Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas in Bethlehem - 2006

A recent NPR show really caught my attention. OK, more like shocking!

Christmas Tourism Lags in Bethlehem


...
Mr. MAHA AL-BUNDEK (Receptionist, Bethlehem Tourist Center): I think everybody is sad. All the people are sad, maybe for death, maybe for this economic situation. The people doesn't have work, no money. I think the people are sad a little bit.

GRADSTEIN: Shopkeepers in the town say there almost no tourists around and the hotels are empty. In the year 2000, when the Pope visited Bethlehem, there were 1.25 million tourists here. Last year, says the mayor, just 20,000 came. And this year it will probably be only a few thousand. Those who do come will have to cross the controversial barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank.

The barrier, which here is a tall, gray concrete wall, cuts the town off from Jerusalem, just a few miles to the north. It also separates hundreds of families who live in the town from their land outside.

Maxim Sansour of Open Bethlehem, a group that tries to increase world awareness of Bethlehem's difficult situation, says the barrier is ruining life here.
...


Merry Christmas!