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Under the title "The Palestinian State is a Right Not a Gift", with the presence of Mr. Hanna Al-Atrash the Mayor of Beit Sahour, his excellency, Mr. Mitri Abu Aita, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities and some Israeli peace makers like, Mr. Uri Avniri, and Mr. Latif Duri, about five Thousand peace lovers of Palestinians, Israelis, and Internationals marched together in Beit Sahour on Christmas Day the 25^th of December 1998. The Majority of those were Palestinians from Beit Sahour and about couple of hundreds of Israelis beside few Internationals from different parts of the world.

This activity had become a tradition on Christmas day that started 1991 by a group of people who established the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People. In each year, there is a message for the march, last year the message was "Light a candle for the Freedom of Worship" which means that the Palestinians, Christians and Moslems, should have the freedom to worship in Jerusalem whenever they want without asking for permits from the Israeli authorities. This year the march released a fact that the Palestinian State is Not a Gift to be given by the International community or Israel, but a Right to be acknowledged to the Palestinians by both the International community and Israel as well.

The march this year came on a critical time of the day. Ramadan and Sabbath. For Moslems, they fast all day and between 4:30 and 5:00 they go to eat. So we got a small number of Moslem participation this year especially the religious people. The 25^th of December this year was a Friday, so it was Sabbath, so Religious Jews couldn't come to the march including some of the co-founders of Rapprochement.

Despite the cold whether and Ramadan and the Sabbath the march started at about 4:45 p.m. where a box labeled as "The State of Israel" came through the march. It also had pictures of a soldier with his gun and another with the badge of the "Military Police" who are imprisoning our Palestinian Brothers. The prison was carried by the activists of the Rapprochement from the center to the Shepherd's field where the people and the scouts were waiting.

The march started by releasing about seven punches of Balloons filled with Helium carrying labels with the names of the existing Israeli Jails, where thousands of Palestinians are still in. this was a metaphor of our demand of releasing all the Palestinian Political Prisoners from the Israeli jail.

Then, the prison was destroyed to enable the Doves to fly.   At the beginning, they refused to take flight until some of the guys jumped into the cage and one of them threw the Dove in the air which made most of them to fly accompanied by the applause of the people there.

Then the fire was set up ad the people lit their candles and started to march accompanied by the music of the bagpipes and the drums of the Palestinian Scouts who were in the forefront of the march. The people were carrying signs that say,

The march ended at the Greek Catholic Church yard as planned. Then the heaven opened streams of rain that was about to destroy the program, but suddenly it stopped to rain so, we were able to continue our program. a Welcome speech was delivered in Arabic and English. Then the Choir of the Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour chanted some Christmas carols and others, followed by few words to the crowds and then all the people were invited to a small reception at the Greek Catholic Hall for a cup of Arabic Coffee and Oriental sweets.

One of the most interesting comments on that was of Ms. Gila Svirsky from an Israeli feminist peace organization (Bat Shalom) who comes every year to the march. Gila says: "It was not surprising, then, that this year’s procession was held under the banner “A State of Palestine: By Right, not Grace”. And - in reflection of this troubled process - it was also not surprising that when so many things went wrong as the march commenced, the metaphor was so obvious, it was painful" It was not surprising, then, that this year’s procession was held under the banner “A State of Palestine: By Right, not Grace”. And - in reflection of this troubled process - it was also not surprising that when so many things went wrong as the march commenced, the metaphor was so obvious, it was painful" She continues: ""Then the doves refused to take flight. Imprisoned in a big box labeled “The Israeli Occupation”, the box was carried through the crowd on the shoulders of several young men from town. At the given moment, a contingent of Palestinian and Israeli dignitaries bashed in the box, and the resultant breach was expected to look like the window to freedom for the dozen terrified doves inside. They refused to leave. The dignitaries bashed the opposite end of the box, banged on the bottom, clobbered the closed sides, but to no avail. The doves stayed put. Finally, one enterprising young man reached in, grabbed a dove, and threw it into the air, to the applause of many, but the displeasure of the elders who stayed his hand from a further disruption of due process. “By right, not grace!”, as the men forced open the top and eleven pure white doves finally soared into history.

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Last modified: December 29, 1999