O Little Town of Bethlehem!

[bluesoul]

by FRANCIS BOYLE

It was December of 1991 and I was serving as Legal Advisor to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations in Washington DC. The Israelis were stalling, not even negotiating in bad faith, and the Americans were doing nothing to get the negotiations underway. This had been going on for three weeks and Christmas was fast approaching.

Those of us on the Palestinian Team who were Christian were wondering if we were going to be able to get home for Christmas--many Palestinians are Christian, the original Christians, going back to Jesus Christ and the Apostles themselves.

I would periodically check in with my wife and two sons at the time--little boys. My poor, sweet wife had to do all the Christmas preparations by herself without me. So the weekend before Christmas I called her up to say I still did not know if or when I would be coming home. My oldest son who had just turned 5 talked to me on the phone: Daddy why aren't you home for Christmas? Well son, I'm trying to help the Palestinians. Daddy, why are you doing that?

Hard to explain the entire Middle East conflict to a five-year old, so I put it into terms he could understand: Son, you know that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem don't you? Yes Daddy. Well I am here with the Mayor of Bethlehem and some other Palestinian leaders. They are my friends and I am their lawyer. I am working with the Mayor of Bethlehem to help all the Palestinian Children have a merry Christmas. Ok Daddy.

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Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/boyle1224.html