BETHLEHEM, DECEMBER 24 (BUS): The biblical city of Bethlehem is preparing for its second coronavirus-hit Christmas Eve – with small crowds and gloomy gray weather tempering festivities on Friday in Jesus’ traditional birthplace.
Israel’s ban on nearly all incoming air traffic – the main entry point for foreign visitors heading to the occupied West Bank – has kept international tourists away for the second year in a row.
The ban aims to slow the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant, which has rocked Christmas celebrations around the world, the AP reports.
Instead, local authorities were relying on the small Christian community in the Holy Land to raise morale.
Bethlehem’s mayor, Anton Salman, said the town is optimistic that 2021 will be better than Christmas last year, when local residents stayed home due to lockdown restrictions. Bethlehem has planned a return to its traditional music parades and street celebrations.
“Last year, our festival was virtual, but this year it will be face to face with popular participation,” Salman said.
Police set up barricades early Friday as scouts marched through Manger Square, banging drums and carrying flags, before the arrival of Latin Patriarch Berbattista Pizzaballa, the chief Catholic clergy in the Holy Land, from Jerusalem.
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