Backpackers baffled by Bethlehem sieg

BBC News ^ | Wednesday, 17 April, 2002, 21:57 GMT 22:57 UK | BBC News

[gd124]

Two tourists engrossed in their guidebooks and heading for the birthplace of Jesus Christ unwittingly wandered into the centre of a war zone on Tuesday. The Japanese couple were amazed to find that Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity was at the centre of a 16-day old siege between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen.

Palestinian residents of Bethlehem looked on in disbelief as Yuji Makano and his girlfriend Mina Takahashi walked through the debris towards the church seemingly oblivious to the evidence of war.

They were rescued when journalists in flak jackets saw them and pointed out the bullet-holes across buildings, the Israeli tanks and rubble which littered the streets.

It was then that the couple decided to call off their trip to one of Christianity's holiest shrines.

"We have been on the road for the last six months and we did not watch television "

Yuji Makano

They had been dropped off by a taxi at a checkpoint near Bethlehem and had made their way along streets torn up by armoured vehicles.

"We have been on the road for the last six months and we did not watch television or read the newspapers," Mr Makano told reporters.

In the past, tourists have flocked to the 1,600-year-old church keen to see for themselves the exact spot where Jesus is believed to have been born.

But the area once bustled with tourists and street-sellers has been deserted for more than two weeks.

The stand-off at the church appears far from ending and led to the city's mayor announcing on Wednesday plans to ask Pope John Paul II to come and try to resolve the crisis.

The church has been the centre of a 16-day siege

About 200 people, including armed Palestinians, civilians and church staff have been barricaded inside the Church of the Nativity for more than two weeks.

They have described their situation as desperate, without food or medical supplies. Two corpses of people shot by Israeli snipers are also said to be decomposing inside the building.

Israel has been keeping up the psychological pressure on those holed up inside the church, bombarding it with ear-splitting, shrieking noises which aim to disorientate those inside.

The Israelis have also been flying flares and sending fireworks over the church, which has responded by ringing its bells.

Have you ever inadvertently found yourself in a combat zone or any other crisis situation while on holiday? Send us your stories using the form below.

[nunya bidness]

Reminds me of the movie, "Mystery Train."

Elvisa! Cawl Pewkins!

[ASTM366]

These two are definitely hardcore tourist.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Israel has been keeping up the psychological pressure on those holed up inside the church, bombarding it with ear-splitting, shrieking noises which aim to disorientate those inside.

They got the Rosi O of the West Bank on tape Ullululululu-ing them into insanity?!!! Good going IDF, aim it right back at 'em!

[Cultural Jihad]

One can easily imagine the scene: Japanese couple traveling without the benefit of media; the taxi driver willing to take their Yen but who couldn't be bothered to even try to tell them that it is dangerous there.

[VOA]

"We have been on the road for the last six months and we did not watch television or
read the newspapers," Mr Makano told reporters.

So much for the ascendancy of The Empire of The Rising Sun.

I don't think we need to worry about Japan buying up the USA if this represents
even a small percentage of the new generation of Japanese.

(and some articles I've read would indicate they might be the poster children for
the long, slow, inexorable decline of Japan)

[Henk]

Or maybe, apart for localized areas of destruction, the West Bank hasn't been reduced to rubble as the press would have us believe.

[Cicero]

We were in Portugal with our kids one summer when they had Communist anti-colonial riots and a cholera epidemic. Aside from a few red scrawls on the wall, we didn't notice a thing.

[harpo11]

I wish I knew how to say "dunderheads" in Japanese.

God Bless them though. To be so oblivious, so carefree, so uninvolved, so unaware, so into themselves...
makes one wonder is it truly possible, this happening is as it is stated?

[Ciexyz]

Sounds far-fetched to me, like the media set this up.

[uglybiker]

Sheeps eyes and a giant Dorito!
My favorite!!

[TxBec]

They were rescued when journalists in flak jackets saw them and pointed out the bullet-holes across buildings, the Israeli tanks and rubble which littered the streets.

It was then that the couple decided to call off their trip to one of Christianity's holiest shrines.

smart move

[McGavin999]

Poor kids. Can you imagine spending 6 months on the road just to see the place where Christ was born only to arrive while it's in the middle of a seige?

[monkeyshine]

I heard two interesting pieces of investment advice about the future recently. The first piece was that Japan will be a hot place to put your money, in about 10 years. Their demographics are similar to ours, but their "baby boom" is a generation behind ours. This means the earning potential and compounding investment gains will start to ramp up in about 10 years, and we'll want to have a piece of that action.

The other one was that the hot investment for the future is a rice farm. The population in Asia eats mainly rice, but production cannot keep up with population growth. Buy a rice farm now, and in 10-20 years you will be making a fortune on it selling rice to Asia.

[Romulus]

"We have been on the road for the last six months and we did not watch television or read the newspapers," Mr Makano told reporters.

Adventure tourism has its own attractions.

Don't believe everything you read in the papers.

[ZinGirl]

I wonder what the next stop on their "Hot Spots of 2002" tour is.....Afghanistan...Cincinnati?

[exit82]

I wish I could have spent the Clinton years in this kind of state of blissful detachment.

[Hildy]

Well I felt like I was in a battlezone when I was in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve in 1977. The Arab men were sexually molesting every American woman they could get their disgusting hands on. Don't ever talk to me about the poor Arabs of Bethlehem.

[samtheman]

Well I felt like I was in a battlezone when I was in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve in 1977. The Arab men were sexually molesting every American woman they could get their disgusting hands on.

I've never been there but I've heard such stories from many western women travellers I've met, regarding any place where Arab men clot the streets. You will not read such stories in the western press, however, 'cause don't ya know? Islam is a peaceful and a civilized religion.