HOLY LAND: Eye-witness report of tension in Middle East

By John Pontifex

Soldiers armed with batons and shields took part in a stand-off with protestors in Bethlehem.

The UK Director of Aid to the Church in Need has given a first-hand account of clashes between West Bank protestors and Palestinian armed forces.

Appealing for prayer for the Middle East, Aid to the Church in Need's Neville Kyrke-Smith described coming face to face with soldiers armed with batons and shields in a stand-off with protestors.

The incident, which took place yesterday (Sunday, 15^th May) evening near a checkpoint in south-east Bethlehem, coincided with violent outbreaks along Israel's frontier with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, in which 13 people are reported dead.

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Listen to Nevile Kyrke-Smith's phone casts from Bethlehem on Nakba Day

Tensions flare up every year on 15^th May (Nakba – Disaster Day) as Palestinians 'mourn' the establishment of Israel in 1948, but reports have claimed this is the worst violence of its kind for many years.

Mr Kyrke-Smith, who two days earlier had arrived in Israel-Palestine to visit Christian communities receiving help from Aid to the Church in Need, described how "tensions were running high".

In an account of the incident, given today (Monday, 16^th May), he said: "People could be seen in the shadows down alleyways where they had fled. Rubble and stones were strewn across the streets.

"Army vehicles were blocking off roads and flashing their lights. Soldiers with protective headgear and shields and batons were standing in formation."

"As they went by, a man waving a huge Fatah [leading Palestinian political party] flag posed in front of me for a photograph."

Reporting the incident this morning by phone as he stood near the controversial separation wall around the West Bank, Mr Kyrke-Smith said: "It has been a very tense past few days and you could feel that tension in the out-lying streets of Bethlehem."

He added that the Palestinian armed forces quickly cleared rubble and other debris using bulldozers, restoring order before today's visit by the Italian president and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr Kyrke-Smith described heightened security in Israel as well as the West Bank, saying that he was stopped at three check-points between Bethlehem and Jericho.

He said: "The Israeli forces were obviously concerned after uprisings and incursions on their borders. They had brought in some heavy security."

Mr Kyrke-Smith said a number of people in the Holy Land had spoken of their desire for political change, saying: "Now the time has begun..."

Mr Kyrke-Smith flew into Israel from Lebanon where he interviewed Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai who spoke of "a political and social earthquake which has struck the Middle East".

While visiting south Lebanon, he was told: "Just one bullet could ignite a new conflict. We're never far away from war."

Underlining the scale of security and tension across the region, Mr Kyrke-Smith said: "It is very important that people pray for oppressed peoples and pray for peace. Aid to the Church in Need is committed to helping Christian communities wherever they are in need."

Quoting a religious Sister who told him "help keep the frontier open, please come", Mr Kyrke-Smith underlined the importance of pilgrimage to the Holy Land as a "very significant" form of solidarity with Christians in the region.

You can follow Neville Kyrke-Smith's trip to the Midle East on Aid to the Church in Need's blog.

Tagged with

• Israel
• Palestine

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