Quiet Bethlehem Christmas: Less business, more religion
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Quiet Bethlehem Christmas means less business, more religion
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Tuesday, 22 December, 2020 - 05:45
A Palestinian shop-owner arranges christmas decorations at her shop in the West Bank city of Bethlehem - AFP Asharq Al-Awsat
Deprived of its usual tourist influx by the pandemic, Bethlehem will celebrate a quiet Christmas this year that is less about commerce and more about religion, says its parish priest.
In a normal year hundreds of thousands of visitors flood the Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, located less than 10 kilometres (six miles) from Jerusalem.
Those seeking a quiet moment of contemplation in the Church of Nativity generally have to use their elbows to manoeuvre through the crowds.