|
|
Article: Bethlehem and Church of Nativity. (Israel).(damage - Israeli occupation)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Catholic Insight
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Catholic Insight. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Bethlehem--Already in October 2001, the Israeli army had invaded Bethlehem in retaliation for the assassination of Israel's tourist minister. The 11-day occupation left at least 45 Palestinians dead.
Christian institutions and holy sites damaged during that occupation included the Pontifical Bethlehem University, the Holy Family Hospital, the Patriarch's seminary, the Pontifical School for the Deaf, and St. Catharine's Church of the Nativity. After ten days of street fighting, wrote the Tablet, Manger Square and surrounding streets are "scored with tank tracks, littered with smashed cars, houses destroyed, and stores and workshops gutted and charred. Empty of ...