Bethlehem, the one in the Middle East, is a must visit for anyone who ventures to the region.
Getting inside, though, is a challenge for which you must be prepared.
It’s walled off from Jerusalem. The city is governed by the Palestinian Authority and sits on what is called the West Bank.
I’ve had the honor of being able to walk through Bethlehem. I did so with my wife in June 2009, but our entry into the city served as a serious wakeup call to the tensions that exist in that tinder-box region of the world.
I had just finished a four-week Rotary International Group Study Exchange. My wife arrived at David Ben-Gurion International Airport — between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I greeted her with flowers and an “I Love You” balloon. We set off for our digs in the Bakah neighborhood of Jerusalem.
We decided we wanted to go to Bethlehem. As people of faith, we couldn’t let pass a chance to visit the birthplace of Jesus Christ, correct? So we booked our tour and waited for our guide to arrive at our bed-and-breakfast. Our guide arrived and we drove to the entrance into Bethlehem and were startled to see a huge wall with barbed wire strong across its top. Sentries were posted at the gate.
We had to show them our passports, answered a couple of questions about our purpose for visiting Bethlehem and then we were let in.
Another guide greeted us on the other side. We were pleased then to learn that our Palestinian guide is a fellow Christian who spoke of the joys of taking us to visit sites associated with “my Lord and Savior.” I’ll admit to a kind of surreal sense in hearing it in this place that has known so much violence.
We visited the Church of the Nativity, the Shepherds Field and walked along some streets looking for things to purchase and bring home.
Our visit to Bethlehem was much too brief. Both of us would have loved to stay longer, just to take in what we felt was a much calmer ambience and atmosphere than we felt on the other side of the wall, in Jerusalem. Yes, the Old City was charming. We were thrilled to see the Church of the Sepulcher, to walk along the stations of the cross, to see where Jesus was imprisoned, to peer down on the Old City from the Mount of Olives, to sit in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Bethlehem seemed oddly peaceful behind those high walls guarded by soldiers with deadly weapons.
It saddened and thrilled me all at once.
We’re looking forward to returning someday.