Normally, the West Bank city of Bethlehem is full of tourists and Christian pilgrims during the Christmas season: it is the place where Jesus was born, and every year parades and events are organized to celebrate Christmas. This year it won't be like that.
At the end of November, local authorities announced that celebrations would be severely restricted, mainly due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Bethlehem thrives primarily on tourism, and the lack of Christmas celebrations is already having a significant impact on local economic activity: the flow of tourists and pilgrims is virtually at a standstill, the normally busy streets are empty, and hotels, restaurants and shops are unusually closed.
Getting to the city is complicated not only for tourists but also for other West Bank residents. Because of the Israeli army's many checkpoints, the journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, which would normally require a fifteen-minute drive, can now take more than an hour.
A souvenir shop in Bethlehem (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
The Ministry of Tourism of the Palestinian Authority, the government agency that manages the West Bank, estimates that the lack of tourists in Palestine will cause an economic loss of $200 million in the last three months of 2023. Many of these are related to the city of Bethlehem, which is by far the most visited tourist destination in Palestine, especially at this time of year. As a result, many shops that sold souvenirs and Christmas items were forced to close or remain open, more out of habit than for real economic reasons.
Jack Giacaman, who runs a shop in Bethlehem that specializes exclusively in Christmas, told US public radio station NPR that sales began to decline shortly after the war between Hamas and Israel began. “It's the worst Christmas ever. Even during the first and second intifadas, that was not the case,” he said, pointing to two previous periods of violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians that began in 1987 and 2000, respectively.
Souvenir shops closed in Bethlehem (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Rony Tabash, owner of another tourist shop, too he said According to various international media, sales have practically stopped for two months: “We are keeping it open because the store is close to our hearts and it is part of our family history,” he explained. To pass the time, he dusts off the figures in his shop.
Ala's Salameh, owner of Afteem Restaurant, one of the most visited tourist restaurants in Bethlehem and best known for its falafel, said that he was working at a pace of 10 or 15 percent compared to the usual pace for this period, and that he also oversees mostly Palestinian families rather than tourists.
– Also read: The chronology of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Traditionally at Christmas time, the area of Piazza Manger in the center of Bethlehem is filled with lights and garlands. However, today it is practically empty. “There are usually people from all over the world there,” Osam Al-Alli, a taxi driver who was waiting with other colleagues for a rare customer to arrive in mid-December, told NPR. “Today the nights will remain dark.”
Piazza Manger is located directly in front of the Basilica of the Nativity, built over the cave where Jesus is believed to have been born. Along with the Milk Grotto, it is one of the many places in Bethlehem that are considered sacred by Christian religious culture because it was believed that a few drops of the breast milk of Mary, the mother of Jesus, fell on the ground and the church of Santa Caterina.
Christmas decorations in the streets of Bethlehem (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Joey Canavati, owner of the Alexander Hotel, told Portal that before October 7, all of his rooms were fully booked for the holiday season, so much so that he was trying to find additional accommodations to accommodate customers. Today, however, “not a single guest is there”: all reservations have been canceled, both for the end of 2023 and for 2024. The room prepared for dinner, where at least 120 people usually gather every evening, remains empty. In the city, “there are no Christmas trees, no joy, no Christmas spirit,” Canavati said.
A souvenir shop in Bethlehem (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bethlehem's commercial activities had to be suspended already between 2020 and 2021: after a brief recovery in 2022, the renewed decline in tourism due to the war in Gaza will therefore be a particularly hard blow to the local economy.
– Also read: The second Christmas in a row without foreign tourists in Bethlehem
Christmas celebrations were also severely restricted in Jerusalem, another very important city for Christians, and in Jordan, the country with the highest concentration of Palestinian refugees in the world.