Word: bethlehem
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...Arab children are so impassive at the prospect of death. One Palestinian mother from Beit Sahur in the West Bank acknowledges that "when my children hear the siren, their whole bodies start shaking." Says Ziad Ahmed, who with his six children lives in a refugee camp near Bethlehem: "My children have picked up my fear, and there's no way now to calm them down." Because of strict U.N. curfews, Palestinian youngsters in the occupied territories are cooped up at home most of the day. Another source of outrage and anxiety: a shortage of gas masks. Israeli authorities initially refused...
Neither the Israeli army nor Palestinian activists managed to force Nasser Hemeid to quit his job in Israel. Arising each morning at 4, he defied Arab strikes and army curfews as he made the eight-mile trip from the Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem to Jerusalem, where he put in nine-hour days as a plasterer for an Israeli construction firm. After nine years on the job, his wage had risen to nearly $3 an hour, just enough to support his wife and five children...
Israeli policymakers say the international community should fund new jobs in the territories, but they consistently squash any Palestinian efforts toward economic independence, fearing the political implications. George Nasser, a textile-factory owner in Bethlehem, says he was repeatedly refused permission to expand from 35 to 140 workers. "If we were allowed to modernize, nobody could compete with us," he says...
...average family income was only 6% higher than in 1973, though almost twice as many wives were at work. In many households, one well-paid smokestack job with health insurance has been replaced by two service jobs without benefits. Burger King doesn't provide as well as Bethlehem Steel...
...universe in some ways remains a village. Hamad was two hours into an interview with a family in the West Bank before he realized that he was related by marriage to one of its members. While he was interviewing students in Jordan, a teacher overheard that he lived in Bethlehem, the man's hometown. "And what is the news of Jamil Hamad?" asked the teacher. Hamad laughed and replied, "I am Jamil Hamad." The two had not seen each other in 20 years...