BETHLEHEM, Dec 25 (Reuters) – The bells of Bethlehem rang out under grey skies on Christmas morning across streets whose closed pastel or green shutters were like an Advent calendar that nobody had turned up to open. But Joseph Giacaman, whose family has sold souvenirs around the square for a century, said business was around 2% of pre-pandemic years. ‘OPEN HEARTS TO HOPE’1/5 Worshipers attend Christmas morning mass at Saint Catherine’s Church, in the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, December 25, 2021. But the market’s opening could not continue its momentum with no foreign coach parties to sell to. “I haven’t even celebrated this year, I didn’t get much work before so now I am taking the chance,” he said.
