Daily life in Bethlehem has become unrecognisable for Australian De La Salle Brother Mark McKeon following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks and the subsequent military response by Israel. Source: The Catholic Leader.
Br McKeon has lived and taught at Bethlehem University for more than seven years and has seen the landscape marked by expanding military checkpoints, economic paralysis and escalating violence across the West Bank and Gaza.
He said students routinely faced nighttime incursions by the Israeli Defence Forces into their villages.
“Just last week one of my students woke to find soldiers in her house taking away her father,” Br McKeon said. “She does not know where they took him.”
He said Palestinians were being killed every day in Gaza and the West Bank.
Gaza Health Ministry and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs counts the death toll of the Israel-Palestine conflict since October 7, 2023, at about 77,000 people with about 75,000 Palestinians and 2000 Israelis dead.
Nearly a third of all Palestinians killed have been children, GHM reported.
In the West Bank, where Br McKeon teaches, Israeli forces have killed 1209 people, including 254 children.
The conflict has caused trade and movement to grind to a crawl in the region.
Br McKeon said movement across the West Bank had been heavily restricted by the IDF, which had installed more than 140 new checkpoints, gates and physical obstacles since October 7.
While the IDF maintains the checkpoints were necessary for security, the obstacles dramatically increased travel times for Br McKeon’s fellow university students and faculty.
It was part of a wider economic slowdown for Bethlehem and the West Bank.
The slow-down and insecurity of work was worsened by a drop-off in international pilgrims for the past three years since fighting began as governments around the world, including Australia, restricted the region’s travel rating.
In a town like Bethlehem, where Catholics comprise just six per cent of residents, the economic fallout has hit Christian-owned hotels and souvenir shops hard.
Br McKeon said the financial hardship forced families to choose between putting food on the table and paying tuition fees.
His own Bethlehem University had implemented staggered payment plans to ease the burden, but Br McKeon warned the ongoing conflict was accelerating an exodus of Christian families who were losing hope.
Despite all of the pressures, Palestinians held close to “sumud” – a Palestinian concept meaning steadfastness, resilience, perseverance and faithfulness in remaining on the land.
FULL STORY
Australian brother’s view from Bethlehem as pilgrim numbers fall and war toll rises (By Joe Higgins, The Catholic Leader)
