Key themes in 2009 Bethlehem coverage
Recently, Just Journalism wrote about key themes that were likely to emerge in this year’s Christmas coverage of Bethlehem. Reporting in recent years has focused on comparisons between Biblical and contemporary times, and on reasons why the Christian community in the town has dramatically shrunk. Often, the focus includes criticism of Israeli policy in the region, while side-stepping other relevant factors – for example, emphasising the negative effects on Bethlehem’s Christians of Israeli security precautions, while downplaying animosity from sections of the Muslim majority in the town.
All these issues re-emerged in 2009. For example, on the 24 December the BBC News Online’s ‘West Bank shepherds fear for their flock’, by Bethany Bell, made a direct connection between the shepherds who lived in the area in Biblical times, and those living there today: ‘According to the Christian tradition, shepherds were the first to visit the infant Christ. These days, about 12,000 families still rely on herding in the West Bank.’
The article then catalogued the difficulties these shepherds face, all of which stem from the Israeli authorities. Bell cites the assertion that ‘it is almost impossible to get permission to build new wells [from Israel authorities]’, as well as allegations of ‘harassment from Jewish settlers when they move with their animals’. She also includes the claim that Palestinian shepherds’ traditional grazing grounds are ‘used by the Israeli army for military training.’
The article concludes with an allusion to Jesus’ birth in the nativity story, and implies that Israel is interfering with an age old way of life:
‘Back at Mohammed Abu Ali's cave, tea was being prepared. On a pile of blankets in the corner, his baby grandson, Jihad, lay cradled in his mother's arms. It isn't clear if he will grow up to be a shepherd like his ancestors or if this ancient way of life is slowly coming to an end.’
The corresponding TV report from the BBC News Channel can be viewed here.
The subject of Bethlehem’s beleaguered Christian community was dealt with most comprehensively in The Sunday Telegraph (20 December) in ‘Exodus’, by Richard Spencer, Samer al-Atrush and Rob Crilly. As Just Journalism noted here, articles that discuss why Christians are leaving Bethlehem have previously ignored the fact that ‘Christian flight from the Middle East is a widespread phenomenon’, instead emphasising Israel’s security precautions in the West Bank. ‘Exodus’, however, stated that the ‘Christian population that stood at 20 per cent [in the region] a century ago has now sunk to below 5 per cent’.
However, on the role of hostility from Muslim extremists (‘Christian shops have been firebombed’), the journalists argue that ‘the rise of radical Islam is not the only factor’, noting the negative impact of Israel’s West Bank separation barrier on Christians in Bethlehem, and that ‘Arab priests claim that Israel deliberately turns a blind eye to violence against Christians’.
In contrast to ‘Exodus’, a report broadcast on BBC radio 4 on Christmas Eve promoted an image of harmony between Christians and Muslims in Bethlehem. Reporting for The World Tonight from Manger Square on the mass given by Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch, Foud Twal, correspondent Bethany Bell emphasised the presence of ‘Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim’ (including Mahmoud Abbas) at the church service.
Finally, both articles which focused on the impact of Israel’s security measures on Bethlehem mentioned that the town’s economy (in line with the rest of the West Bank) was improving, as we highlighted in ‘What to expect in Bethlehem coverage’. While ‘Israel incurs wrath of Bethlehem’s merchants’ by Adrian Blomfield in The Daily Telegraph (20 December) focused on the claims by Palestinian officials that the security measures were discouraging tourists from spending more time and money in the town, it also mentioned that the local economy was ‘growing by seven per cent and unemployment in Bethlehem has fallen from 60 per cent to 35 per cent in the past four years’.
The Guardian’s Rory McCarthy, (24 December) on the other hand, focused on the cultural, rather than economic, impact of Israel’s security measures. Whilst also noting that the West Bank’s economy ‘improved slightly this year’, McCarthy focused on the Palestinian artisans whose hand-crafted nativity scenes now ‘reflect the frosty reality of Israel’s concrete wall’, for example by depicting wise men and camels kept apart from the crib by the barrier.
In conclusion, many of last year’s themes in UK Christmas reporting re-emerged, from the BBC’s comparison between Biblical times and modern day Palestine, to a divergence between different media outlets on how they presented Christian/Muslim relations in Bethlehem. Perhaps the main difference in this year’s coverage was that while several pieces focused on the impact of Israel’s security barrier on the town, they tempered this with an acknowledgement that Bethlehem, like the rest of the West Bank, continues to enjoy an economic resurgence.
30 December 2009