It is really shocking that Bethlehem, which was once the attraction of tourists during Christmas, is not attracting anybody right now. Bethlehem happens to be a Palestinian town that has been under the attack of the Israelis at present. As a result, the restaurants and hotels have become deserted during Christmas.
There is a fact that on October 7, the Hamas terrorists attacked the southern part of Israel and the Israelis retaliated by attacking Gaza. Following this, the Palestinian town of Bethlehem has been reeling under the assault of the Israelis which has led to this situation.
Joey Canavati, the owner of the Alexander Hotel
Here, we would like to mention the situation of Joey Canavati who owns the Alexander Hotel in Bethlehem. According to him, his family has been working in the city for four generations and right now there is no hope for individuals in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas. Nobody is coming to his hotel and there are no guests whatsoever. As a result, the Christmas spirit is completely down and it is quite depressive out there. He also asserted that before October 7, he used to have lots of guests in his hotel and he had to help them to find other accommodations in Bethlehem since his hotel was already full. But the thing has completely changed right now. Canavati also mentioned that the guests were only canceling their bookings, much to his frustration. He was only receiving email after email mentioning that the bookings of the guests needed to be canceled.
Surge in attacks
In the war of 1967, Israel had a conflict with the neighboring Arabian countries, and as a result of the war, Israel succeeded in occupying the West Bank. However, right now the Palestinians are demanding the West Bank as a future independent state.
It is a fact that there are many Jewish settlements in Israel which many countries did not approve at all. However, Israel has said that it was perfectly okay on religious grounds. In fact, many Israeli ministers were also residing in those Jewish settlements.
Finally, on 7 October and since then, the Jewish settlers attacked Palestine on the West Bank. Tourists and locals usually observe Christmas in Manger Square of Bethlehem which happens to be a large area in front of the Church of the Nativity. However, the sad thing is that this area has been deserted since October 7.
Rony Tabash is an individual in Bethlehem who is in the habit of setting various types of religious crucifixes and statuettes related to Christ. However, he has also asserted that he does not have any solution but to somehow spend his time since his retail outlet is not attracting any purchasers at present. He is keeping his shop open so as to get rid of frustration.
