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Somber Bethlehem readies for another Christmas under shadow of war
[IsraelTimes] Dearth of tourism since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack leaves West Bank city with empty streets, empty shops and empty guestrooms at what should be most wonderful time of the year.The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the traditional birthplace of Jesus since 1927. But as Bethlehem prepares to mark its second Christmas under the shadow of the war in Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppressionand disproportionate response... , there are almost no tourists, leaving the Nativity Store and other businesses unsure of how much longer they can hold on. For the second straight year, Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to the ongoing war in Gaza. There will be no giant Christmas tree in Manger Square, no raucous scout marching bands, no public lights twinkling, and very few public decorations or displays. "Last year before Christmas, we had more hope, but now again we are close to Christmas and we don’t have anything," said Rony Tabash, the third-generation owner of Nativity Store. Israel’s war against Hamas  ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...has been raging for nearly 15 months, and there still is no end in sight. Repeated ceasefire efforts have stalled. The war started on October 7, 2023, when the Paleostinian terror group Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. One hundred hostages are still held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza. Since the war began, tourism to Israel and the Israeli-controlled West Bank has plummeted. And, after Israel barred entry to most of the 150,000 Paleostinians in the West Bank who had jobs in Israel because of the war, the Paleostinian economy contracted by 25 percent in the past year. The yearly Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem — shared among Armenian, Catholic, and Orthodox denominations — are usually major boons for the city, where tourism accounts for 70% of its yearly income. But the streets are empty this season. Tabash said he continues to open the store every day, but often an entire week will go by without a sale. Tabash works with more than 25 local families who create hand-carved religious items out of the region’s storied olive wood. But with no buyers, work has dried up for these families. PLENTY OF ROOM AT THE INN The number of visitors to the city 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 Paleostinian tourism ministry. According to the Christmas story, Mary was forced to give birth to Jesus in a stable because there was no room at the inn. Today, nearly all of Bethlehem’s 5,500 hotel rooms are empty. The city’s hotel occupancy rate plunged from around 80% in early 2023 to around 3% today, said Elias Al Arja, the head of Bethlehem Hoteliers Association. At his own hotel, the Bethlehem Hotel, he said he has laid off a staff of more than 120 people and retains just five employees. Qumsiyeh worries that when the war ends and tourism eventually rebounds, many of the families that have handed down traditional skills for generations will no longer be making the items that reflect Paleostinian heritage and culture. Many are leaving the region entirely. "We have witnessed a very high rate of emigration since the beginning of the aggression, especially among those working in the tourism sector," said Qumsiyeh. SLOUCHING TOWARD CHRISTMAS Almost 500 families have left Bethlehem in the past year, said Mayor Anton Salman. And those are just the families who moved abroad with official residency visas. Many others have moved abroad on temporary tourist visas and are working illegally, and it’s unclear if they will return, Salman said. Around half of the population in the Bethlehem area, including nearby villages, works in either tourism or in jobs in Israel. The unemployment rate in Bethlehem is roughly 50%, said Salman. Unemployment across the West Bank is around 30%, according to the Paleostinian Economy Ministry. Canceling Christmas festivities is one way to draw attention to the difficult situation in Bethlehem and across the Paleostinian territories, said Salman. "This year we want to show the world that the Paleostinian people are still suffering and they haven’t the joy that everybody else in the world having," said Salman. It is another blow to the Holy Land’s dwindling population over the decade due to emigration and a low birthrate. Christians are a small percentage of the population. There are about 188,000 in Israel including 12,850 in Jerusalem; There are 37,500 in the West Bank, and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the US State Department figures, citing Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics. The Jerusalem Post crunches numbers, courtesy of Grom the Reflective in comments yesterday Violence and coercion has resulted in up to a 90% decline in the Christian population in areas under Hamas or Palestinian Authority control, according to a new study by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA).In 1922, Christians constituted 11% of the population. Today, in 2024, they are just 1%. The JCFA research, led by Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch and Attorney Tirza Shorr, discovered mass emigration of Christians, particularly from historically significant cities like Bethlehem. The Christian population in Gaza shrank from 5,000 before Hamas took over the area to only 1,000 in October 2023, the report found. JCFA explained that religious and legal discrimination, desecration of holy sites, and social exclusion were behind the decline in the Christian population. The city of Bethlehem is used as an illustration of what JCFA calls "Christian demographic erasure." In 1950, Bethlehem and the surrounding villages were 86% Christian. However, this has dwindled since 1994, when the PA took control of the city. The last census in 2017 showed Bethlehem was 10% Christian families, but many have left, or are leaving, due to systemic socio-economic hardships and instability, discrimination, and harassment, including of Christian clergy, by Muslim Palestinians and the Islam-dominated Palestinian Authority. Bethlehem also serves as an example of Christians undergoing forced conversion to Islam, a phenomenon that Gaza’s Bishop Alexios, warned of in 2016. "Christians who converted to Islam did so under threats and violence," Alexios said at the time. The report also collected testimonies regarding violence and harassment against Christians, especially of girls, since the PA took over. Muslim clans reportedly also use force to resolve disputes. Most cases, however, go unreported due to fear of retribution and a lack of legal enforcement. "The survival of Christianity in its birthplace depends on awareness and action. Silence strengthens the perpetrators and leaves the victims without international support," Hirsch said. "It’s unacceptable that in 2025, Christians in the Palestinian Authority fear reporting hate incidents against them for fear of arrest or worse," the report concludes. Compare to the Christians in Israel: After months of Hezbollah rocket attacks, Haifa’s Christians get ready for Christmas[IsraelTimes] Without the constant threat of war, residents say they can enjoy the reboot of the northern city’s annual Holiday of Holidays celebration, cancelled last year. Yes, the ultra-Orthodox Jews are rude to the Christians in Jerusalem, but the ultra-Orthodox Jews are rude to less orthodox Jews as well. What they really need is a solid come-to-Jesus moment to reset their attitude altogether. Posted by: trailing wife 2024-12-24 |
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