Workin all Christmas blues…
Posted in Palestine on December 24th, 2006Yes, I’m sitting alone on Christmas eve, watching over my flock of servers to make sure they don’t go astray. I don’t mine the solitude so much and what the hell? I’m out of here @ 9pm so I’m not missing much. I got to watch my beloved Bears beat my beloved Lions in a barn-burner of a match in which neither team shined like the North Star over Bethlehem some 2000 years ago.
In fact, a lot has changed in Bethlehem since then:
Bethlehem’s tourist industry has been hit hard by the last six years of Israeli-Palestinian violence and by the barrier, which Israel began building in 2002, but also by internal Palestinian friction.
This Christmas is the first under a Palestinian Authority governed by the militant Islamic group Hamas. To alleviate Christian fears ahead of the holiday, Hamas promised that it would send $50,000 to decorate Manger Square in the center of town for the holiday. It was not clear if the money ever arrived.
The gloom seemed even worse for those closest to the Church of the Nativity:
Standing outside his empty souvenir shop, George Baboul said this is the “worst Christmas” he has seen in more than 30 years. Baboul’s shop, the “Bethlehem Star Store,” is in a prime location, at the side of the Church of the Nativity, but he said there is no business.
“No tourists are coming,” said Baboul, 72, who opened the shop in 1967. “I don’t know what’s the reason for that. There are no problems, Bethlehem is safe, but tourists are afraid to come.”
Heh, there are no problems:
BETHLEHEM, West Bank — George Baboul, the proprietor of a dusty souvenir shop that has seen better days, has watched his children grow up and, one by one, move abroad. Only the youngest remains.
“There’s no work, no jobs for the kids to build their future,†said Baboul, a Palestinian Christian. “There’s no peace in the Middle East, especially here.â€
Well, its the thought that counts anyway.
Merry Christmas one and all
