Bethlehem: Biblical City Bethlehem prepares for the second consecutive Christmas Eve struck by Coronavirus – with a small and gray crowd, the celebration of gloomy weather reducer Friday at the birthplace of traditional Jesus’ birth.
The ban on almost all air traffic entered by Israel – the main entry point for foreign visitors to the occupied West Bank – keeping international tourists for the second year in a row.
This prohibition is intended to slow down the spread of an infectious Omicron variant, which has shaken Christmas celebrations throughout the world.
Instead, the local authorities rely on the small Christian community of the Holy Land to appoint the Spirit.
The Mayor of Bethlehem, Tony Salman, said the city was optimistic that 2021 would be better than Christmas last year, when even local residents remained at home due to locking restrictions.
Bethlehem plans the return of the parade parade and traditional street celebration.
“Last year, our virtual festival, but this year will face advance with popular participation,” Salman said.
The police founded the barricade on the early Friday because Scout bands marched through Manger Square banged on drums and held a flag on the top of the expected arrival from the Latin Patriarch Pierbiartista Pizzaballa, the top Roman Catholic priest in the holy land.
Pizzaballa is scheduled to celebrate midnight mass in the nearest birth church – who accommodates the cave where Christians believe that Jesus was born.
About 100 tourists, almost all of them Palestine, flushed behind the barricade to celebrate the opportunity.
Before the pandemic, Bethlehem would host thousands of Christian pilgrims from all over the world, bringing a strong dose of holiday spirit to the city and a big jolt for the local economy.
The loss of international tourism has hit the Bethlehem hotel, restaurants and souvenir shops very difficult.