December 23, 2001

Arafat's Visit to Bethlehem Canceled, Christmas Party at "The Cave"

I've been looking forward to Yasser Arafat's visit to Bethlehem. He does it every year on Christmas. There has been some speculation that he would not be able to come this year because of the intifada, but my bus driver told me this week that Arafat said he would be here under any circumstances -- "even if he had to walk". Well, I heard today that according to the Israeli army, he will not be allowed to come, because he hasn't done enough to stop terrorism. I wonder if this means that he'll be walking. Oh well, maybe I'll get another chance to greet him and use my "anna baheb Falesteen" line.

This evening the International Center of Bethlehem's Giftshop, called "The Cave", held their Christmas party. I love the Cave gallery. I think the art on display is very good. The mosaics are my favorite, but I like all of it -- all created by very talented local artists. I picked up a few Christmas items here. Carol and Laura do a great job selecting the items and setting up the decor of the shop. They have very artistic eyes. I wish my skills were as good.

I stayed at the party taking photos for about 45 minutes. Then I left to attend the choir concert at the Bethlehem Peace Center. There were a lot of people there, but they were holding an impromptu rally for Arafat. I was told by my good neighbor that the concert was at 6:00. I was already late, but there was no concert to be found. I checked the Church of the Nativity, but there was nothing there. Another man said the singing started at 8pm. Should I wait or not? Finally a director of the peace center said it was held earlier in the day. I had missed it. I would have waited a long time. Word of mouth is important here. You need to be in the loop or you'll miss out. I'm not in the loop.