Unrest puts damper on Christmas festivities

Restoration of Israel-Turkey ties seen

BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories, Dec 18, (Agencies): Near the church in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, built over the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, tour guides pace back and forth, waiting in vain for tourist buses that fail to show.

Hisham Khamis, a guide for 10 years, stands forlorn under a huge Christmas tree decorated in the black, white, red and green colours of the Palestinian flag.

In recent years “at least 60-70 buses would arrive every morning,” he said. “These days... there are four or five, occasionally 10.”

Bethlehem is preparing for the traditional midnight Christmas mass at the Church of the Nativity, but the atmosphere this year is less than festive.

A wave of violence and protests has deterred many tourists from making the annual pilgrimage to the ancient city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, though much of the unrest has occurred away from Bethlehem, usually considered a safe destination.

Even so, clashes between stone-throwing young Palestinians and Israeli troops have raged outside Bethlehem hotels, already badly hit by a drop in guests since Israel built a West Bank separation wall that forces visitors from nearby Jerusalem to go through a military checkpoint to get to the town.

On a recent day, the smell of teargas and a foul-smelling spray known as “skunk”, which the Israeli army uses against protesters, still hung heavy in the air.

Palestinian officials say Bethlehem hotels that are usually 80-90 percent full at this time of year have not reached even half that level.

The drop is a major concern for a city that lives largely on tourism and where unemployment exceeds 20 percent. In another development, expectations that Turkey and Israel will restore relations after a five-year-old rift have raised hopes of speedy progress in talks to import Israeli natural gas, potentially a multi-billion-dollar project.

Israel’s once-strong ties to Turkey soured in 2010 when Israeli commandoes killed 10 Turkish activists when storming the Mavi Marmara, a ship in a convoy seeking to break an Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Turkey, largely dependent on imports for its energy needs, has ramped up efforts to find new sources of natural gas due to worsening tensions with Russia after Turkish forces shot down a Russian warplane involved in bombing rebels in northern Syria near the Turkish border last month.

Israeli officials said a deal to normalise relations came after high-level bilateral talks in Switzerland. A Turkish official confirmed the talks, saying they continued positively but denying a final deal was done as yet.

Even during the rift, plans to build a pipeline and import natural gas from Israel’s vast Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea were never shelved, a Turkish source close to the talks told Reuters.

An empty restaurant terrace and a souvenir shop are pictured on Manger Square in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Dec 16. Clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli troops have raged outside Bethlehem hotels, already badly hit by a drop in guests since Israel built a West Bank separation wall that forces visitors from nearby Jerusalem to go through a military checkpoint to

get to the town. (AFP)