JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Coronavirus dampens Christmas joy in biblical Bethlehem

by

1282 days ago
20211224

By JACK JEF­FERY | AS­SO­CI­AT­ED PRESS

 

BETH­LE­HEM, West Bank (AP) — The bib­li­cal town of Beth­le­hem is gear­ing up for its sec­ond straight Christ­mas Eve hit by the coro­n­avirus -- with small crowds and gray, gloomy weath­er damp­en­ing cel­e­bra­tions Fri­day in the tra­di­tion­al birth­place of Je­sus.

A ban on near­ly all in­com­ing air traf­fic by Is­rael -- the main en­try point for for­eign vis­i­tors head­ing to the oc­cu­pied West Bank -- kept in­ter­na­tion­al tourists away for a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year. The ban is meant to slow the spread of the high­ly con­ta­gious omi­cron vari­ant, which has shak­en Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tions around the world.

In­stead, lo­cal au­thor­i­ties were count­ing on the Holy Land’s small Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ty to lift spir­its.

Beth­le­hem’s may­or, An­ton Salman, said the town was op­ti­mistic that 2021 would be bet­ter than last year’s Christ­mas, when even lo­cal res­i­dents stayed home due to lock­down re­stric­tions. Beth­le­hem planned a re­turn of its tra­di­tion­al march­ing band pa­rades and street cel­e­bra­tions.

“Last year, our fes­ti­val was vir­tu­al, but this year it will be face to face with pop­u­lar par­tic­i­pa­tion,” Salman said.

Po­lice erect­ed bar­ri­cades ear­ly Fri­day as scout bands marched through Manger Square bang­ing drums and hold­ing flags ahead of the ex­pect­ed ar­rival from Jerusalem of Latin Pa­tri­arch Pier­bat­tista Piz­z­a­bal­la, the top Ro­man Catholic cler­gy­man in the Holy Land.

Piz­z­a­bal­la was sched­uled to cel­e­brate Mid­night Mass at the near­by Church of the Na­tiv­i­ty — which hous­es the grot­to where Chris­tians be­lieve Je­sus was born.

By mid­day, sev­er­al hun­dred peo­ple, near­ly all of them Pales­tini­ans, milled about be­hind the bar­ri­cades to cel­e­brate the oc­ca­sion.

Be­fore the pan­dem­ic, Beth­le­hem would host thou­sands of Chris­t­ian pil­grims from around the world, bring­ing a strong dose of hol­i­day spir­it to the town and a huge jolt to the lo­cal econ­o­my. The loss of in­ter­na­tion­al tourism, the lifeblood of Beth­le­hem’s econ­o­my, has hit ho­tels, restau­rants and gift shops es­pe­cial­ly hard.

“Un­der nor­mal con­di­tions for this time of year, I usu­al­ly have a 20-me­ter queue out­side,” said Adil Abu Nayaf, own­er of an emp­ty food stall in Manger Square.

Those who at­tend­ed tried to make the best of a dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tion. The Holy Land is home to over 200,000 Chris­tians, a small but tight-knit com­mu­ni­ty that makes up an es­ti­mat­ed 1% to 2% of the pop­u­la­tion in Is­rael and the oc­cu­pied West Bank. There are al­so thou­sands of for­eign la­bor­ers and African mi­grants, as well as diplo­mats and jour­nal­ists.

Bil­ly Stu­art, an em­ploy­ee at the British Con­sulate in Jerusalem, said his ex­pe­ri­ence in Beth­le­hem was up­lift­ing, de­spite the small­er-than-hoped-for crowds.

“The pa­rade is amaz­ing, and I did not re­al­ize there were so many Pales­tin­ian bag pipers,” he said.

COVID-19Religion


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

Hardbargain Primary School’s Poolmatee Bachoo, right, receives a donation of books from Trinre’s human resource and administration manager Simone Aguilera-Hay.

Hardbargain Primary School’s Poolmatee Bachoo, right, receives a donation of books from Trinre’s human resource and administration manager Simone Aguilera-Hay.

Hardbargain Primary School’s Poolmatee Bachoo, right, receives a donation of books from Trinre’s human resource and administration manager Simone Aguilera-Hay.

Hardbargain Primary School’s Poolmatee Bachoo, right, receives a donation of books from Trinre’s human resource and administration manager Simone Aguilera-Hay.

Trinre donates books to Hardbargain Govt

20 hours ago
DADA & Projects member Marielle Forbes, from left, architect Sean Leonard; Aripo Community Council vice president Harold Diaz; Aripo Community Council president James Valentine; Nigel Moses; DADA & projects director Valerie Taylor, artist Dean Arlen, DADA & Projects director Adele Todd and DADA & projects programme assistant Vatika Lalchan after the launch of a treehouse at the Aripo Community Centre.

DADA & Projects member Marielle Forbes, from left, architect Sean Leonard; Aripo Community Council vice president Harold Diaz; Aripo Community Council president James Valentine; Nigel Moses; DADA & projects director Valerie Taylor, artist Dean Arlen, DADA & Projects director Adele Todd and DADA & projects programme assistant Vatika Lalchan after the launch of a treehouse at the Aripo Community Centre.

MARIELA BRUZUAL

DADA & Projects member Marielle Forbes, from left, architect Sean Leonard; Aripo Community Council vice president Harold Diaz; Aripo Community Council president James Valentine; Nigel Moses; DADA & projects director Valerie Taylor, artist Dean Arlen, DADA & Projects director Adele Todd and DADA & projects programme assistant Vatika Lalchan after the launch of a treehouse at the Aripo Community Centre.

DADA & Projects member Marielle Forbes, from left, architect Sean Leonard; Aripo Community Council vice president Harold Diaz; Aripo Community Council president James Valentine; Nigel Moses; DADA & projects director Valerie Taylor, artist Dean Arlen, DADA & Projects director Adele Todd and DADA & projects programme assistant Vatika Lalchan after the launch of a treehouse at the Aripo Community Centre.

MARIELA BRUZUAL

Aripo treehouse showcases art and design

Yesterday
Cuatrista Richard Nurse

Cuatrista Richard Nurse

Cuatrista Richard Nurse

Cuatrista Richard Nurse

‘Timeless’ golden music from Louis and the Lynx

Yesterday
Amrit Samaroo, middle row right, performing during the South Carolina Festival of Steel with South Carolina University’s CalypSamba.

Amrit Samaroo, middle row right, performing during the South Carolina Festival of Steel with South Carolina University’s CalypSamba.

Amrit Samaroo, middle row right, performing during the South Carolina Festival of Steel with South Carolina University’s CalypSamba.

Amrit Samaroo, middle row right, performing during the South Carolina Festival of Steel with South Carolina University’s CalypSamba.

Amrit Samaroo completes South Carolina steelpan residency

2 days ago