In Bethlehem

It is exceptionally easier than you might think to enter the West Bank. At Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, catch bus #21 (or was it #28?). Done. Now you’re in Bethlehem. What used to be a suburb of Jerusalem, is now on the other side of a giant concrete wall that is more than two times taller than the Berlin Wall.
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In Bethlehem, I…
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saw the supposed exact spot of the birth of baby Jesus at the Church of Nativity,
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walked the halls of Bethlehem University, 
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ate a falafel sandwich in Aida Refugee Camp,
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spoke with Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh (professor, activist, genius) at the first Palestine Museum of Natural History (and watched Majd feed an owl, and saw hedgehogs for the first time),
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strolled along the monstrous Separation Wall,
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ate dinner down the street from gun towers of the Separation Wall, decorating the bullet holes in their windows with Christmas ornaments (how festive!),
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saw the largest illegal settlement in Bethlehem on a hill that used to be forest,
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watched Palestinian Santas protest for peace,
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and watched the Bethlehem community come together at the Shepherd’s Nights Festival.
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