Tourists return to Bethlehem

Christian pilgrims from across the world flocked to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus today.

After Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted in 2000, nearly all of the people milling around Manger Square in the centre of the town at Christmas had been local Palestinians. But this year, city hotels were packed with tourists.

Priests and monks, tourists, Palestinian families and Palestinian police mingled in Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity, the site where tradition says Christ was born. Vendors hawked beads, inflatable Santas, roasted peanuts and Turkish coffee, as city residents watched the festivities from balconies and rooftops.

A four-story tree, strung with white lights, hung with red and gold globes and topped with a yellow star, towered outside the church.

Children and teenagers strolling through the square wore red-and-white Santa Claus hats, some full Santa regalia. Balloons bobbed from vendors’ stands and strings children clutched in their hands.

Meanwhile, the call to prayer that flowed forth from mosque loudspeakers filled the air in a reminder of the Holy Land’s prominence for the major monotheistic religions.

Police presence was heavy, and before worshippers started flowing in, sappers walked through the streets sweeping cars and buildings for explosives. In the square, police carried rifles and batons.

Tourism, the economic lifeline in this city of 30,000, has been battered by Israeli-Palestinian clashes, the complex of towering concrete walls and fences Israel is building to separate itself from West Bank Palestinians, and infighting among rival Palestinian factions.

But this year, with the lull in fighting and resumption of peace talks, Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh predicts about 65,000 tourists would visit - four times the number who trickled into town for Christmas 2005.

Still, unmistakable signs of the conflict that has killed more than 4,400 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis in the past seven years made it clear that peace was not yet at hand.

Concrete walls about 25ft high enclose Bethlehem on three sides – part of the separation barrier Israel says it is building to keep out attackers from the West Bank.

Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the Roman Catholic Church’s highest official in the Holy Land, delivered a politically charged appeal for peace and love, and independence for the Palestinian people.

The Holy Land “is a land of war and conflict, and a land of humiliation of one people at the hand of another,” said Sabbah, the first Palestinian to hold his position.

“God wanted this land to be a land for all; Jews, Christians and Muslims,” he said. “Every state that is established in this land, be it Israeli or Palestinian, must understand the sweeping nature of this Holy Land, in order to be able to host whoever lives here.”