An all-star concert in London on 7 December 2007 will highlight the plight of the people of Bethlehem this Christmas, as they live in social isolation and impoverishment as a result of the separation wall built by Israel.
Bethlehem remains under occupation in the West Bank, says the organising group, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Jewish peace workers, Muslim groups, Christian church leaders and secular human rights groups have continued to speak out on its impact.
The Israeli authorities have “in the last year continued [the] policy of separation by building a huge wall to lock up the population of Bethlehem, in effect strangling the local economy of the birthplace of Jesus Christ”, says PSC.
The group is appealing to the people in the UK to stand up against this policy, and says it is asking everybody, especially members of the Christian community, to “denounce the strangulation of the Holy Land”.
The PSC is organising a concert to raise awareness about the situation in Bethlehem on the 7 December 2007 in London, “with acclaimed author Ahdaf Soueif, the exceptional London Finzi Consort and middle Eastern music by Palestinian Christian Amira Dibsy and Tunisian Oud player and singer Firas Jabloun.”
The concert is due to take place at 7pm on 7 December at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2.
Web: www.palestinecampaign.org