|
CounterPunch
December
24, 2002
O Little Town
of Bethlehem!
by FRANCIS BOYLE
It was December of 1991 and I was serving as Legal
Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace
Negotiations in Washington DC. The Israelis were stalling, not
even negotiating in bad faith, and the Americans were doing nothing
to get the negotiations underway. This had been going on for
three weeks and Christmas was fast approaching.
Those of us on the Palestinian Team who
were Christian were wondering if we were going to be able to
get home for Christmas--many Palestinians are Christian, the
original Christians, going back to Jesus Christ and the Apostles
themselves.
I would periodically check in with my
wife and two sons at the time--little boys. My poor, sweet wife
had to do all the Christmas preparations by  herself without me. So the weekend before
Christmas I called her up to say I still did not know if or when
I would be coming home. My oldest son who had just turned 5 talked
to me on the phone: Daddy why aren't you home for Christmas?
Well son, I'm trying to help the Palestinians. Daddy, why are
you doing that?
Hard to explain the entire Middle East
conflict to a five-year old, so I put it into terms he could
understand: Son, you know that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem
don't you? Yes Daddy. Well I am here with the Mayor of Bethlehem
and some other Palestinian leaders. They are my friends and I
am their lawyer. I am working with the Mayor of Bethlehem to
help all the Palestinian Children have a merry Christmas. Ok
Daddy.
We got the word we could go home for
Christmas on December 23 and I got on the first flight out of
DC getting home just on time for Christmas Eve with my Family.
Yesterday I attended UCC Church Services
here with my Family. When it came time for prayers from the congregation,
I got up and asked everyone to help the Palestinians along the
following lines: Bethlehem is cut-off and surrounded by the
Israeli army--the Church of the Nativity too. The Israelis are
inflicting ethnic cleansing upon all the Palestinian, both Muslims
and Christians. They are also pursuing a policy of deliberately
forcing Palestinian Christians out of Palestine as part of a
perverse strategy to turn a war of national liberation into a
religious crusade, figuring it would play better in the United
States.
And these are the original Christians,
going back to Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Meanwhile, the United
States government is financing it all to the tune of $5 billion
per year. Everyone in this Congregation has gifts given to them
by God. So go out and do something to help the Palestinians!
Francis A. Boyle,
Professor of Law, University of Illinois, is author of Foundations
of World Order, Duke University Press, The
Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence, and Palestine,
Palestinians and International Law, by Clarity Press.
He can be reached at: FBOYLE@LAW.UIUC.EDU
Yesterday's
Features
William A. Cook
The Road
to Basra and Back: The US v. Iraq, the Tale of the Tape
Lenni Brenner
51 Documents:
Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis
David Vest
Fristed:
All is Well, America is a Christian Nation Once Again
Ralph Nader
Bush's
Cakewalk Across the Constitution
Peter Phillips
A Report
from Cairo on the International Campaign Against US Aggression
on Iraq
Chris Floyd
Battlefield Earth
Gavin Keeney
Livres
Deluxe
Adam Engel
Copy, Escher, Bach (You Copy?)
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
December 10,
2002
Carol Norris
Help Wanted:
US Government Looking for a Few Qualified Applicants
Tom Gorman
With Liberators
Like These, Who Needs Conquerors?
Linda Heard
Spies,
Snitches and Eyes in the Sky
Josh Ruebner
Striking
with Impunity
Joanne Mariner
You Have
No Right to Remain Silent
December 9,
2002
Adam Engel
Great Expectations:
an Immodest Proposal
Roldan Tomasz
Suárez
What Really
Happened in Altamira Plaza?
Robert Jensen
Bob Woodward's
Bush Hagiography
William Hughes
Berrigan's
Final Warning
Uri Avnery
Why Does
the Leopard Change His Spots?
Netanyahu and Likud
Gary Leupp
Religious
Intolerance Then and Now
Hammond Guthrie
In a
Moment's Time
(for Philip Berrigan)
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By
Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|