Christine Bro, The Electronic Intifada, 27 March 2008
(Christine Bro is a recent graduate of McGill University currently working and residing in Haifa)
"Last weekend, Catholics in Nazareth and around the world celebrated the most holy and significant events to Christianity, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a man in Biblical times known simply as "Jesus of Nazareth." However, today Nazareth faces a slow and painful death in the face of land theft and colonization.
In 1948, during what Palestinians call the Nakba, over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes and country through direct physical expulsion, ethnic cleansing or psychological warfare, leaving only one third of the original inhabitants in historic Palestine. Even the indigenous Palestinians who remained during the period of 1947-49 became internally displaced refugees in the newly created state of Israel, due to laws passed by the Israeli government that transferred land to the state by declaring it a military zone and did not allow for Palestinians to return to their original homes. Until today, these internally displaced refugees have no right to return to their original land, towns or villages and presently account for more than 355,000 refugees inside Israel.......
The conditions of the Nazareth souq reflects the condition of Nazareth as a whole, substantiating that it is a myth that the majority of Palestinian Arabs living under the Israeli state are comfortable and content with their current circumstances. Unfortunately for the people and city of Nazareth today, that is all Nazareth remains, an idea in the past, a fantasy in the Christian mind and a destination for Christian pilgrims who remain unaware of this historical city's present situation and its continued slow and painful death. In the words of Abu Ali, "this city [Nazareth] must shine again because this is the city of Jesus Christ, a holy city, and should be opened to all tourists, not closed.""
(Christine Bro is a recent graduate of McGill University currently working and residing in Haifa)
"Last weekend, Catholics in Nazareth and around the world celebrated the most holy and significant events to Christianity, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a man in Biblical times known simply as "Jesus of Nazareth." However, today Nazareth faces a slow and painful death in the face of land theft and colonization.
In 1948, during what Palestinians call the Nakba, over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes and country through direct physical expulsion, ethnic cleansing or psychological warfare, leaving only one third of the original inhabitants in historic Palestine. Even the indigenous Palestinians who remained during the period of 1947-49 became internally displaced refugees in the newly created state of Israel, due to laws passed by the Israeli government that transferred land to the state by declaring it a military zone and did not allow for Palestinians to return to their original homes. Until today, these internally displaced refugees have no right to return to their original land, towns or villages and presently account for more than 355,000 refugees inside Israel.......
The conditions of the Nazareth souq reflects the condition of Nazareth as a whole, substantiating that it is a myth that the majority of Palestinian Arabs living under the Israeli state are comfortable and content with their current circumstances. Unfortunately for the people and city of Nazareth today, that is all Nazareth remains, an idea in the past, a fantasy in the Christian mind and a destination for Christian pilgrims who remain unaware of this historical city's present situation and its continued slow and painful death. In the words of Abu Ali, "this city [Nazareth] must shine again because this is the city of Jesus Christ, a holy city, and should be opened to all tourists, not closed.""
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