Bethlehem’s church of the punch-up

Giles Fraser 29/12/2011 The latest brawl between Armenian and Orthodox monks in Bethlehem is a product of Christianity’s romance with buildings. It’s become something of a Christmas tradition: the annual ecclesiastical punch-up at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. This year the Palestinian riot police had to be called in after it all kicked off again, with a hundred or so Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks bashing seven bells out of each other with brooms.