When Massacres Unite, When God Becomes One 

Friday, April 26 2002 @ 09:23 AM GMT 

Not only living Palestinians were hurt in the church, but endeared sculptures of individuals revered by Christians and Muslims alike were fired upon, left to shatter, to burn and to bleed. 

By Ramzy Baroud, 
Editor-in-Chief 

"The monks shared their food with us," a Palestinian boy who escaped the besieged Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem told a TV reporter. The boy is one among scores of Muslims and Christians who took refuge in the sacred church following a deadly Israeli invasion of Bethlehem a few weeks ago. But in truth, in the last a few weeks, Muslims and Christians have shared much more than food. They have shared life, death and fate. 

Palestinians have always spoke of the need for a united rank, not only on a political level, but also on a religious one. That need was exemplified in numerous gestures of friendship and brotherhood. Muslim and Christians, despite Israel’s constant attempt to initiate conflicts among them, lived together; they marched together; they protested Israel’s brutality together; and together they suffered the wrath of the Israeli occupation for many years. But never have they reached this point of totality, oneness: sharing the last bites of old bread in a dark, besieged and half burnt church where Jesus was born. 

As hundreds of Israeli soldiers, armored vehicles, Apaches and all tools of intimidation were used to frighten the besieged Palestinians in the Church, they were of no avail. 

Israeli snipers shot, killed and wounded whomever they could spot. They cared little whether those shot were Christian or Muslim, old or young, civilians, or fighters, policemen or monks. 

Loud noises were broadcast for hours everyday to drive the besieged Palestinians insane. Jeering and laughing soldiers used every tool of intimidation, lies and deception to institute fear in the hearts of nearly 250 Palestinians trapped in the church. 

Not only living Palestinians were hurt in the church, but endeared sculptures of individuals revered by Christians and Muslims alike were fired upon, left to shatter, to burn and to bleed. 

Muslims and Christians from the church united their call, calling on the world to come to their aid. Few came. But the hostages were of no mood to "surrender". 

"Surrender, why should we surrender," exclaimed a Palestinian priest in a telephone call from the Natively to Al-Jazeera television in Qatar. The priest said, "we are Palestinians in our church. We are no criminals to surrender to an occupying army who has taken over our city and is shelling our church." 

But elsewhere in Palestine, all Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, men, women and children, towns, villages and refugee camps were all asked to surrender, to give up their resistance, to kneel down, to ask Israel for mercy, for another chance. But these defiant souls kneel to no one but their God, in their besieged churches and near their burned mosques. 

By Israel striking at the most endeared symbols of their existence, destroying the houses of God, Palestinians pulled together and drew even closer to their faith and lasting beliefs. 

The Old City of Nablus’ historic mosques might have been turned to rubble, but Muslims who survived the Israeli massacres in the Old City will have little difficulty facing Mecca at the time of prayer. 

The bell-ringer of the Nativity might have been struck with an Israeli sniper bullet and killed. But the bells of the Church will soon toll, a sound that will mix with the call for prayer, streaming from the mosques of Bethlehem and its refugee camps. 

In the Gaza Strip, the spirit of solidarity was at its height, and was reflected in a rare scene. Top Muslim and Christian leaders marched, hand in hand, starting at Gaza’s largest mosque and ending at Gaza’s oldest church. 

Let us learn from the ever legendary Palestinian struggle, always so dignified and always with a lesson to teach. Let us look beyond our differences and search for common ground. Let us quit seeing the world from the spectacles of angry, misguided politicians who see nothing but clashes of religions and civilizations. 

Let the sincere souls of this world unite behind principals of justice, humanity, brotherhood and sisterhood. Let us move out of the circle of hate and stereotypes. Let us look at Bethlehem and Gaza where a lesson is there to be taught. 

When the first mass grave was opened in Ramallah, few cared to check whether the decomposed bodies of Palestinians wore a Cross or Crescent. The families of the victims stood there and prayed, each in his own way, but in one soul and spirit. 

Blood unites. Palestinians have learned that the hard way. Massacres unite too, and the church of Nativity must have cried at every drop of blood spilled on its floor, without asking if the blood was that of a Christian or a Muslim. 

Muslims and Christians have finally brought their unity much farther than simply living together, but becoming one community, whose religion is not a tool of division, but the inspiration of union, believers of one God, one destiny. 

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