The “little town” of Bethlehem carries so many layers of meaning – some ancient, some mythical, some religious – that it feels like an unreal city, even to the people who call it home. Today, the city is hemmed in by a wall and surrounded by forty-one Israeli settlements. The population is undergoing such enormous strains it is close to falling apart. Any town with an eleven-thousand-year history has to be robust, but Bethlehem may soon go the way of Salonica or Constantinople: the physical site survives, but the thread winding back to the ancient past will have snapped, and the city risks losing what makes it unique. Still, for many, Bethlehem remains the “little town” of the Christmas song.
Nicholas Blincoe will tell its history through the experience of living there, taking you through its stone streets and desert wadis, its monasteries, aqueducts and orchards, showing the city from every angle and era. Inevitably, a portrait of Bethlehem will shed light on one of the world’s most intractable political problems. Bethlehem is a much-loved Palestinian city, a source of pride and wealth but also a beacon of co-existence in a region where hopelessness, poverty and violence has become the norm. Bethlehem could light the way to a better future, but if the city is lost then the chances of an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict will be lost with it.
Nicholas Blincoe lived in in Bethlehem for over twenty years. He is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter and is currently a critic and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph.
Tickets: £3 on the door, including refreshments. Booking essential on events@fiveleaves.co.uk
