Stay or go? Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem—and throughout the West Bank—face this dilemma. Shahinda Nassar shares the pain she feels when her 16-year-old daughter presses her to leave Bethlehem, as well as the obligation she feels to stay and maintain the Christian presence.
By CNEWA
Shahinda Nassar can cite all the reasons Palestinians in the West Bank struggle: lack of opportunities, lack of rights, high unemployment, and military blockades.
But for her, it comes down to one thing: “We’re not free. We are occupied. And this is something that people do not think about.”
“We’re trying our best, but we can’t control the circumstances and the situation here in Palestine,” says the West Bank mother of three, an administrator at Bethlehem University.
“Can I protect my children? No, I can’t. So, what else can I offer them if I can’t offer them protection as a mother, as a parent?” she says. “It’s really hard on me, and we really don’t know what to do other than just live our lives day by day, endure this instability, unpredictability, in this Holy Land that’s supposed to be holy.”
The nearly two-year Israel-Hamas war has not just affected Palestinians in Gaza.
The United Nations statistics point to a “displacement strategy” in the West Bank that combines military force and economic suffocation, making daily life unbearable.
Roadblocks turn 10-minute drives into three-hour ordeals, settler gangs attack with impunity, demolition orders hang over entire neighborhoods, and fathers are arrested in the middle of the night, snatched from their beds.
Mrs. Nassar also knows if her family leaves, not only does Bethlehem lose more of its Christian presence, but the Christian-owned properties in the city will get sold and resold, “and, with time, the property no longer belongs to a Christian family.”
At the same time, she understands what young people are facing.
“How come I can’t go to Jerusalem when it’s the Holy Week? How come I need even to ask for a permit? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It really makes our life very difficult here. And I really feel the pain that the young people, like my children, like Sally, is feeling, that it’s hard to live here and they want more opportunities,” she says.
Watch Mrs. Nassar’s testimony in this video, as she explains the quandaries Christian families face.
This article was originally published by Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA). All rights reserved. Unauthorized republication by third parties is not permitted.
