BATTIR – Bethlehem prepared Tuesday to mark another somber Christmas in the traditional birthplace of Jesus under the shadow of war in Gaza.
During Christmas in the Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, the usual excitement and cheer were conspicuously absent. The festive lights and giant tree that typically adorn Manger Square were nowhere to be seen. The square was not filled with the usual throngs of foreign tourists, and the youth marching bands that usually gather to celebrate the holiday were missing.
Palestinian security forces set up barriers near the Nativity Church, which is built on the site believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, while a worker cleared garbage bins in the area.
Mayor Anton Salman emphasized the traditional message of Bethlehem as one of peace and hope. He stated, “And these days, we are also sending our message to the world: peace and hope, but insisting that the world must work to end our suffering as Palestinian people.”
The cancellation of Christmas festivities is a severe blow to the town’s economy. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s income — almost all of it from the Christmas season. Salman said unemployment is hovering around 50% — higher than the 30% unemployment across the rest of the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Finance Ministry.
The number of visitors to the town plunged from a pre-COVID high of around 2 million visitors per year in 2019 to fewer than 100,000 visitors in 2024, said Jiries Qumsiyeh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Tourism Ministry.
Bethlehem is an important center in the history of Christianity, but Christians make up only a small percentage of the roughly 14 million people spread across the Holy Land. There are about 182,000 in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department.
While the war in Gaza has deterred tourists and pilgrims alike, it has also prompted a surge of violence in the West Bank, with more than 800 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and dozens of Israelis killed in militant attacks.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, access to and from Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the West Bank has been difficult, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass Israeli military checkpoints. Restrictions have also prevented some 150,000 Palestinians from leaving the territory to work in Israel, causing the economy there to contract by 25%.
More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health officials there, while some 90% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. Officials say more than half of the dead are women and children, though they don’t give a breakdown of how many are civilians and how many fighters.
In the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 250 hostages.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
