Church of the Nativity

One doesn’t have to be religious or Christian to appreciate the compelling and magical properties of the Nativity narrative, with all its evocative and timeless images and ideas and everything it evokes. But anyone expecting to find any of that magic in modern day Bethlehem would be disappointed. Because, as is usually the case, reality […]

Photo of an Israeli sniper during the 40 day siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethleham in 2002
 

A play that re-tells one of the most shameful episodes in the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestine had its premiere this week at The Lowry in Salford, Manchester. It is called The Siege.
The Freedom Theatre company, which produced the play, had traced exiled Palestinian resisters scattered across Europe and collected their accounts of that infamous event.