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(rhythmic jazz music)

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Good evening, everyone,

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and welcome to Radio Bethlehem.

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Our program today is
"Touching on the Past."

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(rhythmic jazz music)

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Leila, you are here to work on a film?

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I am here after a very long absence.

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I plan to make a film

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that covers a year
in the life of Bethlehem.

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I want to document
the building of the wall

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and its impact on people's lives.

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(rhythmic jazz music)

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-  Nearly 2,000 years ago,

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in a cave used as a stable
where this church now stands,

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an event took place which
changed the course of history.

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I was very close to my father.

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I was born in Moscow

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and lived there until I was six.

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But my childhood was always
colored by my father's stories of home.

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I grew up hearing about Bethlehem

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It became a fairy tale for me.

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(rhythmic jazz music)

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Down into the grotto of the nativity,

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they come to the spot
where Christ was born.

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Here, pilgrims have knelt
in reverence ever since.

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I was a child then.

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I imagined Bethlehem utterly magnificent

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so when we got here

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I just couldn't believe we'd arrived.

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I couldn't believe this was it.

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(siren chirping)

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(gate rattling)

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- See the wall there.

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(expressive piano over
ominous ambient music)

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-  This is my city, Bethlehem,

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the little town of the Bible.

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Although it stopped being
home a long time ago,

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when I left at 18.

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(door rattling)

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Everyone knows this place
through scenes of the nativity,

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the star and the shepherds,
but I know the other side.

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(expressive piano)

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Bethelem is part of Palestine,

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one of the world's political hotspots.

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A few years ago, events escalated

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beyond what any of us
could have expected.

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Israel's army was back,

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bringing more destruction
than ever before.

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(expressive orchestral music with piano)

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The place still bears
the marks of the invasion

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that drove my last
remaining relatives abroad.

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(birds fluttering)

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Now, there are only a few
family members who come and go.

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(door unlocking)

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Hello!

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- Leila!

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- Hey!

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Hello!

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Finally you are here!

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Yes, after 5 whole years.

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It was worst here.

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Is this one of them, Carol?

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Exactly.

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This bullet came through here.

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All the glass broke.

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Then it went through here.

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I say we all come and go,
but there is one constant,

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my cousin, Carol,
Bethlehem's radio host.

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Carol went to Bethlehem University,

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got married, and remained
with her husband and child

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right through the invasion,

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when everyone who could
afford to leave did.

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Finally, it came out here.

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You know we have all the bullets here.

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I wondered what these were.

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This was part of a missile.

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It flew over the house and
landed in front of the main door.

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So all these bullets
entered the house during...?

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Maybe two months.

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Two months!

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They kept coming from all directions.

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21 bullets.

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I can't bear these.

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When it comes to Bethlehem,

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Carol and I could not
have been more different.

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She always loved this place,

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all I remember is how
much I wanted to run away.

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(car horns honking over bells jingling)

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- Hi, Merry Christmas!
(chatter)

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(expressive piano over
vaguely ominous ambient music)

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-  My own family home had
been abandoned for years.

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When my father was alive,

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this house felt like the
nation's headquarters.

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A great many of Bethlehem's debates,

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in fact, crucial political
decisions, took place here.

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Being a founder of a university

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might be an academic job elsewhere,

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but here in Palestine,
demanding the right education

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was an act of political defiance.

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That was my father, he was a romantic.

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He spent 15 years outside Palestine,

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but when he had
the opportunity to return,

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he didn't waste any time.

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He was back with big plans.

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My father always knew what he wanted.

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He was totally dedicated to his cause.

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(expressive piano)

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(crowd cheering)

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People say it was Bethlehem University

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that sparked the Intifada of the 1980s.

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When the uprising broke out

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and his students were
protesting in the streets,

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my father was always
the first to find out

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who was safe, who was injured,

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and to plead with the Israelis

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to release the ones they put in prison.

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(expressive orchestral music)

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During the last invasion in 2002,

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this house had its fair share of damage.

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My mother replaced the doors
and windows,

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but could not take it anymore.

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Without my father around,

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she decided to move back home to Russia.

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Who could blame her?

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I wouldn't stay here if
it wasn't for my film,

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but for the next year, this
was going to be my base,

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and I was anxious to get going.

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(hood slamming)

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Mustafa, get me the screwdriver!

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Don't forget to put water
in the radiator.

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Just normal water.

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(hood slamming)

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(birds chirping)

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(phone buzzing)

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- Hello?

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- Claire?

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- Yes.

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This is Leila Sansour.

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I'm calling because
I'm making a film about Bethlehem.

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I'd like to interview you
because of your location.

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The problem is they
are not letting people film.

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What do you mean?

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Our house is in a very
sensitive position.

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We are very close to them.

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The soldiers.

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They're always here.

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Some people came to film recently.

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They seized the film and destroyed it.

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Bring an extra tape

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in case they take your footage.

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(engine rumbling)

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I wasn't sure what to expect,

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so I was glad that my husband, Nicholas,

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decided to join me on this expedition.

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I was also glad that my old family car

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had graciously come back to life

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and put itself at my service.

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(distant helicopter whirring)

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(parking brake crunches)

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This, uh, this house, I think.

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It's one of these two houses.
(distant dogs barking)

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- I think you should

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hide the camera when you go out.

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(distant helicopter
whirring over barking dogs)

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We heard the wall is going
to encase our house completely.

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One section is already built.

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There will be another on this side

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and one more in front of the house.

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We'll be surrounded on three sides.

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On the fourth side,
the wall will be built like a corridor.

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The wall is going to be only
two meters away from us

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and nine meters high.

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We live here.

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God willed that our home is here.

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Where should we go?

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They'll do whatever suits them.

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They're not going to ask me or you.

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We are here alone next to them.

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If we say anything
it will be counted against us.

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You see, we keep our mouths shut.

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Israel is very strong.

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What can we do?

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(distant dogs yapping)

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(chatter on radio)

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(droning strings)

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-  In 1948, the creation of Israel

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changed life for all Palestinians.

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This is when the first
refugee camps emerged here

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to house hundreds of families

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that fled from neighboring towns.

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-  More than 10,000 people

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with their belongings have taken refuge

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within the walls of
the little town itself.

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-  Every house, every convent

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was offering shelter.

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-  To the Arabs, this
division of the Holy Land

00:12:00.597 --> 00:12:02.765
brought ruin and exile.

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Scattered on the hillsides of Bethlehem,

00:12:04.975 --> 00:12:06.769
there were too many refugees.

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(church bells ringing
over roaring jet engines)

00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:14.653
-  In 1967, Israel captured Bethlehem.

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Soon after the invasion,

00:12:19.198 --> 00:12:21.200
it started building housing projects

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intended for Jews alone.

00:12:25.246 --> 00:12:27.289
To make way for these new settlements,

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private and common land in Bethlehem

00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:33.295
was seized by the
Israeli occupying forces.

00:12:34.631 --> 00:12:37.758
Israel wasted no time
in moving its citizens

00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:41.971
across the border, known as
the Green Line, into Palestine.

00:12:43.222 --> 00:12:45.891
Bethlehem is where it all began.

00:12:46.809 --> 00:12:49.311
The Bethlehem District
stretches from the desert

00:12:49.353 --> 00:12:51.981
bordering the Dead Sea
to the green hills

00:12:52.022 --> 00:12:54.609
that house the population centers.

00:12:54.651 --> 00:12:58.613
It is here that Israel started building.

00:12:58.655 --> 00:13:02.866
The first settlement of
Gush Etzion emerged in 1967.

00:13:03.367 --> 00:13:07.454
Then came Har Gilo in 1968,
Gilo in 1970,

00:13:07.496 --> 00:13:10.291
Tekoa in 1977, and then the rest.

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- These are clearly
Jewish lines upon which

00:13:17.298 --> 00:13:19.300
we're gonna extend one
of our communities here,

00:13:19.300 --> 00:13:20.843
one of the Jewish communities,

00:13:20.884 --> 00:13:23.680
and, uh, some of the
Palestinians who, uh,

00:13:23.722 --> 00:13:25.515
have no respect for law and order

00:13:25.557 --> 00:13:27.182
are coming to try to stop the work.

00:13:27.224 --> 00:13:30.520
-  Despite 40 years of
international condemnation,

00:13:30.562 --> 00:13:33.523
the building never stopped,

00:13:33.565 --> 00:13:38.027
even after 1995, when
Israel signed a peace treaty

00:13:38.068 --> 00:13:41.238
committing to end all construction.

00:13:41.280 --> 00:13:43.907
(expressive orchestral music)

00:13:43.949 --> 00:13:46.910
The strategy seemed always the same,

00:13:46.952 --> 00:13:50.497
build quickly, fill
them with people later.

00:13:52.667 --> 00:13:55.878
The settlements are connected
by a network of roads

00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.088
that slice through Bethlehem,

00:13:58.130 --> 00:14:00.508
isolating different pockets of the city

00:14:00.550 --> 00:14:04.554
and putting an end
to Bethlehem's growth.

00:14:04.596 --> 00:14:08.265
Palestinians are forbidden
from using these roads.

00:14:08.307 --> 00:14:10.769
They cannot farm or build near them,

00:14:10.851 --> 00:14:15.022
they cannot cross them,
they cannot approach them.

00:14:16.398 --> 00:14:20.570
We now have 170,000 settlers
living in 40 settlements

00:14:22.363 --> 00:14:25.240
that form a belt around Bethlehem.

00:14:28.536 --> 00:14:32.373
They stand on every hill, and
every Palestinian neighborhood

00:14:32.414 --> 00:14:35.000
is cast into their shadow.

00:14:35.042 --> 00:14:38.379
Wherever you look, you see
them, looming over the city

00:14:38.420 --> 00:14:42.466
in steady lines of
concrete and sheer walls

00:14:42.509 --> 00:14:46.053
like an army advancing on the horizon.

00:14:46.095 --> 00:14:50.265
(expressive piano and orchestration)

00:14:51.392 --> 00:14:54.269
And now, Israel had a new project,

00:14:55.772 --> 00:14:59.983
a wall that would cut deep
through Palestinian cities.

00:15:00.527 --> 00:15:02.361
In Bethlehem, it was planned

00:15:02.403 --> 00:15:05.989
to snake around the
most populated centers.

00:15:07.074 --> 00:15:10.787
Locked between the wall,
settler highways,

00:15:10.829 --> 00:15:12.996
and the settlements themselves,

00:15:13.038 --> 00:15:16.333
with 87 percent of its land gone,

00:15:16.375 --> 00:15:18.795
the isolation was complete.

00:15:18.837 --> 00:15:22.590
Bethlehem would have to
fight for its future.

00:15:23.716 --> 00:15:27.512
- There's only room for one
people to live in this land,

00:15:27.554 --> 00:15:29.054
and I hope that the Jewish people

00:15:29.096 --> 00:15:30.557
will come to a decision
that the one people

00:15:30.598 --> 00:15:33.350
who live on its land
are the Jewish people.

00:15:33.392 --> 00:15:36.521
(footsteps crunching)

00:15:41.526 --> 00:15:45.404
So they cut all the olive trees?

00:15:45.446 --> 00:15:48.157
All of them. Everything I own.

00:15:48.825 --> 00:15:52.953
70-year-old trees. All gone.

00:15:55.956 --> 00:15:57.876
Where?

00:15:57.958 --> 00:16:01.044
Do you see there?

00:16:01.086 --> 00:16:03.673
See that red mark?

00:16:03.715 --> 00:16:07.886
(expressive piano over
dramatic orchestral music)

00:16:20.690 --> 00:16:23.484
See these poles here?

00:16:25.194 --> 00:16:27.906
So they did put marks!

00:16:27.988 --> 00:16:31.158
But they didn't tell us why.

00:16:31.826 --> 00:16:37.080
They claim they've put
warnings on trees.

00:16:37.540 --> 00:16:40.000
Can you believe it?

00:16:40.042 --> 00:16:42.795
Mohamed told them,

00:16:42.837 --> 00:16:47.717
"By law, you should
deliver it in person."

00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.344
The soldier said,
"I don't know your house."

00:16:50.385 --> 00:16:53.347
They only know when
they come to demolish them!

00:16:53.388 --> 00:16:55.474
Sons of bitches.

00:16:55.517 --> 00:16:58.060
(footsteps crunching)

00:17:00.939 --> 00:17:03.858
(expressive piano)

00:17:05.610 --> 00:17:08.487
This is catastrophic!

00:17:13.033 --> 00:17:17.204
(vaguely ominous orchestral music)

00:17:21.208 --> 00:17:25.212
-  This time, I failed to
capture the army at work.

00:17:25.254 --> 00:17:26.923
They came too early that morning

00:17:26.965 --> 00:17:30.635
and finished the job
in a matter of hours.

00:17:30.677 --> 00:17:34.471
I was afraid of what I would see next.

00:17:34.514 --> 00:17:37.934
Scenes like this, even
worse, were unfolding

00:17:37.976 --> 00:17:41.771
all over Bethlehem along
the route of the wall.

00:17:41.813 --> 00:17:45.567
(group shouting and wailing)

00:17:51.823 --> 00:17:55.994
(group shouting over tense
and ominous ambient music)

00:18:02.165 --> 00:18:05.252
(machinery rumbling)

00:18:07.589 --> 00:18:10.967
(group shouting)

00:18:11.009 --> 00:18:15.220
(machinery crunching into building)

00:18:19.349 --> 00:18:22.604
(machinery rumbling)

00:18:22.604 --> 00:18:25.982
(flags rustling)

00:18:26.024 --> 00:18:30.235
(church bell clanging over
muffled prayer chanting)

00:18:37.284 --> 00:18:41.455
(group shouting and chanting
over clanging church bell)

00:18:47.795 --> 00:18:51.465
From Bethlehem to Bidu.

00:18:52.967 --> 00:18:54.636
We want to bring down the wall.

00:18:55.678 --> 00:18:57.387
My first few months in Bethlehem,

00:18:57.429 --> 00:19:01.308
I filmed everything we
were allowed to access.

00:19:01.350 --> 00:19:04.227
I filmed the city, I filmed people,

00:19:04.269 --> 00:19:06.229
I filmed demonstrations.

00:19:06.271 --> 00:19:07.523
- Do you believe in rights?

00:19:07.565 --> 00:19:09.609
You are violating our rights.

00:19:09.651 --> 00:19:10.818
(crowd shouting)

00:19:10.860 --> 00:19:12.486
-  I was trying to blend in.

00:19:12.528 --> 00:19:16.490
I didn't want to seem like
another foreigner with a camera.

00:19:16.532 --> 00:19:19.911
(crowd shouting angrily)

00:19:25.917 --> 00:19:28.335
(Leila hums)

00:19:29.294 --> 00:19:32.214
(expressive piano)

00:19:35.384 --> 00:19:37.053
If I'd stayed in this town,

00:19:37.095 --> 00:19:41.306
I would have always remained
my father's daughter.

00:19:41.808 --> 00:19:44.434
It seems unthinkable that I left

00:19:44.476 --> 00:19:46.854
because I didn't want
to live in his shadow

00:19:46.896 --> 00:19:50.983
when now, I would give
anything to have him back.

00:19:51.943 --> 00:19:55.655
When I was a little girl, he
was the one I looked up to.

00:19:55.697 --> 00:19:58.074
I would do anything to please him.

00:19:58.116 --> 00:20:01.284
At school, I had to had
to have the best grades

00:20:01.326 --> 00:20:05.497
and win every prize because
I knew this made him proud.

00:20:07.290 --> 00:20:09.459
It all changed, of course.

00:20:10.503 --> 00:20:13.548
I grew older, became headstrong,

00:20:13.589 --> 00:20:16.968
and was determined to shape my own life.

00:20:17.009 --> 00:20:20.805
My first big decision
was to leave Bethlehem.

00:20:20.847 --> 00:20:23.850
I traveled the globe,
studied philosophy,

00:20:23.891 --> 00:20:27.687
became a filmmaker and
married an Englishman.

00:20:28.646 --> 00:20:30.940
Palestine and the whole
of the Middle East

00:20:30.982 --> 00:20:33.776
were soon a memory from the past,

00:20:33.818 --> 00:20:37.446
only there for occasional
fun and holidays.

00:20:39.364 --> 00:20:42.034
I wanted to find a bigger world,

00:20:42.076 --> 00:20:45.245
carve my own way, and to be free.

00:20:45.287 --> 00:20:48.166
(expressive piano)

00:20:51.418 --> 00:20:53.171
- The barrier is strongly supported

00:20:53.253 --> 00:20:55.923
by most Israelis,
and absolutely essential

00:20:55.965 --> 00:20:58.300
according to the Israeli government.

00:20:58.341 --> 00:21:00.762
- What does the defensive
action consist of?

00:21:00.762 --> 00:21:04.056
It is to separate the
terrorist from their targets,

00:21:04.098 --> 00:21:06.934
and the only way we can
do that is to separate

00:21:06.976 --> 00:21:10.312
the Jewish population from
the Palestinian population.

00:21:10.353 --> 00:21:13.398
(static and garbled voices on radio)

00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.609
- The people of this mixed Christian

00:21:14.650 --> 00:21:18.780
and Muslim town are united
in anger and frustration.

00:21:19.155 --> 00:21:21.199
- This city you can see

00:21:21.281 --> 00:21:24.660
the coexistence between the
Muslims and the Christian,

00:21:24.702 --> 00:21:26.621
and we all, uh,

00:21:26.662 --> 00:21:30.332
suffering the same of
the Israeli occupation.

00:21:30.373 --> 00:21:34.419
(muffled singing over expressive piano)

00:21:34.461 --> 00:21:35.797
(truck horn honking)

00:21:35.838 --> 00:21:40.009
(engine rumbling over expressive piano)

00:21:41.219 --> 00:21:43.054
Have you called for fuel?

00:21:43.095 --> 00:21:44.555
- The international Court of Justice,

00:21:44.597 --> 00:21:46.891
a non-binding decision in 2004,

00:21:46.933 --> 00:21:49.101
said the Israeli-built barrier
was illegal

00:21:49.143 --> 00:21:50.435
and should be taken down

00:21:50.477 --> 00:21:54.023
because it crossed into
occupied territory.

00:21:55.066 --> 00:21:57.568
-  The year my father
brought me to Palestine,

00:21:57.610 --> 00:21:59.529
it snowed in Bethlehem.

00:22:02.073 --> 00:22:04.784
He seemed to think the
snow was a blessing,

00:22:04.826 --> 00:22:07.620
like a sign he'd done the right thing.

00:22:07.662 --> 00:22:10.790
(flowing, expressive piano)

00:22:10.832 --> 00:22:14.001
He must have wanted me
to remember that journey

00:22:14.043 --> 00:22:18.172
because it was then that he
bought me my first movie camera.

00:22:19.841 --> 00:22:22.844
What survives of that
film we made together

00:22:22.885 --> 00:22:25.763
are the last few moments
before we set off

00:22:25.805 --> 00:22:28.808
on our road to his homeland.

00:22:28.850 --> 00:22:32.687
I was so excited then, I
was sure he was taking me

00:22:32.728 --> 00:22:35.648
to the most amazing place on the planet,

00:22:35.690 --> 00:22:38.441
the center of the universe.

00:22:38.483 --> 00:22:40.862
We were heading to Palestine

00:22:40.862 --> 00:22:43.781
to a little town called Bethlehem.

00:22:43.823 --> 00:22:47.409
(expressive piano)

00:22:47.450 --> 00:22:51.622
(machinery rumbling over
distant alarm buzzing)

00:22:55.585 --> 00:22:57.879
- Are you from the paper, television?

00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:58.754
-  Yeah.

00:22:58.796 --> 00:23:02.884
- Eh, you got permission to
film us, to film this area?

00:23:02.925 --> 00:23:05.970
- Eh, we were told it was OK
to film here, we just can't--

00:23:06.012 --> 00:23:07.555
- We have to see you passport.

00:23:07.597 --> 00:23:09.557
It's kind of a military area.

00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:10.892
(muffled radio chatter)

00:23:10.933 --> 00:23:11.767
Where are you from?

00:23:11.809 --> 00:23:12.602
-  London.

00:23:12.643 --> 00:23:14.436
- Are you Arabic, I want ID

00:23:14.477 --> 00:23:17.148
so I can see your, your really picture.

00:23:17.189 --> 00:23:19.734
-  I knew the building had
started on the outskirts,

00:23:19.775 --> 00:23:23.905
but now, it was in full
swing in the center of town.

00:23:24.404 --> 00:23:27.742
There was an army presence
at all the construction sites

00:23:27.783 --> 00:23:31.245
and we were stopped every time
we tried to point the camera.

00:23:31.287 --> 00:23:34.916
(heavy machinery rumbling)

00:23:36.876 --> 00:23:40.171
(ominous ambient music)

00:23:41.213 --> 00:23:44.424
(typewriter clacking)

00:23:51.015 --> 00:23:54.644
(stones clanging)

00:23:54.685 --> 00:23:58.856
(piercing high-pitched tone
over ominous ambient music)

00:24:02.026 --> 00:24:06.197
(typewriter clacking over
muffled traffic humming)

00:24:06.656 --> 00:24:10.326
(piercing high-pitched tone)

00:24:10.368 --> 00:24:11.869
(rock clangs)

00:24:11.911 --> 00:24:14.121
(fire whooshes)

00:24:14.163 --> 00:24:18.084
The light of Christ.

00:24:24.298 --> 00:24:27.259
There was turmoil all over Bethlehem

00:24:27.301 --> 00:24:29.720
even inside the churches.

00:24:29.762 --> 00:24:31.847
Christians were always
the first to leave

00:24:31.889 --> 00:24:33.849
when the going got tough.

00:24:33.891 --> 00:24:36.352
This time, they could be finished.

00:24:36.394 --> 00:24:40.606
(reverent chanting)

00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:46.278
Bethlehem had to act fast
for its own sake

00:24:46.320 --> 00:24:49.073
and the sake of all of Palestine.

00:24:50.825 --> 00:24:54.996
This city's name could spark
a campaign with global impact.

00:24:55.997 --> 00:24:58.124
Someone should do this, I thought,

00:24:58.165 --> 00:25:01.335
but then I knew what my
father would have said.

00:25:01.377 --> 00:25:03.921
Why someone else, why not you?

00:25:05.923 --> 00:25:10.052
(reverent singing)

00:25:28.195 --> 00:25:30.573
So this is how it all happened.

00:25:30.614 --> 00:25:34.118
By the end of Easter, my mind was set

00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.205
and Carol was quick to
embrace the new plan.

00:25:38.247 --> 00:25:40.166
We were going to do it together

00:25:40.207 --> 00:25:44.336
and the campaign already
had a name, Open Bethlehem.

00:25:46.130 --> 00:25:50.259
(reverent singing)

00:26:12.073 --> 00:26:15.701
(pleasant acoustic guitar)

00:26:18.496 --> 00:26:22.625
(chatter over rousing
acoustic rock music)

00:26:22.666 --> 00:26:23.834
Here.

00:26:23.876 --> 00:26:25.836
Could you sign, please?

00:26:27.713 --> 00:26:30.716
(children shouting)

00:26:32.093 --> 00:26:35.888
(rousing acoustic rock music)

00:26:37.681 --> 00:26:39.391
It took two months to recruit a board

00:26:39.433 --> 00:26:41.644
from the key institutions in Bethlehem

00:26:41.685 --> 00:26:44.230
and persuade my father's old university

00:26:44.271 --> 00:26:46.525
to give us office space.

00:26:46.607 --> 00:26:48.609
(sign clacking into place)

00:26:48.651 --> 00:26:53.114
(traffic humming over
rousing acoustic rock music)

00:26:53.114 --> 00:26:56.117
Our end game was to bring down the wall,

00:26:56.158 --> 00:26:57.701
but we also had to make sure

00:26:57.743 --> 00:27:00.121
that Bethlehem survived in the meantime.

00:27:00.162 --> 00:27:01.497
- OK, just right here?

00:27:01.540 --> 00:27:03.542
- Yes, just right there.

00:27:05.709 --> 00:27:09.088
(engine hissing over
rousing acoustic rock music)

00:27:09.130 --> 00:27:10.339
(water dripping)

00:27:10.381 --> 00:27:14.553
(pleasant and rousing
acoustic rock music)

00:27:15.427 --> 00:27:16.428
(traffic humming)

00:27:16.470 --> 00:27:18.931
The idea of this project is,

00:27:18.973 --> 00:27:21.392
on one hand, rebranding Palestine

00:27:21.433 --> 00:27:24.019
using Bethlehem as a
focal point of engagement,

00:27:24.061 --> 00:27:27.148
but on the other hand
promote and support

00:27:27.189 --> 00:27:29.733
the regeneration of Bethlehem.

00:27:31.152 --> 00:27:32.820
(rousing acoustic rock music)

00:27:32.862 --> 00:27:37.283
This is a great initiative
and I wish you all the success.

00:27:41.871 --> 00:27:44.498
(water hissing)

00:27:44.999 --> 00:27:47.918
Hey, can you put some air
into the tires?

00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:50.713
(water hissing)

00:27:50.754 --> 00:27:53.550
(group murmuring)

00:27:57.428 --> 00:28:01.516
There needs to be
an intimate relationship

00:28:01.558 --> 00:28:06.437
between Open Bethlehem
and the city council.

00:28:06.937 --> 00:28:08.814
Our plans were ambitious,

00:28:08.856 --> 00:28:12.193
which meant we had to
approach foreign donors.

00:28:12.193 --> 00:28:16.363
Palestine survives almost
entirely on international aid,

00:28:16.822 --> 00:28:18.365
but here's a problem.

00:28:18.407 --> 00:28:20.951
Aid money comes with conditions.

00:28:20.993 --> 00:28:23.913
You cannot be overtly political,

00:28:23.954 --> 00:28:27.791
so what were we supposed
to say we were doing?

00:28:31.003 --> 00:28:32.796
Cool!

00:28:33.297 --> 00:28:36.258
The Open Bethlehem tourism project!

00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:37.801
Things were moving fast.

00:28:37.843 --> 00:28:39.887
We had very little in our prospectus

00:28:39.929 --> 00:28:42.973
when the Swiss Development
Agency came on board

00:28:43.015 --> 00:28:45.100
with a grant of $160,000.

00:28:47.061 --> 00:28:50.898
Next thing I knew, I was the
boss of a tourism initiative.

00:28:50.940 --> 00:28:52.024
- We sign it.

00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:55.194
(clanging church bells)

00:28:55.570 --> 00:28:57.029
After Mass.

00:28:58.989 --> 00:29:00.157
-  The first thing I learned

00:29:00.199 --> 00:29:01.909
about the tourism industry

00:29:01.951 --> 00:29:05.746
is that Bethlehem almost
entirely relies on it.

00:29:05.788 --> 00:29:07.624
If Jesus was born in your town,

00:29:07.666 --> 00:29:10.793
believe me, you'd have no choice.

00:29:10.834 --> 00:29:13.254
More than 65 percent of the economy

00:29:13.254 --> 00:29:16.882
is all about that, but
the way things were,

00:29:17.676 --> 00:29:20.261
the city was getting
hardly any visitors.

00:29:20.302 --> 00:29:22.096
With Israel controlling access,

00:29:22.137 --> 00:29:26.267
it was only Israeli buses
that could bring in tourists.

00:29:26.308 --> 00:29:28.227
They came for an hour at a time,

00:29:28.269 --> 00:29:30.354
rushed around the Nativity Church,

00:29:30.396 --> 00:29:34.567
and left without even knowing
they'd set foot in Palestine.

00:29:35.694 --> 00:29:37.403
We needed to change that

00:29:37.444 --> 00:29:40.281
and make visitors stay
longer in Bethlehem.

00:29:40.322 --> 00:29:43.951
For this, we needed new attractions,

00:29:43.993 --> 00:29:46.287
like an evening at the Syriac Church,

00:29:46.287 --> 00:29:49.290
where mass is carried out in Aramaic,

00:29:49.331 --> 00:29:51.292
the language of Christ.

00:29:55.838 --> 00:29:57.464
You are the professor's daughter?

00:29:57.507 --> 00:29:59.133
Yes.

00:30:00.175 --> 00:30:02.177
And you are the famous Father Yacoub.

00:30:04.430 --> 00:30:05.557
Listen.

00:30:05.598 --> 00:30:08.183
Your father has a special place
in my heart.

00:30:08.225 --> 00:30:13.355
Everyone was very upset when he died.

00:30:14.524 --> 00:30:18.653
So when you said you were
Professor Sansour's daughter

00:30:20.070 --> 00:30:23.700
I was so happy that you
wanted to come and see me.

00:30:23.742 --> 00:30:27.244
And look at you, the little one.
You are already a bride.

00:30:27.286 --> 00:30:28.538
God bless you.

00:30:28.580 --> 00:30:29.455
Thank you.

00:30:29.496 --> 00:30:31.874
(bells clanging)

00:30:31.915 --> 00:30:33.959
Open the church and turn the lights on.

00:30:34.001 --> 00:30:36.713
(bells clanging)

00:30:39.089 --> 00:30:44.011
As Carol said,
we're keen to encourage people

00:30:44.053 --> 00:30:48.600
to stay in Bethlehem,
to experience the place.

00:30:48.641 --> 00:30:50.351
Go to Mass.

00:30:50.893 --> 00:30:53.479
We can bring them to Sunday Mass here.

00:30:54.606 --> 00:30:58.400
But we thought
it would be nice, if you agree

00:30:58.442 --> 00:31:01.945
so that people stay the night
in Bethlehem.

00:31:02.863 --> 00:31:06.325
Why don't we organize a night Mass

00:31:06.367 --> 00:31:09.203
once a month or every two weeks?

00:31:09.788 --> 00:31:10.954
Why not?

00:31:12.540 --> 00:31:15.250
You want us
to experiment, we'll experiment.

00:31:15.292 --> 00:31:17.670
(all laughing)

00:31:17.712 --> 00:31:19.213
We are open to ideas.

00:31:19.254 --> 00:31:21.716
You are all energy, Father.

00:31:21.758 --> 00:31:23.092
I am nuclear.

00:31:23.133 --> 00:31:24.927
(all laughing over
clanging church bells)

00:31:24.968 --> 00:31:29.139
(muffled chatter over
distant reverent singing)

00:31:31.810 --> 00:31:34.937
We can also take them
to Solomon's pools.

00:31:34.978 --> 00:31:38.817
Then, at night, they go
to a nightclub with shisha.

00:31:43.946 --> 00:31:46.616
(oil hissing)

00:31:46.658 --> 00:31:50.202
I'm preparing a program for Sally.

00:31:50.745 --> 00:31:54.415
She wants an itinerary
for Bethlehem without politics!

00:31:54.456 --> 00:31:57.544
Guys, could you get off my car, please?

00:31:57.585 --> 00:32:01.422
(group chattering and shouting)

00:32:06.803 --> 00:32:11.014
(group chattering over
distant reverent chanting)

00:32:12.266 --> 00:32:16.437
(muffled chatter over
clanging church bells)

00:32:24.821 --> 00:32:27.489
(water hissing)

00:32:29.241 --> 00:32:30.660
(car horn honking)

00:32:30.702 --> 00:32:34.873
(saws whirring over
muffled reverent chanting)

00:32:44.757 --> 00:32:47.510
(phone clacking)

00:32:48.678 --> 00:32:51.096
(dial tone buzzing)

00:32:51.138 --> 00:32:55.434
It's important to prepare
our own portfolio for hotels.

00:32:55.476 --> 00:32:59.522
That's super easy.

00:32:59.564 --> 00:33:03.735
(muffled radio chatter
over rumbling engine)

00:33:05.904 --> 00:33:09.908
Friends, we have a problem
because of the Amwas settlement.

00:33:09.990 --> 00:33:13.202
The land has been an olive farm

00:33:13.243 --> 00:33:15.788
for 25 years.

00:33:16.288 --> 00:33:22.127
In the last 5 years they
started expanding the settlement.

00:33:22.545 --> 00:33:25.840
One day the settlers came
and uprooted all the trees.

00:33:26.423 --> 00:33:29.009
Where are the international
human rights organizations?

00:33:29.051 --> 00:33:31.763
Why don't they follow our case?

00:33:32.346 --> 00:33:35.140
-  While our office sweated
over travel agendas,

00:33:35.182 --> 00:33:37.392
distress in town was growing

00:33:37.434 --> 00:33:41.230
as the wall destroyed
everything in its path.

00:33:41.271 --> 00:33:43.232
The mayor and the city council

00:33:43.273 --> 00:33:47.444
were holding constant meetings
for everyone affected.

00:33:48.613 --> 00:33:52.449
I am here on behalf of the residents
of the Rachel's Tomb neighborhood.

00:33:52.491 --> 00:33:55.494
The main entrance to Bethlehem.

00:33:55.537 --> 00:33:59.498
All of us have suffered great losses

00:33:59.541 --> 00:34:01.416
because of the wall.

00:34:01.458 --> 00:34:03.878
Many had to move out.

00:34:04.629 --> 00:34:07.464
If we are to endure

00:34:07.507 --> 00:34:09.299
the Palestinian Authority

00:34:09.341 --> 00:34:12.135
has to support us.

00:34:12.177 --> 00:34:18.433
We need both moral and material support.

00:34:24.524 --> 00:34:28.318
Our budget in the PA is 2 billion

00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:30.738
and 2 million dollars.

00:34:30.780 --> 00:34:35.577
This year foreign aid
delivered less than 30%

00:34:35.577 --> 00:34:39.789
of their pledge towards this budget.

00:34:41.248 --> 00:34:46.629
I don't want to raise your hopes
just to have them dashed in the future.

00:34:47.922 --> 00:34:50.299
Amid all the chaos that was Bethlehem,

00:34:50.340 --> 00:34:53.845
it felt unreal that we
were focused on tourism.

00:34:53.886 --> 00:34:56.764
I was getting cold feet
before we even started,

00:34:56.806 --> 00:34:59.474
but our work was already
creating a buzz.

00:34:59.517 --> 00:35:01.393
Hello, Jeremy?

00:35:01.435 --> 00:35:02.227
Hi, I'm Leila.

00:35:02.269 --> 00:35:04.939
A travel journalist writing
for the Times in London

00:35:04.981 --> 00:35:07.482
had just arrived wanting to know more

00:35:07.525 --> 00:35:09.819
about our new package tours.

00:35:10.820 --> 00:35:12.530
How are you finding the hotel?

00:35:12.572 --> 00:35:15.449
-  Oh the room's very good, mm.

00:35:15.490 --> 00:35:16.743
-  Morning.
- Hi.

00:35:16.784 --> 00:35:19.244
- Hi, I'm Carol, hi, Jeremy.

00:35:19.286 --> 00:35:20.038
-  Nice to meet you, Carol.

00:35:20.120 --> 00:35:20.997
-  How are things?

00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:21.831
-  Good, yeah.

00:35:21.873 --> 00:35:23.875
-  Jeremy's pleased with
his new and final itinerary.

00:35:23.916 --> 00:35:24.751
-  Ah, are you?

00:35:24.792 --> 00:35:26.376
- Final itinerary looks pretty good.

00:35:26.418 --> 00:35:27.670
-  That's good!

00:35:27.712 --> 00:35:28.630
-  And our quite like the idea

00:35:28.671 --> 00:35:30.213
of doing classic desert experiences,

00:35:30.255 --> 00:35:31.883
so it's really good fun.

00:35:31.924 --> 00:35:33.676
- Jeremy, this is Elie, your guide.

00:35:33.718 --> 00:35:35.177
- Hi, Elie, it's nice to meet you.

00:35:35.218 --> 00:35:39.222
(pleasant and breathy woodwinds)

00:35:39.264 --> 00:35:41.684
- And you can see,
you can walk in these...

00:35:41.726 --> 00:35:45.897
(pleasant breathy woodwinds
drowns out dialog)

00:35:47.023 --> 00:35:50.150
(muffled chatter)

00:35:50.192 --> 00:35:52.654
The whole city of Bethlehem,
you don't see it anymore,

00:35:52.654 --> 00:35:55.031
because it's under the houses that are

00:35:55.073 --> 00:35:58.325
in the vicinity of the
church on the eastern side.

00:35:58.367 --> 00:36:01.453
Now, this is the most
central part of the city.

00:36:01.495 --> 00:36:04.373
Christmastime we have all
the celebrations here done,

00:36:04.414 --> 00:36:05.625
and as you see, Bethlehem's lucky

00:36:05.667 --> 00:36:09.461
because we celebrate Christmas
at least three times a year.

00:36:09.504 --> 00:36:12.048
(laughs) I mean, in a row,
because we have, first,

00:36:12.090 --> 00:36:13.298
the Christmas for the Catholics,

00:36:13.340 --> 00:36:15.510
then we have Christmas
for the Greek Orthodox,

00:36:15.551 --> 00:36:16.636
and then we have the third one,

00:36:16.678 --> 00:36:19.346
the Christmas for the Armenians.

00:36:21.557 --> 00:36:24.769
What we see here is
something very important.

00:36:24.811 --> 00:36:28.981
(breathy woodwinds over
rhythmic percussion)

00:36:29.816 --> 00:36:31.526
So we are here in the,

00:36:31.567 --> 00:36:34.696
the most important
shrine for Christianity.

00:36:34.737 --> 00:36:37.865
It is at least 1500 years old.

00:36:37.907 --> 00:36:41.661
It, it's a miracle it has survived.

00:36:41.703 --> 00:36:45.832
(dramatic and reverent orchestral music)

00:37:02.014 --> 00:37:05.017
So this is mainly the site
where a lot of pilgrims come.

00:37:05.059 --> 00:37:09.271
(dramatic and reverent orchestral music)

00:37:10.815 --> 00:37:14.777
Jesus was born here,
indicated by the star.

00:37:14.819 --> 00:37:16.319
When it was time for them to sleep,

00:37:16.361 --> 00:37:18.781
there was no place for that family here,

00:37:18.823 --> 00:37:20.240
so they moved inside,

00:37:20.282 --> 00:37:24.286
and Jesus was put in the
manger, just behind there.

00:37:24.327 --> 00:37:27.874
(droning orchestral music)

00:37:29.876 --> 00:37:30.710
(camera snapping)

00:37:30.752 --> 00:37:34.337
(droning orchestral music)

00:37:38.467 --> 00:37:40.720
Everybody wants to come to Bethlehem.

00:37:40.762 --> 00:37:43.055
It's actually a blessing for this town.

00:37:43.097 --> 00:37:45.933
(muffled chatter)

00:37:48.393 --> 00:37:50.104
-  I was keen to hurry back
to the office,

00:37:50.146 --> 00:37:52.690
but Jeremy wanted to stay for the mass.

00:37:52.732 --> 00:37:55.777
(reverent singing)

00:37:55.777 --> 00:37:57.528
If you're a Christian from Bethlehem,

00:37:57.570 --> 00:37:59.989
there are things you take for granted.

00:38:00.031 --> 00:38:02.533
I failed to guess how curious he'd be

00:38:02.575 --> 00:38:05.578
to see the oldest Christian
community at Sunday prayer.

00:38:05.620 --> 00:38:09.791
(reverent singing from congregation)

00:38:20.718 --> 00:38:22.970
It was the people of
Bethlehem who first started

00:38:23.012 --> 00:38:26.516
lighting sacred fires inside the cave.

00:38:26.557 --> 00:38:29.811
This is how later followers
as well as historians

00:38:29.852 --> 00:38:32.479
were able to identify the site.

00:38:34.982 --> 00:38:37.735
-  There, the Assyrians,
they have they're--

00:38:37.777 --> 00:38:39.153
(melodic reverent chanting
drowns out dialog)

00:38:39.195 --> 00:38:42.949
(melodic, reverent chanting)

00:38:56.419 --> 00:38:59.215
(muffled chatter)

00:39:04.386 --> 00:39:07.056
(ice rattling in glass)

00:39:07.098 --> 00:39:09.183
-  What was your
expectations of Bethlehem?

00:39:09.225 --> 00:39:11.351
How did you find it?

00:39:11.393 --> 00:39:13.395
- The thing that is
just so totally striking

00:39:13.436 --> 00:39:16.065
is you get off a plane at the airport.

00:39:16.107 --> 00:39:19.861
It's all very normal, you get in a taxi.

00:39:19.902 --> 00:39:22.113
You drive for 45 minutes,

00:39:22.154 --> 00:39:23.906
and it's just like any other country.

00:39:23.948 --> 00:39:24.782
- Yeah.

00:39:24.824 --> 00:39:27.827
- And then suddenly, you hit the wall,

00:39:27.869 --> 00:39:30.705
this incredibly physical obstacle.

00:39:31.956 --> 00:39:32.790
- Yes.

00:39:32.832 --> 00:39:36.878
- And it's completely
and utterly mind-blowing.

00:39:36.878 --> 00:39:38.546
It's remarkable.

00:39:38.588 --> 00:39:42.216
- So what does it make
for a traveler you think?

00:39:42.258 --> 00:39:44.927
- I think it just, it,
it makes it very clear

00:39:44.969 --> 00:39:46.804
that there is segregation here

00:39:46.846 --> 00:39:49.765
in a way that's immensely extreme,

00:39:49.807 --> 00:39:52.685
uh, and it's quite shocking.

00:39:52.727 --> 00:39:54.520
I think you have a big
challenge ahead of you.

00:39:54.562 --> 00:39:56.564
I don't think it's
going to be at all easy.

00:39:56.606 --> 00:39:57.940
It's a journey you're
going to have to take

00:39:57.982 --> 00:40:00.568
in incremental steps,
bit by bit, you know?

00:40:00.610 --> 00:40:04.780
(engine rumbling over
rhythmic tabla percussion)

00:40:12.622 --> 00:40:14.999
-  The desert trip was going smoothly

00:40:15.041 --> 00:40:17.417
apart from our failure
to anticipate the heat.

00:40:17.459 --> 00:40:19.128
Leila, fox!

00:40:19.170 --> 00:40:20.338
Film it, quick!

00:40:20.420 --> 00:40:23.591
We were multitasking, too,
as I was capturing everything

00:40:23.633 --> 00:40:25.425
for our promotional travel film.

00:40:25.467 --> 00:40:31.473
Hanna, film everything.
Take shots of the monks.

00:40:31.515 --> 00:40:32.767
Where do you see monks?

00:40:32.808 --> 00:40:34.101
There, I just saw one.

00:40:37.104 --> 00:40:39.815
This time, we could do
without double talk.

00:40:39.857 --> 00:40:41.233
Jeremy was well-traveled,

00:40:41.275 --> 00:40:43.027
so he grasped the situation at once.

00:40:43.069 --> 00:40:44.362
- (sighs) Let's go!

00:40:44.444 --> 00:40:46.155
-  But then what?

00:40:46.197 --> 00:40:48.532
Without an urgent political solution,

00:40:48.574 --> 00:40:51.744
all this will soon be off-limits.

00:40:51.786 --> 00:40:55.247
There will be nothing
left to show of Bethlehem

00:40:55.289 --> 00:40:56.874
I couldn't help thinking,

00:40:56.916 --> 00:41:00.002
and the desert was
helping to clear my mind.

00:41:00.044 --> 00:41:04.131
And suddenly, in the land
of Biblical revelations,

00:41:04.173 --> 00:41:06.092
I got my epiphany.

00:41:06.133 --> 00:41:08.886
(bird chirping over
hopeful orchestral music)

00:41:08.928 --> 00:41:12.765
What if we took a risk and
used all our meager resources

00:41:12.807 --> 00:41:15.142
for a big, international launch

00:41:15.184 --> 00:41:18.354
to put the problems of
Bethlehem in front of the world?

00:41:18.396 --> 00:41:20.856
- Here you are, Open Bethlehem.

00:41:20.898 --> 00:41:22.733
-  We would need a symbol,

00:41:22.775 --> 00:41:26.904
and I had one ready:
a Bethlehem passport,

00:41:26.946 --> 00:41:30.282
a symbolic citizenship
open to all who wished

00:41:30.324 --> 00:41:32.702
to help us save this city

00:41:32.743 --> 00:41:35.579
and the message that stands behind it,

00:41:35.621 --> 00:41:37.623
joy and goodwill to all.

00:41:38.666 --> 00:41:42.837
(computer whirring over
rhythmic orchestral music)

00:41:45.381 --> 00:41:46.340
I read her plans.

00:41:46.382 --> 00:41:48.259
- It would be staffed with five, six.

00:41:48.300 --> 00:41:50.594
(group chattering)

00:41:50.636 --> 00:41:54.056
Ready, full-time, yeah, to carry this.

00:41:54.098 --> 00:41:58.185
When I read this I blew my top.

00:41:59.937 --> 00:42:01.564
I think that Leila

00:42:01.605 --> 00:42:04.150
wants things to go faster.

00:42:05.151 --> 00:42:09.655
My main concern is the date.

00:42:10.197 --> 00:42:12.324
The launch is too soon.

00:42:13.034 --> 00:42:14.744
And the Swiss...

00:42:14.785 --> 00:42:15.995
will they agree?

00:42:16.037 --> 00:42:19.957
(door creaking over humming traffic)

00:42:19.999 --> 00:42:21.709
-  There was hesitation at first,

00:42:21.751 --> 00:42:25.171
but the team soon came
around to my way of thinking,

00:42:25.212 --> 00:42:28.799
and the Swiss accepted at a push.

00:42:28.841 --> 00:42:30.926
The arrival of The Guardian newspaper

00:42:30.968 --> 00:42:33.971
marked the beginning
of our new strategy.

00:42:34.013 --> 00:42:36.932
The itinerary was very different.

00:42:36.974 --> 00:42:39.685
We were heading straight
to the frontline,

00:42:39.727 --> 00:42:41.604
a beleaguered neighborhood that stood

00:42:41.645 --> 00:42:43.981
at the entrance to Bethlehem.

00:42:44.023 --> 00:42:47.568
(heavy machinery chugging)

00:43:06.962 --> 00:43:10.800
- The whole situation started
with the second Intifada.

00:43:10.841 --> 00:43:13.010
We were really affected so much, I mean,

00:43:13.052 --> 00:43:14.303
by the shooting of the Israelis

00:43:14.345 --> 00:43:16.680
because behind us, I mean,
we had this military camp

00:43:16.722 --> 00:43:19.642
and they occupied, of
course, this building here,

00:43:19.683 --> 00:43:22.978
and now, in front of us,
they start building the wall.

00:43:23.020 --> 00:43:24.897
If somebody comes close to the wall,

00:43:24.939 --> 00:43:25.815
they start shooting.

00:43:25.856 --> 00:43:27.650
If somebody cross even, I mean,

00:43:27.691 --> 00:43:31.320
to the unfinished area,
they start shooting.

00:43:32.321 --> 00:43:33.239
-  That's a bullet hole?

00:43:33.280 --> 00:43:34.115
-  Yeah.

00:43:34.115 --> 00:43:36.408
- Yep, that's a bullet, actually.

00:43:36.450 --> 00:43:40.704
There is another one here,
you can see it.

00:43:40.746 --> 00:43:42.123
See, the two holes.

00:43:42.123 --> 00:43:44.125
-  Was there any compensation or, uh--

00:43:44.125 --> 00:43:45.793
-  Compensation from whom?

00:43:45.835 --> 00:43:47.920
Who's going to compensate you?

00:43:47.962 --> 00:43:48.796
Nobody.

00:43:50.047 --> 00:43:52.509
(siren chirping)

00:43:52.551 --> 00:43:54.135
- And you can sense, I mean,
it's really what's happening

00:43:54.176 --> 00:43:55.886
is it's, they're carving around it.

00:43:55.928 --> 00:43:57.221
-  Yeah, they're going to be

00:43:57.263 --> 00:44:00.808
pretty much surrounded from
three directions by the wall.

00:44:00.850 --> 00:44:02.768
-  Right.

00:44:02.810 --> 00:44:03.686
(police horn buzzing)

00:44:03.727 --> 00:44:06.397
(alarm beeping)

00:44:06.438 --> 00:44:08.440
-  Rachel's Tomb was one of Bethlehem's

00:44:08.482 --> 00:44:12.111
affluent neighborhoods,
situated in the vicinity

00:44:12.153 --> 00:44:15.990
of an ancient shrine
erected on the burial site

00:44:16.031 --> 00:44:18.242
of the Biblical matriarch Rachel,

00:44:18.284 --> 00:44:20.161
who died on her way to Bethlehem

00:44:20.161 --> 00:44:23.205
as she gave birth to Benjamin.

00:44:23.247 --> 00:44:24.707
Throughout the ages,

00:44:24.748 --> 00:44:27.835
the site fascinated
pilgrims and painters

00:44:27.877 --> 00:44:32.047
and had been venerated by
Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

00:44:32.423 --> 00:44:36.260
But it was the third
holiest site in Judaism,

00:44:36.302 --> 00:44:39.430
so Israel got busy changing
the face of the tomb

00:44:39.471 --> 00:44:42.725
the moment it laid hands on it in 1967.

00:44:45.019 --> 00:44:47.730
By 2001, the shrine was encased

00:44:47.771 --> 00:44:50.316
inside a fortified construction

00:44:50.357 --> 00:44:53.777
and locals were banned from entering.

00:44:53.819 --> 00:44:56.238
Rachel's legacy had become the property

00:44:56.280 --> 00:44:58.282
of Jewish pilgrims alone,

00:44:58.324 --> 00:45:01.952
and only Israeli buses had access.

00:45:01.994 --> 00:45:05.206
Now, the familiar white
dome was just about visible

00:45:05.206 --> 00:45:07.542
from behind mounds of concrete,

00:45:07.584 --> 00:45:09.835
and with the wall, Israel's plan

00:45:09.877 --> 00:45:14.006
was to cut the tomb off
to Bethlehem altogether.

00:45:14.423 --> 00:45:17.218
On a map, it would look like this.

00:45:17.218 --> 00:45:20.971
This is the neighborhood,
this is the tomb.

00:45:21.013 --> 00:45:23.766
The wall was supposed to
skirt around the edges

00:45:23.807 --> 00:45:26.561
of the residential part of the area

00:45:26.603 --> 00:45:29.648
and form a corridor that
would dig even deeper

00:45:29.730 --> 00:45:33.901
into the city to carve out the
site and annex it to Israel.

00:45:35.069 --> 00:45:37.154
People like Bassem and Claire

00:45:37.196 --> 00:45:39.865
were unfortunate to live nearby,

00:45:39.907 --> 00:45:41.492
but they had to be grateful.

00:45:41.534 --> 00:45:44.954
They would be able
to remain in Bethlehem.

00:45:44.995 --> 00:45:47.248
Others had it even worse.

00:45:47.289 --> 00:45:49.542
An old-time shopkeeper called Khalil

00:45:49.584 --> 00:45:52.753
found himself on the
wrong side of the wall.

00:45:52.795 --> 00:45:54.673
His shop stood here,

00:45:54.755 --> 00:45:58.467
inside the southern-most
tip of the corridor.

00:45:58.510 --> 00:46:00.427
When the construction is complete,

00:46:00.469 --> 00:46:04.265
Khalil will lose his
business because neither he

00:46:04.265 --> 00:46:06.100
nor anyone else in Bethlehem

00:46:06.141 --> 00:46:09.353
would be able to set foot in this spot.

00:46:14.900 --> 00:46:20.447
This piece of land belongs to me. They took
it and chucked me behind the wall.

00:46:20.990 --> 00:46:22.950
- They took all this recently?
- Yes, recently.

00:46:22.992 --> 00:46:28.540
The diggers and trucks came
and no one asked me anything.

00:46:28.581 --> 00:46:30.332
I see.

00:46:30.374 --> 00:46:33.002
They did it very fast?

00:46:33.043 --> 00:46:36.046
One month and it was all done.

00:46:37.089 --> 00:46:39.341
How long have you owned this shop?

00:46:39.383 --> 00:46:41.051
40 years.

00:46:42.011 --> 00:46:45.180
I started a court case

00:46:45.222 --> 00:46:48.225
to stop the wall taking both my shops.

00:46:49.143 --> 00:46:51.395
The court said
it's for security reasons.

00:46:51.437 --> 00:46:53.230
It's the army's business.

00:46:53.272 --> 00:46:55.357
"Security"...

00:46:55.399 --> 00:46:58.528
they've swallowed the
whole universe with this one word.

00:46:59.903 --> 00:47:03.157
This was the entrance to Bethlehem,

00:47:03.198 --> 00:47:05.744
the best spot in the world, all ruined.

00:47:05.826 --> 00:47:08.287
- This is the best spot in the world?
- Yes.

00:47:08.329 --> 00:47:13.042
In the past, tourists and workers
all came here.

00:47:13.083 --> 00:47:18.380
I swear I was the king of Bethlehem.

00:47:19.173 --> 00:47:21.342
Now I am just a poor beggar.

00:47:21.342 --> 00:47:24.386
What happened to me, Leila,
is unspeakable.

00:47:25.722 --> 00:47:28.390
This was worth millions,
now it's nothing.

00:47:29.642 --> 00:47:33.145
They can't wait for me to close.

00:47:33.187 --> 00:47:35.856
On Sundays I'm here
straight after church.

00:47:36.357 --> 00:47:38.942
I swear, Leila, I am staying here
until I die.

00:47:38.984 --> 00:47:40.361
They say forget it.

00:47:40.402 --> 00:47:46.492
How does one forget
the work of a lifetime?

00:47:46.534 --> 00:47:51.205
How do I forget?
I have toiled here for 40 years.

00:47:53.248 --> 00:47:55.501
I am only human.

00:48:11.684 --> 00:48:15.062
(muffled radio chatter)

00:48:17.565 --> 00:48:19.609
For all the tragedy it was causing,

00:48:19.651 --> 00:48:23.278
Israel's only response was
that the wall was needed

00:48:23.320 --> 00:48:26.448
for the security of its own citizens,

00:48:26.490 --> 00:48:30.411
but why not build it then
on Israel's own borders,

00:48:30.411 --> 00:48:31.788
and how safe was it

00:48:31.830 --> 00:48:35.416
to provoke such rage
among one's neighbors?

00:48:35.457 --> 00:48:39.546
(dogs barking over
expressive orchestral music)

00:48:39.587 --> 00:48:43.758
(expressive strings over
ominous ambient music)

00:48:46.969 --> 00:48:49.848
It didn't take long before
the road to Jerusalem

00:48:49.930 --> 00:48:51.808
was sealed permanently,

00:48:51.850 --> 00:48:55.603
severing the last link
between the two twin cities.

00:48:55.645 --> 00:48:59.607
No one could believe it and
emotions were running high.

00:48:59.649 --> 00:49:03.820
(breathy woodwinds over
expressive orchestral music)

00:49:04.779 --> 00:49:07.364
From now on, the people of Bethlehem

00:49:07.406 --> 00:49:09.992
would need military permits
to pay a visit

00:49:10.033 --> 00:49:12.369
to their family on the other side,

00:49:12.411 --> 00:49:15.038
see their doctor, or go to work.

00:49:15.080 --> 00:49:17.876
(crowd murmuring)

00:49:19.669 --> 00:49:24.047
Those who continued
protesting risked arrest.

00:49:24.089 --> 00:49:26.216
40 percent of Palestinian men

00:49:26.258 --> 00:49:30.262
have been to jail for political reasons.

00:49:30.304 --> 00:49:33.558
If you're arrested, you are blacklisted.

00:49:33.600 --> 00:49:37.812
If you are blacklisted, you
might never get a permit again,

00:49:37.854 --> 00:49:40.481
so in time, you become resigned

00:49:40.481 --> 00:49:43.818
to the fact that you are now a prisoner.

00:49:45.653 --> 00:49:49.657
(melodic and reverent chanting)

00:50:35.452 --> 00:50:37.539
We knew we were racing
against the clock,

00:50:37.539 --> 00:50:40.207
mainly because of the
changes on the ground,

00:50:40.249 --> 00:50:41.793
but also because the launch

00:50:41.834 --> 00:50:44.504
was now less than two months away.

00:50:44.546 --> 00:50:47.966
The idea of the passport
had become a firm focus.

00:50:48.048 --> 00:50:50.718
Soon, we were going to
be presenting our plans

00:50:50.760 --> 00:50:53.555
to the key local institutions.

00:50:53.555 --> 00:50:54.806
We wanted to launch the campaign

00:50:54.847 --> 00:50:56.933
in both London and Washington,

00:50:56.975 --> 00:51:01.186
with the mayor of Bethlehem
declaring his city open.

00:51:01.646 --> 00:51:04.983
We were also seeking backing
from the Bethlehem governor.

00:51:05.065 --> 00:51:08.318
I have informed the President.

00:51:08.360 --> 00:51:13.198
He is happy with the idea
of the Bethlehem passport.

00:51:13.240 --> 00:51:16.536
This project is not just a Bethlehem
project. It's a Palestine project.

00:51:16.953 --> 00:51:20.873
You will soon have the official
letter from the President.

00:51:20.915 --> 00:51:23.668
Then you can issue it

00:51:24.501 --> 00:51:27.254
as you choose.

00:51:28.171 --> 00:51:32.594
I'm here if you need anything

00:51:32.594 --> 00:51:34.804
and I wish you luck.

00:51:35.680 --> 00:51:39.726
Now, look at the top, where
you see the city and the wall.

00:51:39.767 --> 00:51:43.312
We would like to add one
or two more blocks of the wall.

00:51:43.353 --> 00:51:44.856
With the governor's firm endorsement,

00:51:44.897 --> 00:51:46.941
the stage was all set.

00:51:46.983 --> 00:51:49.944
Now, everything had to
function like clockwork.

00:51:49.986 --> 00:51:52.655
Speed and quality on a tight budget

00:51:52.697 --> 00:51:55.240
while keeping everyone
in a small town happy

00:51:55.282 --> 00:51:59.286
was a juggling act
and it took real skill.

00:51:59.328 --> 00:52:01.204
At least the printers were cheerful.

00:52:01.246 --> 00:52:03.290
We certainly kept them busy.

00:52:03.332 --> 00:52:05.417
The stories of Bethlehem were enough

00:52:05.459 --> 00:52:08.838
to produce reading
matter to fill a museum.

00:52:08.880 --> 00:52:13.051
(rhythmic, quietly tense
orchestral music)

00:52:25.437 --> 00:52:27.774
I don't know how we
managed to pull it all off,

00:52:27.815 --> 00:52:32.277
but we did and we were
about to hit the big stage.

00:52:32.319 --> 00:52:34.781
(Carol gasps)

00:52:34.822 --> 00:52:37.909
- I have a surprise!
- Surprise!

00:52:39.744 --> 00:52:42.496
They are mind-blowing.

00:52:42.538 --> 00:52:44.414
Really cool!

00:52:44.456 --> 00:52:45.792
They did a great job.

00:52:45.833 --> 00:52:49.587
- The passports were
ready, too, only just.

00:52:49.629 --> 00:52:51.589
I was leaving for London
the following day.

00:52:51.631 --> 00:52:54.926
Let's see how high they would reach.

00:52:55.677 --> 00:52:57.887
You'll be in trouble
if they open your suitcase.

00:52:57.929 --> 00:53:00.556
Then just flash
your Palestinian passport.

00:53:00.598 --> 00:53:02.432
Why, what does it say?

00:53:05.103 --> 00:53:07.522
This document
is of the highest eminence.

00:53:07.563 --> 00:53:10.108
(group laughs)

00:53:14.987 --> 00:53:19.449
We ask that you allow the bearer
to pass without delay or hindrance

00:53:19.491 --> 00:53:22.870
and if need be offer assistance
and protection.

00:53:22.912 --> 00:53:23.705
(group laughs)

00:53:23.746 --> 00:53:27.457
Maybe we should have settled for
"don't beat them up."

00:53:27.834 --> 00:53:31.211
Here is my passport.
That one is truly eminent.

00:53:31.253 --> 00:53:32.839
That's your American passport.

00:53:34.090 --> 00:53:36.134
This one is the eminentiest of all.

00:53:36.216 --> 00:53:39.721
- The Secretary of State of
the United States of America,

00:53:39.762 --> 00:53:41.471
Not just anyone.

00:53:41.973 --> 00:53:46.226
hereby requests all whom
it may concern to permit--

00:53:46.268 --> 00:53:48.062
-  It was good to laugh for now.

00:53:48.104 --> 00:53:51.107
Next week, I'd need to outdo myself.

00:53:52.024 --> 00:53:56.486
The West, it promises a lot,
but would people there act

00:53:56.529 --> 00:53:59.741
on the ideals they say they believe in?

00:54:01.491 --> 00:54:05.245
So what does the Bethlehem passport say?

00:54:06.748 --> 00:54:10.126
In that the bearer of this
passport is a citizen of Bethlehem,

00:54:10.168 --> 00:54:11.043
(tense ambient music)

00:54:11.085 --> 00:54:15.006
that they recognize this ancient city

00:54:15.047 --> 00:54:18.801
provides a light to the world

00:54:18.843 --> 00:54:24.056
and to all those who believe in
the values of a just and open society.

00:54:26.517 --> 00:54:30.688
(airplane roaring over swell
of dramatic orchestral music)

00:54:32.690 --> 00:54:36.359
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:54:37.820 --> 00:54:40.740
(group chattering)

00:54:44.786 --> 00:54:48.915
- Ladies and gentlemen, my
name is Victor Batarseh,

00:54:49.414 --> 00:54:53.586
and I represent the most
famous small town in the world.

00:54:55.797 --> 00:54:57.632
The town is Bethlehem.

00:54:58.758 --> 00:55:02.220
I was invited here to speak on a subject

00:55:02.302 --> 00:55:05.347
of international importance.

00:55:05.388 --> 00:55:08.935
My city is in a state of emergency.

00:55:08.976 --> 00:55:11.311
We cannot be confident
that it will survive

00:55:11.353 --> 00:55:14.524
as a Palestinian city of
Christians and Muslims

00:55:14.565 --> 00:55:16.651
within even a generation.

00:55:18.318 --> 00:55:20.613
We are a bastion of multi-faith,

00:55:20.655 --> 00:55:23.699
multi-party politics of the Middle East.

00:55:23.741 --> 00:55:26.661
If Bethlehem dies, one
of the brightest hopes

00:55:26.702 --> 00:55:30.164
for a democratic Middle East
dies with it.

00:55:31.082 --> 00:55:35.211
- If Bethlehem were lost, the
consequences would be grave,

00:55:35.253 --> 00:55:37.880
feeding the ground
for sectarian conflicts

00:55:37.922 --> 00:55:41.424
across the world for centuries to come.

00:55:41.466 --> 00:55:45.930
It is in all our interests to
keep not only our city alive,

00:55:45.972 --> 00:55:49.851
but also the aspirations
that stand behind it.

00:55:49.892 --> 00:55:52.937
Through Open Bethlehem,
we are inviting people

00:55:52.979 --> 00:55:55.397
to bring new energy to our city.

00:55:55.438 --> 00:55:59.694
With your help, we can see
Bethlehem open against all odds.

00:55:59.735 --> 00:56:03.739
I would like to end by a
quote from my passport.

00:56:05.157 --> 00:56:07.034
In that the bearer of this passport

00:56:07.076 --> 00:56:09.537
is a citizen of Bethlehem,

00:56:09.579 --> 00:56:12.206
that they recognize this ancient city

00:56:12.248 --> 00:56:14.792
provides light to the world,

00:56:14.834 --> 00:56:17.253
and to all people who uphold the values

00:56:17.295 --> 00:56:19.589
of a just and open society,

00:56:20.840 --> 00:56:23.301
and they will remain a
true friend to Bethlehem

00:56:23.383 --> 00:56:25.887
through its imprisonment
and that they will strive

00:56:25.928 --> 00:56:28.139
to keep the ideals of Bethlehem alive

00:56:28.180 --> 00:56:30.266
as long as the wall stands,

00:56:30.308 --> 00:56:32.560
we ask you to respect the
bearer of this passport

00:56:32.602 --> 00:56:34.103
and to let them pass freely.

00:56:34.145 --> 00:56:38.316
(group applauds over bright
and hopeful choral music)

00:56:44.280 --> 00:56:46.406
-  Ladies and gentlemen,
we will announce today

00:56:46.448 --> 00:56:48.826
the launch of Open Bethlehem,

00:56:48.868 --> 00:56:51.203
a campaign to save the city that lives

00:56:51.245 --> 00:56:54.790
in the hearts of millions
around the world.

00:56:54.832 --> 00:56:58.336
- On a day like today,
the Berlin Wall fell.

00:56:58.418 --> 00:57:02.256
One day, the wall around
Bethlehem will also fall.

00:57:02.298 --> 00:57:04.258
By celebrating life with us,

00:57:04.300 --> 00:57:07.887
you can help us bring
make this day possible.

00:57:07.929 --> 00:57:09.972
(camera snapping over
pleasant choral music)

00:57:10.014 --> 00:57:13.851
After a presentation at
Parliament, almost 100 MPs

00:57:13.893 --> 00:57:18.022
called for urgent government
engagement with Bethlehem.

00:57:18.564 --> 00:57:20.900
We visited the Archbishop of Canterbury,

00:57:20.942 --> 00:57:24.528
and went on to do the rounds
of churches,

00:57:24.570 --> 00:57:27.782
receiving a warm welcome everywhere.

00:57:27.823 --> 00:57:29.158
- You're Leila, Austen Ivereigh.

00:57:29.200 --> 00:57:30.492
- Nice to meet you.

00:57:30.534 --> 00:57:32.536
This is the Mayor of Bethlehem.

00:57:32.578 --> 00:57:33.329
-  Very good to meet you.

00:57:33.371 --> 00:57:34.580
- Nice to meet you.

00:57:34.622 --> 00:57:38.793
You cannot have peace
building walls of separation.

00:57:39.210 --> 00:57:43.381
The only peace you can have
is by building confidence

00:57:43.965 --> 00:57:46.968
in the people of the region.

00:57:47.009 --> 00:57:50.221
- And we've gotta join in
and change the atmosphere

00:57:50.262 --> 00:57:52.640
to such a degree that
governments will change,

00:57:52.682 --> 00:57:54.934
and history does it endlessly.

00:57:54.976 --> 00:57:59.105
(group chattering over
pleasant choral music)

00:58:02.900 --> 00:58:04.193
-  But this, you've done well.

00:58:04.235 --> 00:58:05.027
- Mm, thank you.

00:58:05.069 --> 00:58:08.698
- People are talking about it, at last!

00:58:08.739 --> 00:58:12.660
-  It was great to feel that
our strategy worked out.

00:58:12.702 --> 00:58:15.287
There was massive
interest from politicians,

00:58:15.329 --> 00:58:17.999
from church leaders, and from the press.

00:58:17.999 --> 00:58:21.919
Even our efforts with
tourism did not go to waste.

00:58:21.961 --> 00:58:24.922
Everyone we invited to
Bethlehem was writing and saying

00:58:24.964 --> 00:58:28.259
the same thing, the wall must come down.

00:58:31.345 --> 00:58:34.056
The passport was a hit, too.

00:58:34.098 --> 00:58:36.267
As Bethlehem prepared for Christmas,

00:58:36.308 --> 00:58:38.310
the one time of the year the city feels

00:58:38.352 --> 00:58:41.856
it stands a chance
to send out an appeal,

00:58:41.897 --> 00:58:45.901
Carol was busy preparing
the first passport.

00:58:45.943 --> 00:58:49.238
By order of the president,
this one was supposed to go

00:58:49.280 --> 00:58:51.574
to His Holiness, the Pope.

00:58:51.615 --> 00:58:53.367
He's doing this in every photo.

00:58:53.409 --> 00:58:56.620
It only needed a little bit
of ingenuity.

00:58:56.662 --> 00:58:59.165
Our appeal was now lodged permanently

00:58:59.206 --> 00:59:01.375
in the Vatican Archive.

00:59:01.417 --> 00:59:02.209
(stamper clacking)

00:59:02.251 --> 00:59:06.380
(rousing trumpet rendition
of "Deck the Halls")

00:59:06.422 --> 00:59:07.965
-  World travel agents,

00:59:08.007 --> 00:59:10.009
right now people in these countries,

00:59:10.051 --> 00:59:12.720
in England, in Australia, Argentina.

00:59:12.762 --> 00:59:17.224
(muffled chatter over trumpet
rendition of "Deck the Halls")

00:59:17.266 --> 00:59:18.726
-  The story of Bethlehem

00:59:18.768 --> 00:59:21.312
began more than 4000 years ago

00:59:21.353 --> 00:59:24.690
on a fertile hill bordering the desert.

00:59:24.732 --> 00:59:28.194
So modest, so small,
no one thought its fame

00:59:28.235 --> 00:59:31.405
would one day reach all
corners of the world.

00:59:31.447 --> 00:59:32.948
- Thomas Cook, the man who led

00:59:32.990 --> 00:59:36.452
the first package tour
to Bethlehem, once said,

00:59:36.494 --> 00:59:39.747
"To travel is to dispel
the myths of fable

00:59:39.789 --> 00:59:42.625
and clear the mind of prejudice."

00:59:44.376 --> 00:59:46.420
By the time I hit the travel market,

00:59:46.462 --> 00:59:49.673
I was a convert to his way of thinking.

00:59:49.715 --> 00:59:51.717
If only we could make people visit,

00:59:51.759 --> 00:59:54.804
they will find out the
truth for themselves.

00:59:54.845 --> 00:59:56.597
We feel that visitors and tourists

00:59:56.639 --> 00:59:59.518
who comes to visit Bethlehem
are really short-changed.

00:59:59.600 --> 01:00:01.352
They really miss the
beauty of the most historic

01:00:01.393 --> 01:00:04.480
and valuable and colorful
places in Bethlehem.

01:00:04.523 --> 01:00:06.023
- And what's at stake
here, because it seems

01:00:06.065 --> 01:00:08.776
to be very important for
the future of Bethlehem?

01:00:08.818 --> 01:00:11.112
- Yes, Bethlehem is one
of the very few places

01:00:11.112 --> 01:00:13.948
that still retains a lot
of Biblical features,

01:00:13.989 --> 01:00:16.283
and if only we can
preserve the communities

01:00:16.325 --> 01:00:18.869
that have held
these traditions together,

01:00:18.911 --> 01:00:21.956
then we can stay there
and I think visiting that

01:00:21.997 --> 01:00:24.500
and opening it to the world
is a very, very important step

01:00:24.543 --> 01:00:26.877
for us as Bethlehemites,
to stay in Bethlehem,

01:00:26.919 --> 01:00:29.964
they would enjoy it and make
the world enjoy it as well.

01:00:30.005 --> 01:00:34.093
Joy to the world, the Lord is come

01:00:34.135 --> 01:00:38.013
Let Earth receive her king

01:00:38.055 --> 01:00:42.184
Let every heart prepare him room

01:00:42.893 --> 01:00:45.229
And heaven and nature sing

01:00:45.271 --> 01:00:47.773
And heaven and nature sing

01:00:47.815 --> 01:00:51.986
And heaven and heaven and nature sing

01:00:54.488 --> 01:00:58.659
(joyous trumpet over choral
rendition of "Joy to the World")

01:00:59.451 --> 01:01:01.203
- I believe that the idea

01:01:01.245 --> 01:01:04.039
behind Open Bethlehem is very needed.

01:01:04.081 --> 01:01:06.792
This issue, which is of
great consequence to us,

01:01:06.834 --> 01:01:10.171
should be the concern also of
the international community.

01:01:10.171 --> 01:01:13.924
As a Palestinian former
diplomatic representative

01:01:13.966 --> 01:01:16.760
to the Holy Sea, as a Christian,

01:01:16.802 --> 01:01:18.721
a proud Christian from the Holy Land,

01:01:18.762 --> 01:01:21.015
this project for me means a lot,

01:01:21.056 --> 01:01:24.393
so I hope the world will
hear our cry for freedom.

01:01:24.435 --> 01:01:26.687
But let me tell you, even
in the bleakest of moments,

01:01:26.729 --> 01:01:30.107
I was confident that
Palestine will resurrect,

01:01:30.149 --> 01:01:32.193
and as you know, we have
had some previous experience

01:01:32.193 --> 01:01:34.069
in resurrection.
(scattered laughter)

01:01:34.111 --> 01:01:36.197
Leila, the floor is yours.

01:01:37.198 --> 01:01:42.119
Bethlehem is a city that lives
in the hearts of many people.

01:01:43.329 --> 01:01:46.332
We hope Bethlehem could
be a voice for Palestine.

01:01:46.373 --> 01:01:50.085
We want people to know
our city is imprisoned

01:01:50.127 --> 01:01:52.796
like all other Palestinian cities.

01:01:52.838 --> 01:01:57.009
We are offering an honorary citizenship

01:01:57.718 --> 01:02:02.473
to everyone who wants
to help us save our city.

01:02:02.932 --> 01:02:06.227
(haunting choral music)

01:02:08.395 --> 01:02:10.022
-  This is Peter Bourne in Washington,

01:02:10.064 --> 01:02:12.233
and I'm with the Open Bethlehem Project,

01:02:12.233 --> 01:02:14.401
and I wanna just call to get the details

01:02:14.443 --> 01:02:17.488
of that meeting in the Senate on Monday.

01:02:17.530 --> 01:02:20.908
(haunting choral music)

01:02:33.087 --> 01:02:35.047
(group offering greetings
to one another)

01:02:35.089 --> 01:02:36.966
- Good to see you,
this is Leila Sansour.

01:02:37.007 --> 01:02:38.425
Thank you very much.
- Good to meet you, Leila.

01:02:38.467 --> 01:02:40.010
- What you need is our support,

01:02:40.052 --> 01:02:43.264
and I can actually promise that to you.

01:02:43.264 --> 01:02:46.559
I commit myself to be
able to help you in this.

01:02:46.601 --> 01:02:49.019
That is why you came here,
so you got what you wanted.

01:02:49.061 --> 01:02:52.524
- Yes, well, we didn't know
that it was gonna be so easy!

01:02:52.565 --> 01:02:55.610
(haunting choral music)

01:02:55.652 --> 01:02:58.404
It's true, I came all the way,

01:02:58.445 --> 01:03:02.449
at least as far
as I could push this time,

01:03:02.491 --> 01:03:04.243
but there was still a long way to go

01:03:04.285 --> 01:03:06.120
to get what we wanted.

01:03:08.080 --> 01:03:12.209
Inside this white building
hid the key to our future,

01:03:12.627 --> 01:03:15.796
and I didn't yet have the password.

01:03:15.838 --> 01:03:19.800
Our dreams had to wait, we
would need to work harder

01:03:19.842 --> 01:03:23.387
at becoming more
important, more palatable.

01:03:24.430 --> 01:03:27.433
(Santa shouting over dinging bell)

01:03:27.474 --> 01:03:31.312
(group clapping and laughing)

01:03:31.312 --> 01:03:34.315
Nadim, were you well-behaved?

01:03:34.315 --> 01:03:35.190
Yeah.

01:03:35.232 --> 01:03:36.609
- You always listen?
- Yes.

01:03:36.651 --> 01:03:38.319
You listen to Mommy?

01:03:38.319 --> 01:03:40.112
Not always.

01:03:40.154 --> 01:03:41.155
Well, honesty is good too.

01:03:41.196 --> 01:03:43.907
(group chattering and laughing)

01:03:43.949 --> 01:03:45.909
Whatever we achieved from the launch,

01:03:45.951 --> 01:03:48.621
I already had a small personal victory,

01:03:48.663 --> 01:03:52.291
as among the first visitors to
Bethlehem was my own family,

01:03:52.333 --> 01:03:56.462
who flew from all over for
a big Christmas celebration.

01:03:56.920 --> 01:04:01.091
(group chattering over
bright marching band music)

01:04:07.348 --> 01:04:11.519
(pleasant and bright
marching band music)

01:04:18.484 --> 01:04:21.904
(children shouting)

01:04:21.945 --> 01:04:23.782
(traffic humming)

01:04:23.864 --> 01:04:25.449
My second Christmas in Bethlehem

01:04:25.491 --> 01:04:28.035
started on a high note for me.

01:04:28.077 --> 01:04:30.120
I felt everything was possible

01:04:30.162 --> 01:04:33.499
and Bethlehem seemed to echo my mood.

01:04:33.541 --> 01:04:37.712
It was the most joyous the
city had been for years.

01:04:38.212 --> 01:04:40.381
The patriarch drove from Jerusalem

01:04:40.422 --> 01:04:43.175
in the traditional Christmas parade

01:04:43.217 --> 01:04:46.638
just like others would have
done hundreds of years ago,

01:04:46.679 --> 01:04:50.474
when pilgrims flooded to
Bethlehem, crowding the streets

01:04:50.517 --> 01:04:54.061
and mixing with nations
from far and near.

01:04:56.939 --> 01:04:59.149
They came from all corners of the globe,

01:04:59.191 --> 01:05:01.318
on horseback and on foot,

01:05:01.360 --> 01:05:04.614
braving the most dangerous
routes of the ancient world

01:05:04.656 --> 01:05:07.617
to reach the humblest of dwellings,

01:05:07.659 --> 01:05:09.828
a small town on a hill.

01:05:09.910 --> 01:05:12.121
(expressive piano)

01:05:12.162 --> 01:05:14.248
They did not travel for gain.

01:05:14.289 --> 01:05:17.794
Each one had a prayer,
but inside the cave,

01:05:17.836 --> 01:05:21.171
when you kneel where millions
have done so before you,

01:05:21.213 --> 01:05:25.384
you realize that mankind's
aspirations are always one.

01:05:26.468 --> 01:05:29.263
(group chanting)

01:05:30.180 --> 01:05:33.434
It was the people of
this town, my ancestors,

01:05:33.475 --> 01:05:35.562
that kept this place alive

01:05:35.603 --> 01:05:38.439
and brought everyone together in peace,

01:05:38.439 --> 01:05:40.482
yet it is the people of this town

01:05:40.525 --> 01:05:44.654
that always had to fight the
hardest for peace of their own.

01:05:45.279 --> 01:05:48.616
The most sacred
is also the most coveted.

01:05:51.410 --> 01:05:55.497
This is why the Crusaders
turned up in full force.

01:05:55.540 --> 01:05:59.711
They came from miles away
thinking they could own the place.

01:06:00.461 --> 01:06:04.632
Baldwin, their first king, was
crowned here, in this church.

01:06:06.467 --> 01:06:08.343
Then came the Ottomans.

01:06:08.385 --> 01:06:10.847
They made Bethlehem
off-limits to the West

01:06:10.889 --> 01:06:14.016
and ruled Palestine for centuries.

01:06:14.057 --> 01:06:17.060
They vanished, too,
leaving us with little

01:06:17.102 --> 01:06:19.354
but a taste for fancy architecture

01:06:19.396 --> 01:06:22.316
and a few added dishes to the menu.

01:06:23.693 --> 01:06:25.570
The British were next.

01:06:25.612 --> 01:06:29.406
Allenby captured Bethlehem
in December, 1917.

01:06:30.783 --> 01:06:33.786
His victory was described at the time

01:06:33.828 --> 01:06:37.624
as a Christmas present
for the British people.

01:06:37.665 --> 01:06:40.752
Then, overnight, they were also gone.

01:06:43.630 --> 01:06:47.299
Many swept through this
place just like the nomads

01:06:47.341 --> 01:06:50.219
who were attracted by the
markets and the green hills

01:06:50.260 --> 01:06:54.389
of a town poised at
the edge of the desert.

01:06:54.431 --> 01:06:57.519
We learned to make room for everyone.

01:06:57.519 --> 01:07:00.187
We learned to keep the city open.

01:07:00.229 --> 01:07:04.233
(melodic and reverent chanting)

01:07:07.904 --> 01:07:10.823
(reverent singing)

01:07:13.826 --> 01:07:16.579
- The visit by the UK church leaders,

01:07:16.621 --> 01:07:18.581
which is happening today,

01:07:18.623 --> 01:07:21.416
is intended to wake the people up

01:07:22.710 --> 01:07:26.923
to what is happening in
Bethlehem, and I think the message

01:07:26.965 --> 01:07:30.467
that they will be giving
today by their presence

01:07:30.510 --> 01:07:34.346
is that Bethlehem should
be open to the world.

01:07:35.974 --> 01:07:37.307
When I was working for the cardinal

01:07:37.349 --> 01:07:40.352
and Leila came to see me
with the mayor of Bethlehem,

01:07:40.394 --> 01:07:42.187
I realized and the cardinal realized

01:07:42.229 --> 01:07:45.650
that, uh, he needed to
also to add his voice

01:07:45.692 --> 01:07:48.318
to those who just simply tell the story,

01:07:48.360 --> 01:07:51.906
because the people need to
start taking responsibility

01:07:51.948 --> 01:07:53.825
for what is happening in Bethlehem

01:07:53.866 --> 01:07:56.451
to come and claim their citizenship,

01:07:56.493 --> 01:07:58.161
which is why, I think,

01:07:58.203 --> 01:08:01.708
the symbol of the
passport is very powerful.

01:08:01.749 --> 01:08:04.919
(reverent singing)

01:08:04.961 --> 01:08:07.880
- We want to highlight
the Bethlehemite identity

01:08:07.922 --> 01:08:10.967
and the Palestinian identity
of the place.

01:08:11.009 --> 01:08:13.553
-  The interest generated by our launch

01:08:13.595 --> 01:08:14.929
was simply overwhelming.

01:08:14.971 --> 01:08:17.180
And look at people whose houses
end up on the wrong side.

01:08:17.222 --> 01:08:19.474
We were inundated with
requests from people

01:08:19.517 --> 01:08:21.519
who wanted to become citizens,

01:08:21.561 --> 01:08:23.021
as well as from delegations

01:08:23.103 --> 01:08:25.523
who wanted us to run fact-finding tours

01:08:25.565 --> 01:08:28.400
so that they can learn
about the situation.

01:08:28.442 --> 01:08:30.945
The Bethlehem area is
strategically very important

01:08:30.987 --> 01:08:33.615
for Israel because of its
proximity to Jerusalem

01:08:33.656 --> 01:08:36.408
plus it sits upon some
of the most valuable

01:08:36.450 --> 01:08:38.285
water resources of the region.

01:08:38.327 --> 01:08:39.746
- So on behalf of the board,

01:08:39.787 --> 01:08:42.582
I would like to welcome all of you--

01:08:42.624 --> 01:08:44.584
- We tried to cater for dignitaries,

01:08:44.626 --> 01:08:46.919
for students, for the press,

01:08:46.961 --> 01:08:48.963
for everyone who cared to listen.

01:08:49.005 --> 01:08:51.716
When this wall was announced,
it was supposed to close

01:08:51.758 --> 01:08:54.761
all the main entrances
to all these buildings

01:08:54.802 --> 01:08:55.928
and houses you see.

01:08:55.970 --> 01:08:57.513
- It's very striking to me
that you choose

01:08:57.555 --> 01:09:00.140
to meet with a group of Jewish-Americans

01:09:00.182 --> 01:09:02.060
given that, what you
showed us about the wall,

01:09:02.142 --> 01:09:04.646
it'd be very easy to demonize Israel,

01:09:04.646 --> 01:09:08.024
Israelis, Jews altogheter,
so I'm very struck

01:09:08.066 --> 01:09:11.986
by your choice to proactively
meet Jewish groups.

01:09:12.028 --> 01:09:14.739
- I always believe that we will be able

01:09:14.781 --> 01:09:17.909
to see the true values
that we all share.

01:09:17.950 --> 01:09:19.827
There was simply no time to think.

01:09:19.869 --> 01:09:21.621
I was busy running the campaign

01:09:21.663 --> 01:09:23.831
and busy being part of Bethlehem.

01:09:23.873 --> 01:09:25.917
(church bells clanging
over pleasant woodwinds)

01:09:25.958 --> 01:09:28.251
I was drying my own Mulukhiah leaves,

01:09:28.293 --> 01:09:31.547
making jam from the
apricots in the garden,

01:09:31.589 --> 01:09:34.299
and for the first time
since my school years,

01:09:34.341 --> 01:09:36.552
taking part in the olive harvest.

01:09:36.594 --> 01:09:38.763
(muffled chatter over
pleasant, breathy woodwinds)

01:09:38.805 --> 01:09:42.349
There were cracks opening
slowly in the operation,

01:09:42.391 --> 01:09:43.768
but I was choosing to believe

01:09:43.810 --> 01:09:47.522
that we were strong
enough to overcome them.

01:09:48.564 --> 01:09:51.693
Or maybe I was choosing not to notice.

01:09:51.734 --> 01:09:54.862
The magic of Bethlehem was so enduring,

01:09:54.904 --> 01:09:58.908
it continued all the way
up to my third Christmas

01:09:58.950 --> 01:10:03.121
when we could no longer
postpone addressing the issues.

01:10:03.705 --> 01:10:07.499
(muffled chatter from crowd)

01:10:10.837 --> 01:10:13.965
It was a whole year after our launch,

01:10:14.006 --> 01:10:16.216
and despite the success we had,

01:10:16.258 --> 01:10:19.971
there was no money coming
into the operation.

01:10:21.139 --> 01:10:24.600
We were all chipping in
from personal resources.

01:10:24.642 --> 01:10:26.644
Mine had long dried out.

01:10:27.645 --> 01:10:30.898
The political nature of our
work had become so obvious,

01:10:30.940 --> 01:10:34.694
we no longer disguised it
when we spoke to donors.

01:10:34.736 --> 01:10:37.113
The Swiss, like all the others,

01:10:37.155 --> 01:10:40.950
nodded, saw our problem,
and then disappeared.

01:10:40.992 --> 01:10:43.161
I haven't prepared
an agenda for the meeting

01:10:43.243 --> 01:10:45.037
but here is a suggestion.

01:10:45.495 --> 01:10:48.331
Can we dedicate today
to talk about funding?

01:10:48.791 --> 01:10:52.837
I was thinking
of the Bethlehem Association.

01:10:52.879 --> 01:10:55.131
Maybe they can help.

01:10:55.173 --> 01:10:58.258
Running after Bethlehemites for funding

01:10:58.300 --> 01:11:00.970
will be a problem, I think.

01:11:03.430 --> 01:11:06.017
So any ideas?

01:11:06.058 --> 01:11:08.936
So we had no money and
no way of getting it

01:11:08.978 --> 01:11:12.190
to continue building on our success.

01:11:12.272 --> 01:11:16.068
Donors were out, our
friends were depleted,

01:11:16.110 --> 01:11:18.154
and I proved inept at asking.

01:11:18.196 --> 01:11:21.281
(engine sputtering)

01:11:21.323 --> 01:11:24.284
The devastating task now
was finding ways

01:11:24.326 --> 01:11:26.829
of descaling the operation.

01:11:26.871 --> 01:11:28.623
(Leila sighs)

01:11:28.664 --> 01:11:30.373
(ignition sputtering)

01:11:30.415 --> 01:11:34.545
Less than a year ago, the
White House felt within reach.

01:11:35.630 --> 01:11:38.883
Now, I could barely get anything moving.

01:11:38.925 --> 01:11:40.885
(engine rumbling)

01:11:40.927 --> 01:11:42.720
What's wrong with it?

01:11:42.762 --> 01:11:45.388
There's a blockage

01:11:45.430 --> 01:11:47.432
and a hole.

01:11:47.474 --> 01:11:50.435
I need a BBQ skewer.

01:11:50.477 --> 01:11:53.523
(screwdriver thudding)

01:11:53.564 --> 01:11:55.024
You see.

01:11:55.066 --> 01:11:58.027
It is completely solid inside.

01:12:01.072 --> 01:12:03.616
This car must to be dear to you.

01:12:03.658 --> 01:12:05.827
Even my car was giving up on me.

01:12:05.868 --> 01:12:08.495
After 30 years of braving steep hills,

01:12:08.538 --> 01:12:12.708
it seemed to demand retirement
just when I needed it to fly.

01:12:13.209 --> 01:12:17.420
(group shouting over ringing bells)

01:12:28.348 --> 01:12:32.645
My husband Nicholas had long
stopped being able to stay.

01:12:32.687 --> 01:12:34.354
He would come for brief visits

01:12:34.396 --> 01:12:36.858
and only on special occasions.

01:12:36.858 --> 01:12:38.276
He felt sorry for me,

01:12:38.358 --> 01:12:42.071
but there was very little
he could do to help.

01:12:42.113 --> 01:12:46.242
But that was not all, Carol
was weighing her options

01:12:46.284 --> 01:12:48.870
and, for the first time
that I could remember,

01:12:48.870 --> 01:12:50.580
leaving the town

01:12:50.621 --> 01:12:53.624
was one of the possible
choices on the table.

01:12:53.666 --> 01:12:57.837
(Carol sobs over
expressive piano and bells)

01:12:58.378 --> 01:12:59.421
(Carol gasps)

01:12:59.462 --> 01:13:03.634
(expressive rendition of
"O Little Town of Bethlehem")

01:13:06.262 --> 01:13:11.601
We were all against our
parents selling this house.

01:13:11.642 --> 01:13:18.691
So at least I made sure
this didn't happen.

01:13:21.944 --> 01:13:23.029
I think we are an emotional family.

01:13:23.070 --> 01:13:26.699
(group laughing nervously)

01:13:29.702 --> 01:13:33.623
(expressive rendition of
"O Little Town of Bethlehem")

01:13:33.664 --> 01:13:36.042
That was a miserable year.

01:13:36.083 --> 01:13:38.920
We spent most of our time
discussing debts

01:13:38.961 --> 01:13:42.590
and filling applications,
while the Israeli Army

01:13:42.632 --> 01:13:44.759
continued to hunt down activists

01:13:44.800 --> 01:13:46.802
accused of stirring up violence.

01:13:46.844 --> 01:13:49.513
(muffled shouting)

01:13:49.555 --> 01:13:51.849
(muffled gunfire)

01:13:51.891 --> 01:13:54.143
Last time it happened,
they destroyed the building

01:13:54.185 --> 01:13:58.189
across the street from me
just to fish out this one man.

01:13:58.230 --> 01:14:00.566
(muffled machinery rumbling)

01:14:00.608 --> 01:14:04.195
Whether the accusations were
true or not, we never knew.

01:14:04.236 --> 01:14:06.488
We just saw people being taken away

01:14:06.530 --> 01:14:08.824
or even killed in the streets,

01:14:08.866 --> 01:14:12.703
assassinated while the sound
of settlement constructions

01:14:12.745 --> 01:14:16.207
echoed even more loudly
across the valleys

01:14:16.248 --> 01:14:19.543
and a new generation
was waking up to life,

01:14:19.585 --> 01:14:23.589
unable to imagine what Bethlehem
was like before the war.

01:14:23.631 --> 01:14:27.259
(reverent chanting)

01:14:27.301 --> 01:14:29.762
Father Yacoub fell sick

01:14:29.804 --> 01:14:33.182
before we managed to stage
our first evening mass,

01:14:33.224 --> 01:14:36.936
and Khalil, the shopkeeper
of Rachel's Tomb

01:14:36.978 --> 01:14:39.647
who once felt he was
the king of Bethlehem,

01:14:39.689 --> 01:14:42.608
had died shortly after his fate

01:14:42.650 --> 01:14:46.696
was sealed with a gate that
took away all that he owned.

01:14:46.737 --> 01:14:49.532
(muffled shouting over
piercing high-pitched tone)

01:14:49.573 --> 01:14:51.909
There were riots and anger, of course,

01:14:51.951 --> 01:14:55.204
when Rachel's Tomb ceased
to be part of Bethlehem,

01:14:55.246 --> 01:14:57.999
but it was obvious who
would prevail in the end.

01:14:58.040 --> 01:15:00.626
(gunshots cracking)

01:15:00.668 --> 01:15:03.129
Khalil's wife was now on her own

01:15:03.170 --> 01:15:04.922
in the battle to gain access.

01:15:04.964 --> 01:15:09.093
(piercing high-pitched
tone over expressive piano)

01:15:10.094 --> 01:15:14.181
Claire's home was hemmed
in by a box of concrete.

01:15:17.518 --> 01:15:18.936
And her neighborhood,

01:15:18.978 --> 01:15:22.023
the celebrated site of
the Biblical matriarch,

01:15:22.023 --> 01:15:25.860
looked like a construction
dump from the book of horrors.

01:15:25.901 --> 01:15:29.739
(expressive orchestral music)

01:15:31.323 --> 01:15:33.993
My plan to stay
only one year in Bethlehem

01:15:34.035 --> 01:15:36.078
was a total flop.

01:15:36.120 --> 01:15:39.915
This was my fourth, and
what have we achieved?

01:15:39.957 --> 01:15:40.791
Nothing.

01:15:42.293 --> 01:15:46.464
I came to help, but now,
it was I who needed saving.

01:15:49.884 --> 01:15:54.055
I thought I'd been
smart, but what did I do?

01:15:54.055 --> 01:15:57.808
I foolishly jumped aboard
a fast-sinking ship.

01:15:57.850 --> 01:16:00.686
(chairs rattling)

01:16:02.813 --> 01:16:05.441
Maybe no one can save Bethlehem,

01:16:05.483 --> 01:16:07.068
not me, not anyone.

01:16:10.488 --> 01:16:12.490
Many famous cities have vanished,

01:16:12.573 --> 01:16:16.827
leaving behind only a
memory of happier times,

01:16:16.869 --> 01:16:20.915
a fading promise of what
they could have been.

01:16:20.956 --> 01:16:23.667
(birds chirping over
muffled children shouting)

01:16:23.709 --> 01:16:25.628
There will be songs of lament,

01:16:25.669 --> 01:16:28.172
but then the world will move on,

01:16:28.214 --> 01:16:32.134
and it's your own tragedy
if you cannot let go.

01:16:33.886 --> 01:16:38.057
(flowing, dramatic piano
over expressive strings)

01:17:17.847 --> 01:17:20.683
(engine rumbling)

01:17:21.892 --> 01:17:26.147
Viven, Carol's sister,
was the first to leave.

01:17:26.147 --> 01:17:29.066
Bethlehem united us for a few years.

01:17:29.108 --> 01:17:31.819
Now, we had to admit
that we were fortunate

01:17:31.861 --> 01:17:35.823
to even have that.
(women sobbing)

01:17:35.865 --> 01:17:38.742
Bethlehem offered no one any prospects.

01:17:38.784 --> 01:17:42.955
(women sobbing over expressive piano)

01:17:47.835 --> 01:17:52.006
(bell ringing over expressive piano)

01:17:57.720 --> 01:17:59.972
(car whooshing)

01:18:00.014 --> 01:18:02.933
(expressive piano)

01:18:05.269 --> 01:18:09.440
Carol soon followed, her child
was about to start school,

01:18:10.567 --> 01:18:13.110
so she took the hard decision.

01:18:14.613 --> 01:18:18.908
It all happened so fast,
it didn't feel real.

01:18:18.949 --> 01:18:23.120
(expressive piano over somber strings)

01:18:23.829 --> 01:18:27.542
(melodic, reverent chanting)

01:18:43.642 --> 01:18:46.393
(bells clanging)

01:18:50.231 --> 01:18:54.360
(melodic, reverent singing)

01:19:04.495 --> 01:19:07.373
When my father died,
the whole town came out

01:19:07.414 --> 01:19:09.917
to walk in his funeral.

01:19:09.959 --> 01:19:13.212
That was a day I shall always remember.

01:19:15.381 --> 01:19:18.092
I didn't understand it all then.

01:19:19.134 --> 01:19:21.428
I had to learn the hard way.

01:19:23.598 --> 01:19:27.519
The battle for freedom
starts with romance,

01:19:27.560 --> 01:19:30.396
but that doesn't last long.

01:19:30.437 --> 01:19:32.815
Soon, what stares back at you

01:19:32.856 --> 01:19:35.859
is a world that's gritty and bitter.

01:19:36.695 --> 01:19:40.906
The star my father followed is
one that burdens your heart.

01:19:41.658 --> 01:19:45.786
Joy and goodwill to all is a heavy dream.

01:19:45.828 --> 01:19:49.498
At its heart, there is
no place for dreamers.

01:19:51.125 --> 01:19:55.254
(crowd murmuring and chanting
over clacking staffs)

01:20:37.672 --> 01:20:41.050
(church bells clanging)

01:20:45.054 --> 01:20:47.766
(rain pattering)

01:20:56.106 --> 01:21:00.277
(phone beeping over pattering rain)

01:21:03.197 --> 01:21:06.283
(phone line buzzing)

01:21:12.414 --> 01:21:13.957
(pattering rain)

01:21:13.999 --> 01:21:15.543
Mama.

01:21:15.585 --> 01:21:17.378
Leila, hi.

01:21:18.921 --> 01:21:20.381
Happy New Year.

01:21:20.381 --> 01:21:22.717
Happy New Year to you too, darling.

01:21:22.759 --> 01:21:24.343
How did you spend it?

01:21:24.385 --> 01:21:27.971
With your Aunt Tanya,

01:21:28.430 --> 01:21:30.182
her husband...

01:21:30.224 --> 01:21:32.976
and Nikolai.

01:21:33.477 --> 01:21:36.689
We all had champagne
and went to Red Square.

01:21:36.731 --> 01:21:39.609
There were so many people there.

01:21:39.651 --> 01:21:43.028
It was incredible.

01:21:44.113 --> 01:21:46.658
So how is it there?

01:21:46.699 --> 01:21:50.369
How is the house?
It hasn't collapsed yet?

01:21:50.411 --> 01:21:52.079
No, it is fine.

01:21:52.121 --> 01:21:55.249
It is still standing.

01:21:55.290 --> 01:21:57.084
That is good.

01:21:57.126 --> 01:21:58.085
Leila.

01:21:59.044 --> 01:22:02.464
What are you doing
in that godforsaken place?

01:22:02.507 --> 01:22:05.510
Everybody left and you're still there.

01:22:05.968 --> 01:22:07.637
Think about your future.

01:22:07.679 --> 01:22:09.054
(phone line crackling)

01:22:09.096 --> 01:22:11.056
I am thinking.

01:22:12.349 --> 01:22:15.269
(thunder rumbling)

01:22:36.290 --> 01:22:39.042
(rain pattering)

01:22:40.587 --> 01:22:44.131
(ethereal tinkling bells)

01:22:49.637 --> 01:22:53.808
That winter, my fifth Christmas,
it snowed in Bethlehem.

01:22:55.768 --> 01:22:58.897
The snow lay thick on
top of all the rooftops,

01:22:58.979 --> 01:23:01.858
on top of the oldest church in the world,

01:23:01.900 --> 01:23:04.819
on top of the streets of Bethlehem.

01:23:05.778 --> 01:23:09.657
Only my father could summon such a storm.

01:23:09.699 --> 01:23:12.993
This is how I knew the snow was for me.

01:23:14.579 --> 01:23:18.875
I thought about it all,
and decided to stay.

01:23:18.917 --> 01:23:23.420
I was going to start
everything all over again.

01:23:23.462 --> 01:23:27.382
There is no turning back
when your heart is seized

01:23:27.424 --> 01:23:29.384
by the star of Bethlehem.

01:23:29.426 --> 01:23:31.513
(expressive piano)

01:23:31.513 --> 01:23:35.224
Shine on, shine on

01:23:35.265 --> 01:23:38.520
My star of Bethlehem

01:23:39.729 --> 01:23:43.900
You shine the brightest light of all

01:23:46.819 --> 01:23:51.073
Queen of the stars you are

01:23:51.114 --> 01:23:54.702
My star of Bethlehem

01:23:54.744 --> 01:23:58.288
You brought me all

01:23:58.330 --> 01:24:01.333
The way back home

01:24:02.376 --> 01:24:05.755
Queen of all stars you are

01:24:05.797 --> 01:24:09.049
My star of Bethlehem

01:24:09.091 --> 01:24:12.427
You brought me all

01:24:12.469 --> 01:24:15.932
The way back home

01:24:15.974 --> 01:24:18.726
(dramatic piano)

01:24:21.103 --> 01:24:24.983
(flowing and expressive piano)

01:24:27.109 --> 01:24:28.778
-  And yet, from Bethlehem today,

01:24:28.820 --> 01:24:30.822
which knows no peace,

01:24:30.863 --> 01:24:34.283
a message of hope still
rings out across the world.

01:24:34.324 --> 01:24:38.161
Behold I bring you good
tidings of great joy

01:24:38.203 --> 01:24:40.540
that shall be to all people.

01:24:41.666 --> 01:24:44.752
- Remember, the gates and
the walls that we go through,

01:24:44.794 --> 01:24:46.336
we have the ability to pass.

01:24:46.378 --> 01:24:48.923
Other people don't, tear down those gates.

01:24:48.965 --> 01:24:52.594
Tear down those walls, make
clear the path of the Lord.

01:24:52.594 --> 01:24:55.680
- It is a great privilege to be given

01:24:56.806 --> 01:24:58.891
a passport that says I am

01:25:01.435 --> 01:25:03.353
a citizen of Bethlehem.

01:25:06.356 --> 01:25:08.818
- I think that, uh, receiving a passport

01:25:08.860 --> 01:25:10.903
is, of course, it's a great honor,

01:25:10.945 --> 01:25:13.113
but it's also a great responsibility now,

01:25:13.155 --> 01:25:15.240
and this campaign has really inspired us

01:25:15.282 --> 01:25:17.242
to do the little that we could do

01:25:17.284 --> 01:25:19.411
for the people who live in Bethlehem.

01:25:19.453 --> 01:25:23.123
- I was so particularly
touched by the idea

01:25:23.165 --> 01:25:25.459
of a passport for Bethlehem.

01:25:25.500 --> 01:25:29.631
I just felt that I could
not possibly walk away.

01:25:30.172 --> 01:25:31.381
- I'm so thrilled to be

01:25:31.423 --> 01:25:34.052
the first Jewish person to
receive a Bethlehem passport.

01:25:34.134 --> 01:25:35.427
(bells jingling)

01:25:35.469 --> 01:25:36.386
- All over the world,

01:25:36.428 --> 01:25:39.139
people sing the name Bethlehem.

01:25:39.181 --> 01:25:41.224
It's what gives meaning to Christmas,

01:25:41.266 --> 01:25:43.770
so we're trying to save a city that stands

01:25:43.811 --> 01:25:47.356
for humanity's most sacred aspirations.

01:25:47.397 --> 01:25:49.567
This is truly momentous.

01:25:49.609 --> 01:25:53.278
(flowing, expressive piano)

01:25:57.407 --> 01:25:58.951
- For Bethlehem to survive,

01:25:58.993 --> 01:26:02.664
Palestinians need to get their rights.

01:26:02.664 --> 01:26:05.750
From east and west

01:26:07.292 --> 01:26:10.713
They come to seek your light

01:26:10.755 --> 01:26:13.633
In every tongue

01:26:14.592 --> 01:26:17.720
They sing your name

01:26:19.221 --> 01:26:22.016
And every heart

01:26:23.350 --> 01:26:27.522
That fought for freedom

01:26:27.563 --> 01:26:30.650
Will shine forever

01:26:31.567 --> 01:26:34.654
Through your flame

01:26:35.822 --> 01:26:38.700
And every heart

01:26:39.951 --> 01:26:43.495
That fought for freedom

01:26:44.413 --> 01:26:47.416
Will live forever

01:26:48.375 --> 01:26:51.921
Through your flame

01:26:51.963 --> 01:26:54.381
- We want to take the
film and the campaign

01:26:54.423 --> 01:26:56.843
to the United States and stay there

01:26:56.884 --> 01:26:58.761
until we've knocked at every door.

01:26:58.803 --> 01:27:02.682
In an ideal world, uh,
my dream is to create

01:27:02.724 --> 01:27:05.893
a million ambassadors for Bethlehem.

01:27:05.935 --> 01:27:08.980
Shine on, shine on

01:27:10.313 --> 01:27:13.568
My star of Bethlehem

01:27:14.569 --> 01:27:17.655
Queen of all times

01:27:18.823 --> 01:27:21.617
Of new and old

01:27:22.660 --> 01:27:25.495
So when you see

01:27:27.165 --> 01:27:30.500
The star of Bethlehem

01:27:31.627 --> 01:27:35.338
Don't fear, don't wait

01:27:35.380 --> 01:27:38.467
Just take the road

01:27:39.761 --> 01:27:42.638
So when you see

01:27:44.015 --> 01:27:47.392
The star of Bethlehem

01:27:48.561 --> 01:27:51.939
Don't fear, don't wait

01:27:53.649 --> 01:27:57.319
Just take the road

01:27:57.360 --> 01:28:01.616
(flowing, expressive piano)

01:28:01.657 --> 01:28:04.160
-  It's in your power to open Bethlehem,

01:28:04.202 --> 01:28:06.996
so take a first, simple step.

01:28:07.038 --> 01:28:11.584
Visit our website and become
a citizen of Bethlehem.

01:28:11.626 --> 01:28:15.378
(flowing, expressive piano)