GROSSE POINTE WOODS — News reports around Christmas-time told about a resurgence of tourists and pilgrims visiting Bethlehem as a result of relative stability in the ancient city over the past two years.But just before Christmas, a group of about 35 Christian peace activists gathered in a Grosse Pointe Woods Presbyterian church to discuss ongoing turmoil in the walled-off West Bank city where Jesus is said to have been born.L. Michael Spath, a professor of religious studies and peace and conflict studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne gave a grim presentation based on his trips to Bethlehem as a tour leader and researcher. “Christians in Bethlehem are the victims of a vicious and oppressive Israeli occupation,” Spath told the group bluntly.He spoke about and showed pictures of the separation wall that divides the West Bank from Israel, which he said has been built right through the middle of some neighborhoods, serving to separate Palestinians from their own orchards, water sources and fertile land, and securing illegal Israeli settlement.”The wall, simply, is about the political, economic and cultural strangulation of the Palestinian people,” he said.Spath said that about 400 families fled poverty and isolation in Bethlehem between 2001 and 2006, according to studies, and that there may soon be no indigenous Christians left in Bethlehem.He used pictures of graffiti painted all along the massive wall by residents and visitors to illustrate their anger, desperation and continued resistance against the occupation.But he offered little hope.”They’re not too optimistic at all,” he said about those who live there. “Their hope is only a hope that comes out of their faith… When they hear peace process, they know they’re going to get screwed. They ask themselves, ‘What more will we lose?’… The question that lingers with me is, how long will they have to wait for Christians in the West to unite with them in their struggle?”The group trips to Bethlehem that Spath leads for the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace provide some optimism, he said.”Our presence with them gives them hope. And frankly, our tourist dollars and everything else… We’re chipping at the stones a little bit at a time… It’s going to be a long, long, long battle. We have to be in it for the long haul… It’s going to happen from the groundswell, from people like us.”Carol Asfour, a Lutheran Christian who attended the event, put together by the Presbytery of Detroit Middle East Work Force, said that she has made trips herself to the West Bank, and has helped organize youth exchange programs with her own church, bringing Palestinian students to the U.S. and sending local students there for educational visits.She said that what has moved her most about her travels to Palestine is the kindness that she has been shown despite the conditions that the people there face.”How can you be nice,” she said she asks them. “They give, they give and they give.”She said they respond to her by saying they have no other choice but to be pleasant, or else they would “be so angry they’ll die.”Spath said that the Detroit-area peace community is one of largest and most active in the country that fights for Palestinian human rights.He said it might be because of the presence of a large Arab American community.Spath said that like many who speak out for Palestine, he often faces being labeled an anti-Semite.He fights such accusations by referring to his history of Christian-Jewish dialogue work and his work in contributing to a Holocaust memorial center in St. Louis.He said he believes even those who fully support Israel should logically advocate for the rights of Palestinians.”If you love Israel, you’ll work for Palestinian human rights and for upholding international law.”Visit www.CMEP.org for more on the Center for Middle East Peace.