Little town of Bethlehem

Bethlehem prepares for Christmas, hoping for a peaceful and financially successful season.

By JUDITH SUDILOVSKY
Bethlehem (photo credit: nasser shiyoukhi / ap)
Bethlehem
(photo credit: nasser shiyoukhi / ap)
AS A SPANISH-SPEAKING GROUP of pilgrims from California and Mexico finishes prayers at the grotto in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, a tour guide brings a Russian couple down the stairs to the 14-pointed star that denotes the very spot where, according to tradition, Jesus was born.
Father Filiberto Barrera, on his 11th pilgrimage to the Holy Land, reminds his charges about the significance of the place as the tour guide recants history in a loud Russian whisper. On the main floor above, groups of Nigerian and Indian pilgrims dutifully listen to their own guides who describe the early 4th century floor mosaics and marble pillars.
“Coming to Bethlehem is always an exceptionally emotional experience,” says Barrera, as his group climbs the steep stairs out of the grotto. “We feel extremely safe here; the police outside are doing their job well.” He says had decided to change the itinerary and return to Bethlehem for a second time because they wanted to experience again the “simplicity of the birth of Jesus.”
“We feel holy in this place. We feel as if we are in heaven,” says Nigerian pilgrim Lokagang Pam Johnson, 39, as he snaps photographs of his friends. The Nigerian government subsidizes pilgrimages to the Holy Land for all its citizens, both Christian and Muslim, enabling even the poorest to visit their holy sites.
But the lines in mid-December are modest compared to those just two weeks before, when pilgrims found themselves waiting up to two hours in order to catch a glimpse of the revered site, says street vendor Khaled Omar, 47, who has been in business for a third of a century.
“Thank God it has been a good year,” he says with a broad smile as he arranges his wares of embroidered tote bags and colorful beaded necklaces along a wall next to the church.
One small shop owner who asked not to give his name puts down his phone after coordinating with an Israeli tour guide for the arrival of a small group through an IDF checkpoint. “This is the best it has been since 2000,” he says.
Tourists from Russia have been so numerous that shops employ Russian-speaking salespeople and stock up on souvenirs, such as religious icons and gold cross pendants. “They don’t like olive wood,” notes Carlos Bandak, an employee at a new branch of the Three Arches Store, which caters exclusively to Russian pilgrims.
The biggest spenders are the Indonesians, who like to buy olive wood carvings and “lots of jewelry,” notes Balqees Qumsieh, another employee at the store. Americans come in third, normally purchasing religious olive wood carvings.
Some 10,000 pilgrims and tourists are expected to come through Bethlehem for this year’s Christmas holiday, says Dr. Samir Hazboun, chairman of the board of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce. Hotels are reporting full occupancy for the week of December 20-26.
Since midnight mass at the Catholic Church of Saint Catherine can accommodate a maximum of 2,000 worshipers, Hazboun notes that most visitors will spend Christmas Eve outside the church in Manger Square. “We see this as good news for the region,” he says, adding that the recent rains after the long dry period have also lifted people’s spirits.
According to statistics from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, some 2.4 million Christian pilgrims are expected to have visited Israel by the end of the year, almost double the number from 2009. The great majority also visit Bethlehem.
However, Palestinian tourism professionals have long complained that most are shuttled in and out of the city, with little opportunity to patronize smaller shops and eateries.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, tourists and pilgrims need to stay in Bethlehem three to four nights to effectively contribute to the growth of the Palestinian Authority’s nascent tourism industry.
Since 1995, Christmas pilgrims have made their way to Bethlehem through the Israeli checkpoint near Rachel’s Tomb. Several thousand local Christians are issued special one-month travel permits that allow them to travel in and out of Bethlehem to visit friends and family in other cities, including Jerusalem and Nazareth.
“We believe any good gesture will work for the benefit of all,” Hazboun adds. “We hope in the near future we will be celebrating Christmas in a more peaceful way and that peace will prevail throughout the Middle East.”
On a warm December morning, tour buses make their way from the Israeli checkpoint through light Bethlehem traffic toward the Church of the Nativity. Some park in front of the souvenir shops, and as lunchtime approaches, others maneuver to park in front of restaurants.
“It is hard to process that we are actually in Bethlehem,” says Joyce Robillard, 47, of Muncie, Indiana, whose bus has just pulled up to one of the shops before reaching the Church of the Nativity. She holds an empty wicker basket as she and her 19-year-old daughter, Taylor, eye olive wood carvings. “It’s a life-changing experience. We will always remember we were here around Christmas.”
Although tourism is up, Shadi Abu Aita, who opened a shop eight months ago a few hundred meters from the Israeli checkpoint, notes that the world economy has taken its toll on visitors’ purchasing power. “If the stability continues, we will have a good season next year,” he says, as a bus stops outside his gleaming shop and middle-aged German tourists stream in. “The most important thing is stability.”