For decades, the people of Bethlehem have watched tour buses drive up to the Church of the Nativity, disgorge their passengers for a few hours at the traditional birthplace of Jesus, and then return to Israel.
But in recent years a new form of tourism has taken root, focused on the West Bank town’s Palestinian residents, their culture and history and their struggles under Israeli occupation.
in recent years have saved the roof from collapse and revealed colorful wall mosaics depicting angels and saints.This month, the Vatican returned a small part of what Christians believe to be the original manger, which was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope in the 7th century. The, displayed in an ornate silver case, can be seen in a chapel adjoining the church.
“The general situation in Palestine and the Holy Land is that there is very good security, better than most countries in the world, and so the people are visiting,” said Elias Arja, chairman of the local hotel association.He noted that while the Holy Land is home to the most important sites in Christianity, including the places where tradition says Christ was born, where he grew up, was crucified and resurrected, it attracts far fewer visitors than the Vatican.
Visitors traveling to Bethlehem pass through a sprawling Israeli checkpoint and then drive along the separation wall, which Israel began building during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in the early 2000s. Israel says the barrier is needed to prevent attacks, but the Palestinians view it as a land grab because its route places almost 10% of the West Bank on the Israeli side. Bethlehem is almost completely surrounded by the barrier and a string of Jewish settlements.
The Hosh Al-Syrian Guesthouse includes 12 tastefully furnished rooms ranging from $80 to $150 a night. At its Fawda Restaurant — Arabic for chaos — Kattan uses local ingredients to cook up traditional Palestinian cuisine with a modern twist.“My vision was to say religious tourism will promote itself by itself, it doesn’t need the private sector to promote it,” he said. “Let’s promote everything else. Let’s promote our food, let’s promote our culture, let’s promote our history.
“What I was hoping to achieve is to have people stay three nights in Bethlehem, to have people go to the fruit and vegetable market, to have people meet the people of Bethlehem, not just the very short tour into the city,” he said.
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