Church-run housing project allows Palestinians to purchase homes

Published: 2005-05-11

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNS) -- Shireen Atik loves everything about her new home: waking up in her own room to the sound of the bells of the Carmelite convent next door, helping her mother in their spacious kitchen, going out on her family's seventh-floor balcony and seeing all of Bethlehem's churches and the Old City. "It is a new life for us," said the 13-year-old Catholic of the new three-bedroom apartment she moved into on Christmas with her parents and three younger siblings. The unit is one of 52 apartments in the recently completed Nativity housing project, sponsored by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. "It is bigger than our old home, more beautiful and more comfortable," Shireen said. "Even if my wife and I worked as hard as we could to earn as much as we could, we would never be able to otherwise afford something like this. This is like a dream for us," said Nabil Atik, 37, a teacher. The Atiks were among the first 46 families selected by the Latin Patriarchate to receive housing in the project. The six other apartments will be allotted at a later date.

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