Emotional journey to holy land for Porthmadog family

Dec 23 2010 by Kevin White, Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald

THE story of how a family returned to the crisis torn West Bank will be told in a special S4C documentary next week.

Byd Pawb: Nôl i Fethlehem, was made by Caernarfon TV production company Rondo Media, and follows the emotional journey of Susan and Tony Diek. The Porthmadog couple and their children Adam and Natalie, who travelled from Wales to their former home of Bethlehem this year to meet relatives whom they hadn’t seen in nearly 15 years.

The family were forced to flee the Palestinian territory amid increasing violence in 1996, and settled in Susan’s home town of Porthmadog. The programme offers one family’s uniquely Welsh perspective on an international conflict, and reminds us at Christmas that it continues to divide families in Bethlehem.

Susan, 48, went to live and work in the Palestinian territories 30 years ago, where she met and married Christian Palestinian Tony, 49. The family live in a truly international home where three languages are spoken – Welsh, Arabic, and English.

On their return to the West Bank, the Dieks were shocked to see how the security situation had deteriorated, with the huge concrete wall erected by the Israelis having brought huge problems for the Palestinians.

Tony, Natalie, and Adam all hold British passports, but Susan said: “That counted for nothing in the eyes of the Israelis. We were treated terribly. As Tony had been born there, he was a Palestinian in their eyes.

“His UK passport was thrown to the floor in contempt by Israeli soldiers in the airport, and he was given just a three hour visa to travel from Tel Aviv in Israel, to Bethlehem in the West Bank. He was warned not to leave Bethlehem until he had a Palestinian ID and Passport.”

Tony has two brothers in Bethlehem and a sister who lives beyond the wall in Jerusalem, Israel, but he was refused permission to travel to her home without a Palestinian ID.

Susan and the children had to make the difficult journey through checkpoints to Jerusalem without him.

She added: “We had also hoped to go together to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem where we were married 30 years ago. But because of the difficulties, Tony wasn’t able to come with us and yet again, 15 years on, events had separated us as a family.

“The people there feel as if they are in prison, and the wall divides families and friends. All the ordinary people want is peace and a country they can call their own. But extremists on both sides are making this impossible at the moment.

“The journey was an emotional experience for the whole family, and made us realise how difficult life is for people living in the shadow of a wall, which will encircle the West Bank once completed.”

Byd Pawb: Nôl i Fethlehem appears on S4C, on December 30.

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