news article

Not even a manger

January 4, 2022 / By Diane Roe

Editor's Note: The following uses an excerpt from an article first published in December 1999 issue of NCNY Connections.

“And she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7

On my last day in Hebron before returning to the states in late October, I wondered what had happened to Liga. There was no way to telephone her. The cave dwelling in the remote area in the south of the Hebron district where she tended her sheep and raised her children was out of range for most cell phones, even if she had one, and there was neither a phone line nor electricity for recharging batteries in the rocky area where her family lived.

I had heard that the Israeli government had placed much land in that area under military closure and that families had been given 12 hours evacuation notice. So on my last day in Hebron I went to Yatta, the village south of Hebron, to find Liga’s niece Manal.

“Yes,” Manal told me, “We have heard from my aunt. Three days ago Israeli soldiers came in the middle of the night and evacuated them from their land. They were forced to go where there is no water and there are no caves for shelter. They are afraid that if they do not do as the soldiers say they will lose their sheep. Our families have lived on this land for hundreds of years. My aunt is afraid.”

I think about Liga now that I am back home in Corning as our churches prepare for Christmas. Two thousand years ago Jesus was born in a cave such as one of those that shelter Liga’s family. Today hundreds of Palestinian families whose lands have been subject to closure, confiscation, or home demolition don’t even have mangers in which to lay new born babies.

Twenty-two years later

As I prepare for Christmas 2021, all of the Palestinian villages in the South Hebron hills are under threat from either militant Israeli settlers, or from the Israeli military.

In September, dozens of settlers raided the al-Mufagarah community in Masafer Yatta, attacking residents, homes, and vandalising properties. 

I have lost contact with most of the people I knew 20 years ago in Masafer Yatta, but I still knew many people in Hebron-al-Khalil and I had Facebook friends from At-Tuwani, just over the hill from AlMufagara, and a young woman named Sameeha volunteered to video conference with me. Sameeha and her brothers are part of an organization called Youth of Samud. Samud means steadfast. They are steadfast in remaining on their land and they are steadfast in accompanying children from the neighboring villages to the school in At-Tuwani to try to protect the children from settler attacks. I asked Sameeha if she knew anything about Maghayer al-‘Abid (the village where I met Liga twenty-two years ago). She didn’t seem to know. I can’t get much news from that area but I’m afraid the Israeli military may have destroyed that little village. Then I remembered that Sameeha is twenty-two years old. She was a newborn infant when The Israeli military was expelling families from Liga’s village. Her mother was cradling her as refugees from neighboring villages were camping in At-Tuwani and looking for a water source for their sheep.

I still don’t know what happened to Liga . I do know that a few days after I talked with Sameeha, the Israeli military entered her village and gave demolition orders on several structures, including the Youth of Samud Community Center which Sameeha was part of. I also know that Israel is targeting young people and that Sameeha’s brothers have been arrested for trying to protect their village.

If I were able to go back and meet these people again I know they would convey warm holiday greetings for this Christmas season. Jesus was a native son of Palestine. My Muslim friends in Hebron call Christmas Day Eid Milad Al Maseeh, which means birthday of the Messiah. When they wish me a blessed Christmas they say, “Eid Milad Mubarak.”

I am passing that greeting on to you, my fellow Christians of Upper NY. Eid Milad Mubarak! Our Task Force wants to send more people to Palestine to meet people like Liga and Sameeha so we can understand their struggle.

Please read the background account of the settler and soldier attacks on Palestinians. B’tselem is an Israeli Human Rights group.