BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories — After collecting
dust for nearly two years, the 228 rooms at
Bethlehem's Ararat Hotel were
scrubbed last month in anticipation of a post-lockdown Christmas boom, hopes
that have again been dashed by the
coronavirus.
اضافة اعلان
A large Christmas tree and decorations did little to
brighten a deserted lobby.
Like other hotels in Bethlehem, the Ararat has no guests,
with the tree offering cheer to no one but the seven out of 105 employees who
have not been fired.
"We were expecting 70 percent occupancy for Christmas
but all overseas reservations have been cancelled," said Augustine
Shomali, a manager at the hotel.
The people of Bethlehem — a Palestinian city in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank where Christians believe Jesus was born — are used
to welcoming an influx of tourists each December.
After a near-total pandemic lockdown last year,
Bethlehem began to hope for a joyous Christmas when Israel, which controls all access
points to the city, announced in October that it would reopen to foreign
tourists on November 1.
But less than a month later, just as hotels were getting a
makeover and businesses were replenishing their stocks in anticipation of the
holiday season, Israel closed again after a case of the highly transmissible
Omicron variant of the virus was discovered.
Now, Shomali said the hotel is relying on the domestic
market, with only a dozen rooms booked for a
Christmas weekend that is normally
fully occupied.
"We are trying to find any point of hope," he
said. "Things are harder now."
Shomali said he closely followed news about
Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport in the hope of a reopening to tourists, but Israeli media have
reported that with the spread of Omicron the government is considering
tightening restrictions, not loosening them.
This year, like last year, midnight mass in Bethlehem on
Christmas Eve will be reserved for a small circle of people by invitation only.
One customer
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 3 million people visited
Bethlehem on average each year.
More than a fifth of the city's population is employed in
tourism, and the jobless rate has risen from 23 percent to 35 percent through
the pandemic, said Carmen Ghattas, spokeswoman for the municipality.
From her office overlooking Manger Square, where a
life-sized Nativity scene has been installed at the foot of a towering tree,
Ghattas laments she has no control over whether tourists can enter the city,
even as other nations keep their borders open to vaccinated visitors.
"Here, tourists were not given this option. Tourists
were just forbidden to enter and this affects our economy so badly," she
said.
The Palestinian Authority, the civil authority in parts of
the West Bank, is mired in an economic crisis and has only offered affected
workers in Bethlehem's hard-hit tourism sector a one-time stipend of 700
shekels ($224).
Israeli hotels and workers, by contrast, have been
compensated by the Jewish state.
"There is no work," said Afram Shaheen, sitting
outside his Armenian ceramics shop next to the Church of the Nativity, built on
the site where the faithful believe Christ was born in a manger.
"I open the shop, drink a cup of coffee, and go
home," he told AFP, smoking a cigarette.
Shaheen said that since Bethlehem became the first
Palestinian city to go into lockdown in March 2020, he has had just one
customer, a French woman who bought $23 worth of ceramics — his total sales
revenue so far during the pandemic.
Like many shop-owners catering to tourists in Bethlehem, Shaheen
is selling old merchandise.
"I didn't order anything new; there is no market, no
demand."
Next door, Nadia Hazboun sold olive wood icons and said the
city's workshops have ground to a halt.
"Many people sold their businesses," she said,
adding that in the absence of any government assistance, owners and employees
were facing debt and lawsuits.
"This lockdown is a disaster," she added,
recalling days when she closed her store late at night.
Bethlehem has survived past crises, notably waves of unrest
during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that have also dampened tourism, and
Shomali said residents were surviving on hope.
Asked if he believed next Christmas would be better, Shomali
answered, "Next Christmas? I have hope for Easter."
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