Former CIA analysts Kathleen and Bill Christison, writing in Counterpunch in January 2005, described Bethlehem as a dying little town now partially encircled by the Wall and cut off from Jerusalem, its religious and cultural twin. "Already surrounded by nine Israeli settlements. by a network of roads restricted to Israeli use, and by what the UN estimates are 78 Israeli checkpoints and other physical obstacles to Palestinian movement, Bethlehem has had only limited access to its surroundings for years.

"Completion of the Wall on its northern and western sides, separating it from Jerusalem, is the final closure on Bethlehem's breathing room. A huge terminal went into operation in November, requiring travellers entering and leaving Bethlehem to pass through multiple turnstiles, x-ray scans and permit checks. Palestinians must have hard-to-obtain permits to leave Bethlehem. The terminal is manned by both Israeli military and civilians. It functions like... an international border, except that the guards and soldiers on both sides of this border are Israeli.

" The ugliness of military occupation has caused havoc. "Only a few years ago," says Open Bethlehem, "one could see shepherds roaming the biblical valleys, providing an uncanny counterpoint to the trappings of modern life in Bethlehem. Today, the sheep graze on urban refuse sites, a reminder of how little of pastoral Bethlehem remains.

"Economic hardship has resulted in waves of emigration from the city and reports warn that the face of Bethlehem will change forever. The emigration is particularly marked among Bethlehem's Christian communities. Since the year 2000 alone more than 400 Christian families have left the area.

"This development means that the birth place of Jesus, home to the oldest Christian church and the oldest Christian communities in the world, will have nothing left of its history other than the cold stones of empty churches within a few generations.

" Subversive graffiti artist Banksy from Bristol, England, had been up to his tricks even at Bethlehem, where he'd paintsprayed a splendid window view of the Swiss mountains through the hated Wall.

We also saw his brilliant hole-in-the-Wall pictures gracing the Qalandiya checkpoint.

"The segregation Wall is a disgrace," says Banksy. "The possibility I find exciting is you could turn the world's most invasive and degrading structure into the world's longest gallery of free speech and bad art".

There's a tale of a tense encounter between Banksy and an Israeli soldier....

Soldier: What the f*** are you doing?

Banksy: You'll have to wait till it's finished.

Soldier (to gun-toting colleagues): Safeties off!

Troops have fired shots in the air but so far Banksy remains unscathed.

An encounter with an elderly Palestinian man, however, was more thoughtprovoking.

Old man: You paint the Wall, you make it look beautiful.

Banksy: Thanks.

Old man: We don't want it to be beautiful, we hate this Wall, go home.

While I was taking these pictures a coach-load of American tourists pulled up and some got out. One sidled up, pointed to the slogans on the wall and said: "The Palestines making trouble again, huh?"

At that moment our Palestinian driver arrived with hugs and handshakes. The Americans gawped in astonishment at the friendliness of this member of the native population, whom the western media portray as potential terrorists.

Our Warrior Saint
St George and the Dragon are everywhere to be seen in Bethlehem, especially in and around the ancient Church of the Nativity. Many Bethlehem houses have a panel of St George carved in stone and set in the wall above the front door.

Although St George is England's patron saint he never set foot here, and there is much speculation about who this soldiersaint was and where he came from. But there are no such doubts in Palestine: George was a Palestinian brought up in the Christian faith, although some sources insist that he was actually born in Cappadocea (Turkey) and taken home by his mother to her native Palestine when his father died. He decided on a soldiering career, joined the Roman army at the time of Emperor Diolcletian and rose to high rank. He became one of the Emperor's favourites but when Diocletian, a fanatical slave to the Roman gods, began slaughtering innocent Christians George felt he had to stand up for his religious beliefs.
He denounced the Emperor for cruelty and tore up his orders.

George was imprisoned and tortured, and told his life would be spared if he offered sacrifice to the Roman gods. Instead, so the story goes, he prayed to his Christian God and immediately fire came down from heaven, an earthquake shook the ground and the temple buildings were destroyed. Nevertheless he was dragged through the streets and beheaded at Lydda on 23 April 303.

George bore his ordeal - being stretched on the rack and crushed between two spiked wheels, poked with red-hot irons and dunked in quicklime - with such fortitude that Diocletian's wife converted to Christianity on the spot. This matrimonial upset resulted in her being condemned to death too. After that, holy martyrdom was assured and St George rapidly became a cult figure among warriors around the world. The earliest known reference to him in Britain was in an account by St Adamnan, the 7th century Abbot of lona. According to legend George was adopted by Richard the Lionheart as his personal saint in the crusades. But the earliest reported appearance of the cross of St George was at the siege of Caerlaverock Castle in Scotland in 1300. Edward I and Edward II both flew the St George banner in their wars against Scotland, but it was King Edward III who made him the patron saint of England and dedicated the Order of the Garter to him.

St George - Al Khadir - is also patron saint of Bethlehem and a figure sacred to Muslims and Christians alike. As one Muslim told me, George is rather special - he's the only saint who could ride a horse.

Mercy Mission
A visit that claimed a lasting place in my heart was to Sister Sophie's orphanage.

Here up to 80 children ranging from newborn babies to six year-olds are given tender loving care and learning by Sophie and her dedicated team, who do their best in the difficult and restrictive circumstances of the unsympathetic military occupation.

The youngsters are from broken homes or have been abandoned, or handed in by parents who are simply too poor to feed them. Skill, patience and love turn them into responsive, fun-loving adorable kids.

Apologies
On the day after the London bombings every Arab we met - taxi drivers, shopkeepers, policemen - went out of their way to apologise profusely for what had happened and to say how sorry they were to hear the news.

While incoming text messages from home worried about our safety, these three Palestinian policemen brought out bottle and glasses and insisted we take a drink with them.

The 40-day Seige
One of the most shameful episodes in the Israel-Palestine conflict was the 40- day siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in 2002. Built by Constantine the Great and dating from AD330, this is probably the oldest Christian church in the world.

George, a young man who was there, told me his story.

The ordeal began on 1st April and was triggered by a young girl from a refugee camp. A member of her family had been killed by the IDF. Grief-stricken, she took revenge by turning herself into a suicide bomber, killing 6 or 7 Israelis in Jerusalem.

As usual, the Israelis reacted with widescale collective punishment, sending tanks and hundreds of soldiers into West Bank towns like Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem late at night. In Bethlehem they cut the electricity supply and focused on the old town, overflying with helicopter gunships and occupying all key points around Manger Square. Many innocent Palestinians were killed by snipers, and the market and some shops were set on fire as troops hunted down suspected "fighters".

Civilians tried desperately to hide from the troops and someone suggested the Church of the Nativity as a sanctuary. The door was locked so "one of the young men shot the door. there was no choice". 248 took refuge there. They included, says George, 1 Islamic Jihad, 28 Hamas, 50 to 60 Al-Aqsa Martyrs. The remainder were ordinary townsfolk and included 100 uniformed Palestinian Authority workers; also 26 children and 8 to 10 women and girls. "The Israeli soldiers would not allow the women and children to leave. but they left the Church the first week by the back door."

Priests and nuns - Armenian, Greek and Catholic - from the adjoining monasteries brought the number to over 300 at the beginning. "Some of them went back to the monasteries but some stayed with us every day for the 40 days."

On Day 3 of the siege a young man inside the Church was shot dead by a sniper as he popped his head through a hatch in the roof. That same day a second was shot by snipers as he scavenged for food in the Casa Nova guest house. His last words were: "My brothers, I love you. I don't want to leave you. I'm still so young and I miss my wife and I want to see my daughter and son again."

Our big problem, says George, was how to get enough food to feed so many people. "The monasteries gave us food to last about 10 days. After that we managed to bring some food in from across the fields, but when one of us was killed we stopped."

15 days into the siege and someone said, "Let's call an ambulance." They had managed to recharge their cellphones using the mains that supplied the Church towers and bells. The Israelis had overlooked the fact that this was a separate supply coming from the Bethlehem municipality.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

So the besieged were able to phone out for help to friends in nearby Beit Sahour, who responded by sending food to the medical centre. From there it was transported by ambulance, along with authentic casualties, and delivered to houses near the Church. At night young girls carried the food in plastic bags from house to house until supplies reached the dwellings next door to the Church. The bags were then thrown from roof to roof. This went on for 6 days until one girl dropped a bag, which the soldiers found. The IDF, now alerted, shot and paralysed another young man. It put an end to the food operation.

Those trapped inside the Church were surprised to discover an old lady living within the complex. She had a small horde of olives and wheat, with which they made bread. So they managed to eke out the food for 28 days. "When it finally ran out," George recalls, "we realised we were in big trouble."

The Governor of Bethlehem and the Director of the Catholic Society were among those holding out in the Church. George held the key and was ordered to open the door only if someone died or was injured. He was watching through a peephole when he saw people approaching across the forecourt. They were from the Peace Movement, 28 of them. By now the world media were watching. 17 were promptly arrested but 11 took a big risk, managing to bluff their way in through the razor wire. In their rucksacks they brought food, which lasted another 4 days, and basic medicines.

The worst time was the final week - no food and only dirty water from the well. They resorted to boiling leaves and old chicken legs into a soup. George ate only lemons and salt for 5 or 6 days. Many were so ill by this time that they were passing blood.

"Dear God, we love you very much. Teach us to love all people, let us grow up and be wise. Dear God, bless all those who love us. Dear God, give us peace. Dear God, take away the tanks and bring back the cars. Show the soldiers the way of love."

Daily prayer of the children at the Holy Family crèche, Bethlehem.

Outside some 15 civilians had been indiscriminately shot in the street or in their homes. The IDF refused to allow the dead inside the Church to be removed for decent burial. The corpses were therefore placed in makeshift coffins, with the holes and seams sealed with candlewax, and taken down to a cellar.

Meanwhile the IDF set up three huge cranes on which were mounted robotic machine guns under video control. 8 defenders were killed inside the Church, some by the robotic guns and some by snipers. Samir, a Church caretaker and bellringer who was known to be a little disturbed, was killed in front of the Church. "He eventually went outside and tried to surrender with his hands up but was shot down by a regular sniper."

From the start, says George, the IDF used psychological warfare methods - for example, disorienting noise to deprive them of sleep, bright lights, concussion grenades. They paraded their families in front of the Church to put pressure on them to surrender. The IDF were also using illegal dum-dum bullets which cause horrendous wounds and trauma. "Most of those who were killed. it was because of the dum-dums. so much bleeding, and it took so long to arrange to send them to a hospital."

He says the IDF fired tracer rounds into two of the monasteries and set the ancient fabric of the buildings on fire.

Those trapped inside the Church vowed not to harm IDF soldiers unless they actually broke in. When soldiers did gain access and killed one of the resisters, 4 of them were shot. "

In the end, the Governor decided it was better to be in jail than die. So we opened the door and surrendered on the 40th day. 148 had survived. We were all promptly arrested and interrogated." But when given a meal by the Israelis, 13 or 14 threw the food in the trash bin.

"They were the ones who had been hurt the most," says George. "The soldiers killed some of their families and demolished their houses.and arrested all their families. and destroyed their lives."

Because of the adverse publicity the CIA and EU took a hand in deciding the fate of the survivors. After 4 years the figures still sprang readily to George's mind. "13 were exiled to the EU, 26 were exiled to Gaza, 26 were wounded, 26 had surrendered because they were underage. 8 were killed inside the Church. and with Samir makes 9. they shot Samir in front of the Church." It clearly upset him to remember. "The rest were allowed home."

George had scavenged under sniper fire. Luckily he was among those sent home. "The Israelis said to me, 'Do you know why you are going home? Because America wants it'."

When the survivors apologised to the Church fathers for the damage done, they replied: "God will look after the Church. We are much more concerned about looking after you."

I put it to George that by telling me the story he might find himself in the Israelis' black books. "I'm already in their black book," he replied.

Right: Bethlehem from the University roof.