�s discussion, which was as fascinating as it was circular and tangential.
In times past, our host explained, Palestinian identity was based on family and land; the people here can trace their families back through records for 600 to 800 years, and beyond that there is an oral history. The area was invaded and taken over numerous times, and the names have changed, but the Palestinians have been here through it all. They are, our host assured us, the indigenous people of the region.
Whether Christian or Muslim, Palestinian culture is highly influenced by Arabic culture. Christian Palestinians are distinctly oriental; the Christian community began here as early as ancient Christianity, and was subject to all of the transformations and problems which beset the region over the years.
Now Christians are 2 to 5% of Palestine; a few years ago they were 10%. This trend is symptomatic of the waning Christian presence in the Holy Land. This area, our host says, has a 100 year history of crisis; whoever doesn�t have a good reason to stay leaves. In 1948 the majority of Palestinians were forced from their ancestral homes, and their houses were burned. Israelis call this �The War of Independence;� Palestinians call it �amakba���The Disaster.� One point Israelis and Palestinians agree on is mutual dislike of the British. The Palestinians saw them as enemies who occupied their land, oppressed them, and helped the Jews establish a state. The Israelis saw them as enemies who occupied their land, oppressed them and tried to prevent them from establishing a state.
In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their villages; 418 villages were burnt to the ground. In 1967, 400,000 more Palestinians were expelled, mostly to Jordan. During thirty years of Israeli occupancy, 20,000 people a year were forcibly emigrated. Palestinians could not come and go as they pleased, because they had only residency rights, meaning that they were permitted to stay as long as they resided here, but once they left thy could not return. The Christians were the first to be affected by these policies, and faced massive emigration. In the past, Christians had a more or less privileged position, but with western culture and increased industrialization Palestinians, especially Christians, became a people in diaspora. Economic hardship served to worsen the situation, to the point where there is now only one Christian family living in Hebron; most of the remaining Christian population is centered in the West Bank. The problem, our host explained, stems from the fact that Israel expanded Jerusalem to the Ramallah and Bethlehem areas, and land owned by Christians was subsumed. When this happens, homes are approximated and businesses are forced into bankruptcy, without compensation. At the moment, Har Homah is the latest piece of land taken over by Israel, and the latest source of controversy.
In the Palestinian community, our host tells us, privacy is not a great value; they care about each other, he says, to the extent that they intrude in each others� lives. Rumor and gossip are mainstays of the society, to the point that there is a joke that it was wise of God to tell the shepherds of Bet Sahour of the newborn King, otherwise no one would have known about him.
There is a close tie between Christians and Muslims here, since they are both Arabs. In the �40�s, �50�s and �60�s, Christianity played a major role in the establishment of an Arab national identity. Faced with the common threat of Zionism, strong nationalist feelings developed among Christian and Muslim Palestinians alike.
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