We passed through the large gray wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem. We had to change from an Israeli tour bus to one operated by an Arab company. We even picked up an Arab guide to replace our Israeli guide. Duplication upon duplication.

Our guide told us a few things about the Biblical history of Bethlehem on our way to a restaurant ownd by a family member. There we had a lunch and afterwards taken across a parking lot to a souvenir store owned by our guide. We wasted a good two and one half hours doing this before we made the obligatory trip to the Church of the Nativity.

I was irked that we spent the time eating and shopping when we had but a short period to spend in this historic city. There were so many ways we could have spent the time. We could have gone to the outskirts of the city and sat on a hillside and held a study and discussion on the book of Ruth, which was set in the city. Or we could have done a brief interactive discussion on an aspect of the life of King David, who before Christ's birth, was the cities most famous son. We could have had a very insightful study on the first chapters of Luke and learned about the birth of Jesus in this Judean village. As it was we ate, shopped and toured a religious conglomerate that attempts to tell the story of the birth of God's son.

But after reading this story about the plight of Christian Arabs who have to flee the city I understand now why our Christian Arab guide had us spend the time eating and buying trinkets. We, a bus load of tourists, are a vanishing commodity in Bethlehem. The violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories has kept tourists back and severely crippled tourists in some areas. Bethlehem, because of that ugly wall of division, seems to have been hit harder than other cities.

Driving through that wall that day reminded me of the Berlin Wall that once divided the capital of Germany. All walls eventually will come down-it's in their nature. But until they do they are always a source of division and only a temporary solution to the deep problems of the spirit. I wrote this piece about walls after a visit to another famous wall that no longer exists.