Christian Kercher and Gudrun Ingratubun

Advent in the Tent of the Nations on Nahalin’s Hilltop
Fourth Advent. The sun shines brightly into the cave from outside. It is surprisingly warm. This is due to the large circle of people sitting around the many candles on the floor, in the middle of which is the non-violent Christ breaking a rifle over his knee, the motif of Otto Pankok’s painting from the 1920s. Mother Meladeh (Arabic for ‘Christmas’) Nassar will read the first verses of Luke 2 in Arabic. Next to her son Daoud, wife Jihan, sister Amal. They are waiting with nine volunteers from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany for the Spanish journalists so that the Christmas service can begin. Daoud explains how he and his brother Daher found the cave by chance through a hole in the ground. It was probably used as a chapel by Palestinian Christians in earlier centuries when the churches in Bethlehem were too far away, and the caves of the shepherds, the outsiders of society 2024 years ago, looked very similar. To whom the angels called out “Fear not!” A current encouragement for everyone in the country. Every morning, the volunteers walk along the boundaries of Daher’s vineyard to show that we are here. The settlers have parked a caravan and a large white box right on the edge of the property, and a huge pile of stones and sand has been heaped up as a roadblock right next to the gateway to the Tent of the Nations, so that access is only possible from the village of Nahalin. On the way to Bethlehem, more fences are being built to block the Israeli roads and Daoud fears that the Israeli army could block the only access road at any time.fighter planes, military helicopters and the vibrations of bombs hitting Gaza can be heard again and again during the day. On the one hand, the atmosphere is tense at times due to the activities of the settlers, the aggressive lighting at night and the knowledge of the cruel warfare in Gaza and Syria. On the other hand, the nature is idyllic and the warm hospitality of the Nassar family is a magnet for a fascinating variety of people. The to-do list on the farm is varied. The chickens, ducks and pigeons want to be fed. We prune the olive trees, make a bonfire with the prunings and spread the ashes around the trees as fertilizer. Before tilling the soil with the tractor, we clear stones out of the way to build a wall to the neighbor’s field where the fence has been torn down. We plant trees. And we remove the rust from the bars around the family house and paint them green. There is always plenty to laugh about and a delicious meal. Although the recent hearing in Beit El near Ramallah only resulted in a further postponement of the land registration, Daoud is confident. It is clear that the Israeli authorities have nothing against them, that all the documents are in our family’s favor. All they can do is stall us with their demands for the same papers. Daoud has already been able to hand over the papers now demanded by the “court”, in particular another land survey, to his lawyer, who intends to hand them over to the so-called registration committee tomorrow. They are not celebrating Christmas Eve, but the title deed for the Nassars would not be a gift either, it is their right, and political advocacy is still needed on the way there. Daoud welcomed two US delegations this week, first diplomats from the Office for Palestinian Affairs at the embassy in Jerusalem, and two days later staff from the State Department in Washington, DC. The presence of international volunteers also remains necessary, although Daoud emphasizes that the door is also open to older volunteers in particular, if only because they can enter the country more easily. Gudrun Ingratubun and Christian Kercher from Berlin.