Exodus leaves Bethlehem a ghost of Christmases past

In the town where Christians believe Christ was born, the Christians are leaving. Four years of violence, an economic free fall and the Isra...

In the town where Christians believe Christ was born, the Christians are leaving. Four years of violence, an economic free fall and the Israeli separation barrier have all contributed to the hardships facing Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem, one of the largest concentrations of Christians in the region.

An estimated 3,000 Christians in the Bethlehem area have moved abroad since the Palestinian uprising began in 2000, according to Bernard Sabella, an associate professor of sociology at Bethlehem University, who has tracked the issue. While some others put the number a bit lower, there is a consensus that 10 per cent or more of the Christian population in Bethlehem and two adjoining towns has departed.

The continuing exodus has left Christians accounting for only about 21,500 of the 60,000 Palestinian residents in the area, or about 35 per cent, according to Sabella. ‘‘Christians all over the world need to know this reality,” said Hanna Nasser, a Christian who is the mayor of Bethlehem. ‘‘If there is not a breakthrough in the peace process, this trend will continue. Imagine the town of Bethlehem without Christians.”

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Bethlehem’s central square should be packed for Christmas celebrations, but the tourists and pilgrims stopped coming when the fighting began. ‘‘For four years there has been no business, no way to earn a living,” said Saleh Michel, 88, a Catholic.

For decades Michel ran a recession-proof family business. His musty souvenir shop, the Bethlehem Oriental Store, is less than 10 paces from one of Christendom’s most important shrines, the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where tradition holds that Jesus was born.

Yet Michel rarely opens these days, and one of his adult sons has moved to Italy. ‘‘I asked him to stay,” Michel recalled. He said, ‘‘Then feed me. He had no choice but to leave and find work elsewhere.” The gloom stands in stark contrast to the mood five years ago. Back then, the stone square outside the Church of the Nativity was overflowing with tourists for Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. —NYT