After approximately 40 days of the pandemic in Bethlehem, Easter was celebrated on 19 April 2020 in light of a full lockdown of the city and closure of the Nativity Church. This included the special evening prayer (al-Hajma) and the prayers until dawn in the church, which was presided by Bishop Theophylactos—from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate—and monks.

An Orthodox nun in the Nativity Church during Easter celebrations amidst the complete lockdown in Bethlehem.

A monk standing alone at the Nativity Grotto; the church was usually attended by thousands of visitors prior to the pandemic.

The Nativity Grotto without a single worshiper or visitor during the holy feast of Easter.

A picture from the keyhole of the Nativity Church a few minutes before reopening the church gates, after 82 days of total lockdown.

Bethlehem resident at the Nativity Grotto after 82 days of closure of the church; it was reopened for worshipers and visitors on 26 May 2020.

Jacir Palace Hotel in Bethlehem has been closed since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem has been closed since the pandemic outbreak in March 2020.

Sana Zarzar and her husband Johnny Sansour

Sana works as a local tour guide and her husband also works with tourists through his Eastern antiques store. Tourism is this family’s sole source of income. Both have been idle since the COVID-19 outbreak. In their view, the worst thing about the pandemic is the tons of ineffective free time. The best thing has been finding more time for the family and for practicing hobbies that they had no time for before. Sana has a special passion for writing. Before the pandemic, she would dedicate special time to write reflections. She has now found the opportunity to complete her poetry collection in the hopes it will soon be ready for publication.

Mahmoud Jamal Abu-Hammad

Mahmoud has been working in tourist hotels and restaurants for the last 15 years. He always feared that a war could disrupt the course of his life, especially since we are a people under occupation. However, he never imagined an obstacle like the spread of a pandemic. Mahmoud was completely unemployed from March 7 to June 2020. Also, he did not have any savings as he worked for his daily wage. Therefore, he could not continue working in this field in light of the current crisis. He sought another field of work to support his family, deciding to learn to become a barber. Afterwards, he opened a small barbershop.

Caritas Baby Hospital (CBH)

Caritas Baby Hospital (CBH) is the West Bank’s only children’s hospital. Annually, around 50,000 treatments are offered by CBH to Palestinian children, irrespective of their background or ability to pay treatment fees. Tourist groups and visiting pilgrims are among its most important local revenue sources.

Saint Elias Hotel – Raed Atrash

In the beginning of 2019, three brothers from the Atrash family, together with their close friends from the Qumsiyeh family, aimed to establish Saint Elias Hotel. They initiated the excavation and licensing, as well as installing the foundation and pouring the concrete to build the hotel, which will contain 342 rooms on 12 floors. Their goal was to invest money in the country towards maintaining the presence of Palestinian youth by providing job opportunities to them and reducing their emigration as a national duty and personal responsibility. Prior to the pandemic, the plan was to inaugurate the hotel at the end of 2020. However, due to the spreading pandemic and the related closures, many works were disrupted, and the hotel completion and handover dates were changed. In spite of that, they did not lose hope. Their eyes are still set on establishing this hotel. They are continuing their activities with hopes that the tourism and hotel businesss will return in the near future.

Shamma Rishmawi

For the last 30 years, Shamma has been hosting visitors and tourists in her house in Beit Sahour. She has a private room that she rents out to tourists who want to both visit the city and spend some valuable time with a Palestinian family. Shamma and her husband were depending on this as the main source of family income. In fact, they were coordinating with local tourism offices in order to host tourist groups. Shamma’s work is distinctive as she provides tourists with the special experience of staying with a Palestinian family and eating local dishes, while holding discussions and familiarising them with the living conditions of Palestinian people and their daily suffering. However, their source of income came to a halt after the pandemic. They currently depend on their only son’s support.

Afteem al-Yafawi Restaurant

This restaurant is owned by a family from Jaffa, who were displaced and sought refuge in Bethlehem in 1948. Initially, it was run by five brothers, and is now managed by cousins after their parents passed away. The restaurant is famous in Palestine in general and Bethlehem in particular. Until the end of 2019, the work was suitable for the family. However, the work was greatly affected after the pandemic. This was especially because Bethlehem mainly depends on the tourism sector, which suffered a heavy blow. Many of the restaurant’s customers are tourists and the restaurant’s sales significantly decreased in light of the pandemic.

Tareq and Kristel

The couple had to completely close down Singer Café and al-Jisser bar in Beit Sahour from March to June 2020. Work has been intermittent since June, in line with local government instructions and recommendations for working hours. Sometimes their work is only delivery-based or they must close at 7 p.m. during weekdays and stay closed on weekends. They were unable to afford the costs of keeping all their employees and were forced to lay some off.

Sami

Sami is a popular coffee vendor on Star Street, only a few metres away from Bethlehem’s Nativity Church. He is known for welcoming visitors and tourists with a cheerful face. However, there are currently no tourists wandering the streets of Bethlehem, drinking Sami’s coffee or special tea mixed with herbs. Sami used to rely on tourist customers at his small café as a main source of income to support his family. In addition to his work with tourists, Sami distributes coffee and tea to shops and Eastern antique stores adjacent to the Nativity Church. However, his sales greatly plummeted after the continued closures in lieu of the pandemic. In spite of the substantial losses and challenges, Sami has not lost his smile and laughter, and the sound of his singing can still be heard in the alleyways of Star street.

Victor Tabash

Victor is the owner of a souvenir shop in Nativity Square, approximately 35 metres from Nativity Church. His late father, Epiphan Tabash, started this business in 1927 and Victor took on his father’s work in 1964. Victor has worked in the souvenir shop for about 56 years and he hopes that his two children will continue in his footsteps. Before the pandemic, work was excellent, as Victor was selling olive wood and shells. However, his business experienced a great slowdown following the lockdown. In spite of that, Victor still comes to his shop to clean it up and do some arrangements that he was unable to do before the pandemic.

Bassem Malki

Bassem has been working in the fields of artifacts, antiques and ancient heritage for more than 25 years. His work is located in Ras Fteis Street in Bethlehem. Bassem’s business was 90% affected by the pandemic. Sales have greatly plummeted since COVID-19 because most of his sales depend on tourists and not locals. Prior to the pandemic, Bassem had plans to expand his shop and operations to showcase the beauty of his authentic artifacts. However, these plans changed after the coronavirus outbreak. But, despite the closures and low sales, he still goes to work and sits in his shop due to his love and passion for what he does.

Chef Fadi Kattan

Before the spread of the pandemic at the end of February 2020, the Syriac Quarter (known as Hosh al-Syrian) was bustling with activity. At the time, the staff there was preparing to launch a restaurant in March 2020. Fadi used to enthusiastically talk about new projects, menus and room renovations. But on 7 March 2020, Hosh al-Syrian was closed down due to COVID-19, and all reservations were completely cancelled. Nevertheless, Fadi turned these difficult times into an opportunity to present dishes in a different manner through using creative methods to share his joy and experience in cooking and preparing Palestinian dishes. He also launched a podcast called Sabah Al Yasmine, as well as Food and Stories from Bethlehem and Teta’s Kitchen.

View of Beit Sahour during the lockdown. In 2020, Beit Sahour was recognised by UNESCO as a World Craft City in olive wood crafts. However, olive wood workshops are currently not operating due to the pandemic.

Susan Sahouri

Susan is the founder and Executive Director of Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans (BFTA). She is based in Beit Sahour. Founded in 2009, BFTA was established as an umbrella organisation for emerging artisans. The town of the shepherd’s field, Beit Sahour, is famous for its olive wood, and most olive wood workshops are located there. BFTA is among the leading organisations exporting Palestinian crafts and not only those related to olive wood. Its exports include embroidery, glass recycling, Jamal traditional soap from Nablus, and ceramics from Hebron. Therefore, the organisation highlights Palestinian products and exports them abroad. Sales saw a 45% decline during the pandemic. Since orders were no longer being made from foreign parties, the work of many artisans and craftspeople was largely affected. Artisans in the field of olive wood were most affected by the pandemic because they depend on selling their products through souvenir shops and foreign exports. This is usually their only source of income. A worrying factor in this respect is the loss of the Palestinian olive wood craft in the coming years. Many artisans are being forced to move to other jobs, such as becoming laborers in Israel or opening a minimarket or clothes store, which might provide a better income for them than the olive wood market. This might make it difficult for them to perform olive wood crafts later since the income from other jobs is generally higher. Susan is concerned that this craft might disappear in the long run, especially due to the absence of training centres to pass on this profession to future generations.

Reda Elias Gharib Bannoura

Reda currently works in embroidery. In the past, she used to work as a nurse at St. John’s Eye Hospital in Jerusalem. However, after the denial of permits to Jerusalem, Reda resorted to embroidery to support her family and help her husband. Reda works with 50 seamstresses from different villages and refugee camps in the Bethlehem governorate. She markets her embroidery through souvenir shops in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, as well as selling them through the Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans organisation, which helps Reda market her products in light of the current pandemic. Following the COVID-19 lockdown, Reda and her co-workers lost their primary sources of income, as they heavily depend on the embroidery to support their families. There are also many stockpiled goods that have not been sold due to the pandemic.

Khader Hawwash

Khader is the owner of an olive wood workshop that had 10 employees before the pandemic. But today, the workshop only has two employees working intermittently. Before the spread of the pandemic in March 2020, Khader and his team members had prepared about 50-60 tons of olive wood to be marketed and sold at Easter. However, the months-long closures following the pandemic made the products pile up. They were eventually stockpiled and could neither be sold locally nor internationally. And since one cannot store olive wood for long periods of time due to the risk of spoilage and damage, Khader was forced—after seven months of closure—to sell it as firewood for half of the original cost. Losses were not only suffered through stockpiled goods, but also through machine malfunctions due to long periods of inactivity and the need for costly maintenance.

بAfter seven months of the pandemic, Khader Hawwash was forced to cut up his olive wood and sell it as firewood for half of the original cost. Losses were not only suffered through stockpiled goods, but also through machine malfunctions due to long periods of inactivity and the need for costly maintenance.

Cutting up olive wood and selling it as firewood for fear of its spoilage and damage after months of complete lockdown.

Most olive wood workshops are completely shut down, while others keep a very limited number of intermittent workers to operate the machines for fear of malfunctions.

Tons of olive wood products were stockpiled in workshop warehouses and could neither be sold locally nor internationally.

A protest in front of the Nativity Church by tourism sector workers most affected by the pandemic. The protestors raised placards that called on the government to take action on their difficult situation.

During the protest, some placards highlighted the difficult situation that the handcraft and artisanal industries faced and the fate of families who earn their livelihoods from them.

A number of security personnel and journalists attending the Christmas tree lighting on 5 December 2020, without the presence of the city’s residents and visitors. This was an uncommon scene for such a day. Arrangements were made to broadcast the celebration on TV to allow people to remotely watch the event.

The lighting of the Christmas tree in Bethlehem under peculiar circumstances; attendance was limited to religious clerics and leading Bethlehemite personalities.

A street vendor in Nativity Square during the Christmas season when all aspects of the holidays were cancelled.

A scout group walking in the streets of Bethlehem with almost no residents or visitors during Christmas celebrations according to the Gregorian calendar on 24 December 2020.

A scout member wearing a mask during the scout parade in a quite unfamiliar scene in Bethlehem.

Scouts parading in the streets of Bethlehem in light of unprecedented security measures to restrict celebrations and prevent people from gathering in order to preserve social distancing and public health.

Catholic nuns during the midnight Christmas mass at St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem.

Christmas celebrations according to the Julian calendar on 6 January 2021. Only about 15 clergymen of different denominations were allowed to be present inside the Nativity Church. It should be noted that, on this day, the church is usually attended by thousands of people, including local residents and foreign visitors.

An Orthodox monk in the Nativity Church during the Christmas season, while the city was under a complete lockdown.

A servant of the Church of Nativity at the Nativity Grotto during the Christmas season in light of a full lockdown in Bethlehem.

An Orthodox nun in the Church of Nativity during Christmas season in light of a full lockdown in Bethlehem.

A view of Bethlehem and Star Street without any residents, visitors or tourists during the Christmas season, which would otherwise be overcrowded.