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BETHLEHEM, West Financial institution (AP) — The usually bustling biblical birthplace of Jesus resembled a ghost city on Sunday, as Christmas Eve celebrations in Bethlehem had been referred to as off because of the Israel-Hamas struggle.
The festive lights and Christmas tree that usually enhance Manger Sq. had been lacking, as had been the throngs of international vacationers who collect annually to mark the vacation. Dozens of Palestinian safety forces patrolled the empty sq..
The present retailers had been sluggish to open on Christmas Eve, though a couple of did as soon as the rain had stopped pouring down. There have been few guests, nonetheless.
“This yr, with out the Christmas tree and with out lights, there’s simply darkness,” mentioned Brother John Vinh, a Franciscan monk from Vietnam who has lived in Jerusalem for six years.
He mentioned he all the time involves Bethlehem to mark Christmas, however this yr was particularly sobering, as he gazed at a nativity scene in Manger Sq. with a child Jesus wrapped in a white shroud, harking back to the tons of of youngsters killed within the preventing in Gaza. Barbed wire surrounded the scene, the gray rubble reflecting not one of the joyous lights and bursts of colour that usually fill the sq. through the Christmas season.
“We will’t justify placing out a tree and celebrating as regular, when some folks (in Gaza) don’t even have homes to go to,” mentioned Ala’a Salameh, one of many house owners of Afteem Restaurant, a family-owned falafel restaurant simply steps from the sq..
Salameh mentioned Christmas Eve is often the busiest day of the yr. “Usually, you may’t discover a single chair to sit down, we’re full from morning until midnight,” mentioned Salameh. This yr, only one desk was taken, by journalists taking a break from the rain.
Salameh mentioned his restaurant was working at about 15% of regular enterprise and wasn’t capable of cowl working prices. He estimated that even after the struggle ends, it’ll take one other yr for tourism to return to Bethlehem as regular.
The cancellation of Christmas festivities is a extreme blow to the city’s financial system. Tourism accounts for an estimated 70% of Bethlehem’s earnings — virtually all of that through the Christmas season.
With many main airways canceling flights to Israel, few foreigners are visiting. Native officers say over 70 resorts in Bethlehem have been pressured to shut, leaving hundreds of individuals unemployed.
Over 20,000 Palestinians have been killed and greater than 50,000 wounded throughout Israel’s air and floor offensive in opposition to Gaza’s Hamas rulers, in line with well being officers there, whereas some 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. The struggle was triggered by Hamas’ lethal assault Oct. 7 on southern Israel wherein militants killed about 1,200 folks, most of them civilians, and took greater than 240 hostages.
The preventing in Gaza has additionally affected life within the West Financial institution. Since Oct. 7, entry to Bethlehem and different Palestinian cities within the Israeli-occupied territory has been tough, with lengthy traces of motorists ready to go navy checkpoints. The restrictions have additionally prevented tens of hundreds of Palestinians from exiting the territory to work in Israel.
Melanie Lidman, The Related Press
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