First they announced that Bethlehem would be open for visiting Christians from Israel and abroad. As I came through the checkpoint from Jerusalem, there were an unusually large number of soldiers hanging around, harassing the taxi drivers from Bethlehem. I was told they were deliberately "nicer during Christmas" by an Israeli activist, but the opposite seemed true to me.

Then it was publicized that Mahmoud Abbas would be able to come for an official visit to the Church of Nativity to attend Midnight Mass; a 'privilege' they had consistently denied to Arafat since this Intifada began.

They also announced that Palestinians would be able to apply for a special visitors permit to Israel during the Christmas period. The only condition is that you have to be a Christian. Many from (predominantly Christian) Beit Sahour and the Bethlehem area made the most of this chance to visit Jerusalem. Many didn’t, however, for they refuse to recognize the right of Israel to decide when they can and can’t visit a city which they consider to be their own capital.

The hidden catch, though, is that while you can apply for a 'special permit', they won’t necessarily grant it. A few weeks ago, my colleague had discussed her wish to take her daughter, less than two years old, to the zoo in west Jerusalem. (Like so many children, she adores animals). She swallowed her pride and, along with her family, applied for a visitors permit. Her family, all of them Christians, were given the required permission, but she was denied.

Why? Perhaps because she is active in an organization which works (along with Israeli's) to end the occupation; to end the illegal and humiliating system in which Israel grants or denies Palestinians the right to travel in their own country; to end discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, nationality. 'Amira' campaigns particularly around women's issues; she works for a world in which women are equal with men, and where Palestinian women are not subjugated to Israeli control.

It would seem that the condition for visiting Israel during Christmas is not only that you are Christian, but you must be a compliant, subservient one at that. You must recognize Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem, and you must accept the occupation. If you are good, and keep your mouth closed, then maybe you will be able to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher once a year.

Perhaps these were the sentiments behind Israel giving Mahmoud Abbas, the all-but-elected-president of the Palestinian Authority, permission to travel to Bethlehem this year…

An international at a Christmas party, who had come through the Israeli checkpoint into Bethlehem, brought a bag of sweets which were given to them by the Israeli soldiers. It was a 'gift' from the Israeli state, and it included the following note, in English, Hebrew and Arabic:

"Dear tourist,
The State of Israel is glad that you have decided to visit the Holy land during the Christmas season. The heads of the churches in Jerusalem have announced the promotion of pilgrimage to the Holy Land and have signed an appeal to the pilgrims visiting the Holy Land to pray for peace between our nations. As a gesture of goodwill, we request you to give this present to a Palestinian colleague, thus creating a bridge for peace.
Merry Christmas!"

It was a bit ironic, I thought, that for Israel to get these sweets to the Palestinians, they needed tourists to come through a checkpoint and give them out on their behalf. Why not drop this "gesture of goodwill" from the Apache helicopters we regularly hear overhead? Why not throw them from the jeeps that patrol the "security fence" surrounding Bethlehem, instead of throwing sound bombs? They could even have parachuted out bags of sweets from the F16's they used to drop four 1,000lb bombs on the Palestinian Authority compound in Bethlehem in April, 2002.

A bridge for peace is certainly needed, after fifty-six years of continuous occupation, invasion, dispossession and exile. Somehow I doubt a bag of sweets will be enough. Like the conditions set by Israel for Palestinians to get to Jerusalem during this holiday period, these sweets will be hard to swallow, and they leave a bitter aftertaste. I tried to give the bag of sweets to a colleague, as the note had suggested, but he turned down my generous offer.

Instead of choking on these empty gestures from Israel, we went on a candle-lit procession in Beit Sahour, to "Light a Candle for Palestinian National Unity," organized by the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People. Despite the rain, a good few hundred turned out, marched behind the band, and carried banners which read: "Imprisoned in my land – Stop the Apartheid Wall"; "The Apartheid Wall will fall, as did the Berlin Wall"; and "The siege of Death Must End."

These were slogans based on real demands of the Palestinian people: they don’t want sweets, they want an end to occupation, they want freedom to move, and to live in dignity. The candle-lit procession has become an annual event, and I've no doubt the community of Beit Sahour will stubbornly continue to march until their demands are finally met.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace to all