If Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem today, would they get in?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0612240391dec24,1,1707180.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed

`O little ghetto of Bethlehem'

By Mary Ann Weston
Published December 24, 2006


"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.... And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, (because he was of the house and lineage of David); to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."-- Luke 2:1-7

The beloved words of the Nativity story evoke reverence and awe. But a recent visit to Bethlehem left me wondering: If Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem today, would they get in? Would they make it to the manger, or would the holy child be delivered at an Israeli checkpoint?

The city of Christ's birth is now partially surrounded by a wall, much of it 25 or more feet high, an unbroken expanse of solid, gray concrete, a medieval city wall updated with 21st Century cameras and razor wire. The wall snakes through Bethlehem and the nearby countryside, separating farmers from their fields, workers from their jobs and families from their neighbors.

The wall around Bethlehem is part of an Israeli security barrier designed to separate occupied Palestine from Israel. The government says it is being built to increase Israeli security and stop suicide bombings.

But instead of following the Green Line--the 1949 armistice line between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories--it snakes deep into the Palestinian West Bank. Palestinians call it a land grab.

[dorktv]

1. Mary was Jewish...I do not think it compares.

Besides, she could always go to Pennsylvania.