Crowds In Bethlehem
In what one resident calls the best tourist year in the past seven years, thousands of tourists have flocked into Bethlehem for Christmas. The crowds visited churches and landmarks, local vendors of all sorts of things did a land office business and crowds thronged the town - all peascefully.
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Dec. 24 — Encouraged by renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Christian pilgrims from around the world converged on Jesus's traditional birthplace Monday to celebrate Christmas — a palpable contrast to the sparse crowds of recent years.
The diverse crowd included festive American tourists, clergymen in brown flowing robes and Palestinian scouts wearing kilts and playing bagpipes.
"I'm Catholic. I always wanted to see the beginning of Christianity, the whole history. It's something you grow up with," said Kristin Obeck, 37 and a schoolteacher from Richmond, Va….
…Vendors hawked beads, inflatable Santas, roasted peanuts, cotton candy, steamed corn and Turkish coffee while city residents watched the festivities from balconies and rooftops.
"This year is much better than the last seven years for tourism," said shopkeeper Jacques Aman, whose wooden handicrafts shop offered crosses, rosaries and Nativity scenes. "The atmosphere is better in general. There is relative calm, from the security standpoint."
There are the usual gibes in the report, but the fact is that it has been a better Christmas than Bethelehem and the people who live there have seen in a long time.
World news | Gaius Tuesday, 25 December , 2007
By K T Cat, Tuesday, 25 December , 2007 @ 7:27 am
Merry Christmas, Gaius!