The government said it had taken steps to confer legal status on the four outposts, which have been slated for demolition since 2003, in response to a petition submitted to the supreme court by the Israeli settlement monitoring organisation Peace Now.Officials draw a distinction between about 120 West Bank settlements whose construction was approved by the government, and dozens of small unauthorised hilltop outposts, invariably populated by young, hardline ideologically and religiously driven settlers. Under international law, all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal.

The legalisation move is likely to increase already widespread pessimism over the chances of success for Kerry’s mission to revive the moribund peace process. Settlement expansion is a key deterrent to the Palestinians returning to the negotiating table.

Yariv Oppenheimer, the director of Peace Now, said: “Instead of defending Israel’s interest, the defence minister is defending the security of the hilltop youth. This is a slap in the face to the efforts of the US secretary of state to restart negotiations.”

Last week preliminary approval was given to the construction of 300 housing units at the settlement of Beit El, close to the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The announcement was made despite reports that the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, had agreed to an unannounced short-term de facto moratorium on settlement construction while Kerry pursued his peace mission.

Meanwhile, attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property have risen since the murder of Eviator Borovzky, 30, in the West Bank just over a fortnight ago.

This week, Muslim graves in the village of Sawiya have been vandalised, wheat fields near the village of Beit Furik have been torched, and 1,200 olive saplings near Akraba have been uprooted, according to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settler attacks.

The latest development was the targeting of Palestinian schools, he said. An attempt to set fire to a school Ein Yabous village was thwarted this week by security guards, and settlers had thrown stones at school buses. “People are really upset and frightened,” he said.

Graffiti was sprayed on the walls of a mosque and several cars were torched in Umm al-Qutuf, an Arab village in Israel near the Green Line, Israel Radio reported. The public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovich, viewed the attacks with gravity and said police were hunting for those responsible.

Israeli security officials declined to comment on a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s biggest-selling newspaper, that an emergency meeting between Shin Bet officials and government ministers, including Aharonovich, justice minister Tzipi Livni and attorney general Yehuda Weinstein had been called to discuss rising extremism among hardline settlers.

Suspects would be treated as terrorists, said the report, and could be subject to restraining orders. The funding of violent activities by settlers would be targeted.

Security sources said that since the beginning of 2012, 33 administrative orders have been issued against rightwing extremists, ordering them to leave the West Bank for varying periods. The orders, signed at the request of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, have been issued to Israelis considered a potential risk to the security and stability of the region, the sources said.

About half a million settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, of whom a tiny minority engage in violent attacks on Palestinians.

By arrangement with the Guardian

Shin Bet officials have been given approval for such action in what they deem to be exceptional cases by Israel’s attorney-general, Yehuda Weinstein, despite a petition to overrule the measure by a leading civil rights group.

“The threat of using foreign citizens for terrorist purposes is a growing trend,” said Nadim Avod, a lawyer in the attorney-general’s office.
“Searching an email account is to be carried out in exceptional cases only after suspicious or pertinent information has been identified.”

However, the examination of email accounts must be carried out in the presence of the individual.

The authorisation stopped short of permitting security officers to demand passwords or other information that would allow email accounts to be accessed by Shin Bet officers.

Emails may be examined for incriminating information, which may be relevant to public or national security, wrote Avod. Foreign travellers can refuse to co-operate, but may be denied entry as a result.

The attorney-general’s approval of the measure follows a petition lodged by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), based on media reports of individuals being requested to disclose email correspondence during interrogation at Ben Gurion airport.

One case reported by AP concerned Sandra Tamari, a 42-year-old American citizen of Palestinian descent, who was suspected of being a pro-Palestinian activist. Tamari declined to give Shin Bet officials access to her email account and was refused entry to Israel.

Lila Margalit, a lawyer for ACRI, said: “’Consent’, given under threat of deportation, cannot serve as a basis for such a drastic invasion of privacy. In today’s world, access to a person’s email account is akin to access to their innermost thoughts and personal lives. Allowing security agents to take such invasive measures at their own discretion and on the basis of such flimsy consent is not befitting of a democracy.”

Security at Ben Gurion airport is notoriously rigorous. Passengers are routinely questioned on the purpose of their visit, luggage is frequently searched by hand and some travellers are forced to undergo strip-searches.

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Meanwhile Gaza militants fired rockets towards Israel for the third consecutive day in a move that threatens to trigger a fresh cycle of violence after almost five months of calm since the eight-day war last November.

Following two Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight on Wednesday, the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, warned that the country would not tolerate renewed rocket fire. “If the quiet is violated we will respond strongly,” he said.

The unrest in the West Bank and resumed rocket fire from Gaza will complicate efforts by the US secretary of state to bring both parties back to the negotiating table after more than two and a half years without talks. John Kerry is due to arrive in the Holy Land at the weekend, which follows Barack Obama’s visit last month, during which the US president called for peace.

Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, who died on Tuesday, three days after being transferred from an Israeli prison to hospital, was given a military funeral in his home town of Hebron, one of the most volatile cities in the West Bank.

Abu Hamdiyeh, a former senior figure in the Palestinian security forces, had been serving a life sentence for his involvement in the attempted bombing of a Jerusalem cafe. Palestinian leaders accused Israel of medical negligence for failing to provide him with prompt and adequate treatment.

Thousands of mourners packed into the streets around the Abu Aisha mosque before carrying Abu Hamdiyeh’s body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag with his head swathed in a black and white keffiyeh, to the Shuhada (martyrs’) cemetery.

Mourners jostled to kiss Abu Hamdiyeh’s face or touch his shroud as his body was lowered into its grave and masked gunmen fired over the crowd.

Echoing claims of Israeli negligence, Itidal Abu Hamdiyeh, the sister of the dead prisoner, said her brother had been shackled to his bed when dying “even though he could not move his body” and had only been given pain-relief medication despite the cancer diagnosis.

“My brother is a symbol because he worked in the resistance since he was a young man, for about 45 years,” she said.

After the funeral Palestinian youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers close to an extremist Jewish settlement in the heart of the city. The Israeli military responded with teargas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. Abdullah al-Nashe, 13, whose eyes were streaming as a result of teargas, said he was angry at Hamdiyeh’s death and hoped throwing stones would bring change.

Ahmed Slemeh, 18, wearing a black balaclava, said: “The Israelis have killed one of us and we have to resist back. But if we want to achieve our political objectives we have to go on with an intifada [uprising]. I hope this gets bigger.”

Referring to the land of historic Palestine, he added: “What was taken by force is recovered only by force.”

In the northern West Bank hundreds of people took part in the funerals of Amer Nasser, 17, and Naji Belbisi, 18, from the village of Anabta. According to the Israeli military, the pair was shot while hurling molotov cocktails at an army checkpoint close to a nearby settlement.

Israeli intelligence has been warning for months that the mood in the West Bank is increasingly frustrated and volatile, and another intifada could erupt.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, blamed Israel for the clashes. “It seems that Israel wants to spark chaos in the Palestinian territories,” he said. “From the beginning we have said we want stability and calm. Despite that, Israel on every occasion is using lethal force against peaceful young protesters, and peaceful demonstrations are being suppressed with the power of weapons. This is not acceptable at all.”

The Foreign Office said: “We are deeply concerned about the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank. It is a tragedy when any young person’s life is cut short.

“We urge the parties to take steps towards de-escalation and to exercise restraint. We expect a full investigation.”

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Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario used the launch of the 12-day Balikatan manoeuvres to accuse China of destabilising Asia with aggressive and illegal actions in the South China Sea.

“For our region excessive and exaggerated maritime and territorial claims have not only created uncertainty but have undermined the rule of law,” del Rosario said in a speech at the nation’s military headquarters in Manila.

“Regional peace and stability have been placed at serious risk.” Del Rosario later said he was referring specifically to China.

China claims most of the South China Sea, including waters and tiny rock outcrops near the coasts of smaller neighbours such as the Philippines.

Tensions have escalated in recent years as China has sought to stamp its authority over the region.

The Philippines has accused China of occupying a shoal close to its main island, and appealed to the United Nations to rule on the validity of Chinese claims to the resource-rich sea.

And last month China’s navy began patrolling disputed waters, sending vessels to within 80 kilometres (50 miles) of the Malaysian coast and at one point firing “warning signal shells” at a Vietnamese boat.

Amid the rising tensions, the Philippines has sought closer diplomatic and military ties with the United States, its former colonial ruler.

The two countries share a 61-year-old mutual defence pact, which requires the United States to come to the aid of the Philippines if it is attacked.

Del Rosario said the Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises were a very important part of the Philippines’ efforts to secure US support.

“For my country we need to secure our borders and protect our territorial integrity more vigorously than we have before,” he said.

“Balikatan… is an important contribution in not only preparing both our armed forces to work together but also in building my country’s own capacity to defend itself.” The manoeuvres involve more than 8,000 US and Filipino troops, 30 military aircraft including a dozen US F/A-18 Hornets and three naval vessels, the two countries said.Friday’s launch only involved speeches from military and political leaders from the two sides.

The media will be allowed access to exercises next week, some of which will involve combat drills and simulated rescue work for natural disasters.

Del Rosario also said it was vital for the Philippines to have more US forces rotate throughout the year, and not just for scheduled exercises such as Balikatan.

“This will be crucial in our efforts in the short term to establish our minimum credible defence posture, and in the long term to build a more robust national defence structure,” he said, without giving details.

The Philippines said last year it would allow more US troops to visit for short durations, such as for naval port calls, although it ruled out a return of permanent bases.—AFP

Despite the success of the Iron Dome anti-missile batteries at intercepting rockets launched from Gaza during November’s eight-day conflict, the five units currently operational are insufficient to protect against the superior firepower of Hezbollah in Lebanon. “I will recommend protecting the country’s functional continuity and the ability to maintain an [Israeli Defence Forces] offensive effort over time, until the war is won,” Maj Gen Eyal Eisenberg, head of the home front command, said in an interview with Haaretz.

“That means protecting power plants and the air force bases before the big cities.”

Israel needed more than 10 batteries to protect the civilian population in the targeted regions, he said. “As of now… we will have to introduce an order of priorities in resources. We will have to make a tough, trenchant and clear decision.”According to the Israeli military, about 1,500 rockets were launched from Gaza during Operation Pillar of Defence. Iron Dome intercepted 85 per cent of those that were a risk to life. Four Israeli civilians were killed by rockets in the conflict. Hezbollah has about 5,000 warheads in its arsenal, Eisenberg said.

The area around Tel Aviv, Israel’s major metropolis, will come under a massive missile barrage, he added. “In my estimation, the first days will be extremely difficult. I am preparing for a scenario in which more than a thousand missiles and rockets a day are fired at the civilian rear.”

Instead of being in the rear, Israeli citizens would find themselves “on a second front”.

The success of Iron Dome during November’s conflict had given the Israeli public a false sense of security, he said.

By arrangement with the Guardian

It is not, perhaps, an atypical scene in a place where education is highly valued. What is unusual, however, is that these Palestinian boys are studying Hebrew; part of a resurgence in learning the “language of the enemy”, fostered – remarkably – by Gaza’s Hamas government.

Around 750 ninth-grade pupils in Hamas-run schools have begun studying Hebrew in a pilot scheme that could be extended in the coming years. It is the first time for almost two decades that the language of Israel is on the school curriculum.

And at the Islamic University in Gaza City, an institution with close ties to Hamas, 19 students have enrolled in a one-year postgraduate diploma in Hebrew that will qualify them to teach in government schools.

Somayia al Nakhala, director of curriculum at the ministry of education, explains why Hamas put Hebrew on the curriculum: “It is better to know what Israel is thinking and saying than to know nothing. We have to know the language of our enemy – or our neighbour.”

She points out that people in Gaza consume Israeli products, are prescribed Israeli drugs and often watch Israeli television via satellite or access Israeli websites. “We are connected to Israel,” she said. “Politics is different from practicalities.”

Until 20 years ago, thousands of Gazans worked as labourers or factory workers in Israel, picking up Hebrew as part of their daily existence.
Palestinian doctors worked in Israeli hospitals; Gazan businessmen liaised with their Israeli counterparts on import and export deals; some learned the language during spells in Israeli prisons.

But, as Gaza was increasingly closed off from Israel, after the establishment of limited self-rule by the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the suicide bombings of the second intifada and the rise of Hamas as Gaza’s ruling Islamist faction, the number of Hebrew-speaking Palestinians dwindled. Hamas is now taking steps to reverse the trend.

And there is no shortage of takers. At Shefie elementary school for boys, 350 out of 400 ninth-grade pupils wanted to sign up for Hebrew last September. Most were disappointed; due to limited teaching capacity, the school could offer only one class of 40 pupils.

“The children are very eager to learn, maybe because it’s close to Arabic and easy to learn,” said Ziara, their teacher. The class notched up a pass rate of 100 per cent at the end of the first term.

In general, Gaza has high standards of education despite the fact that its overcrowded schools are forced to run large classes and a shortened day to accommodate two shifts in one premises. More than 92 per cent of its population are literate, a higher rate than countries with comparable economies. Ziara used to work in Israel as a trader, but has been barred from entry since 1999. “I’m not a politician, but we are neighbours with Israel whether we are at war or peace. So we need to learn their language.  “And the language is full of literature and culture, so it’s enriching to learn,” he said, stressing that this is a personal viewpoint.

One of the boys in his class, 14-year-old Naji Ayyad, says his family encouraged him to take up Hebrew, which his father speaks from his time as a worker in Israel. “It’s good to understand the enemy language in order to counter them,” he said.

Indeed, language has become a weapon in the propaganda war between the two sides. The military wing of Hamas, which does not recognise Israel’s right to exist, tweeted in Hebrew during the eight-day conflict in November. The Israeli authorities regularly send text messages in Arabic to Gazans, and shower the territory with warning leaflets written in Arabic.

At the Islamic University, teacher Jamal al-Hadad, who gained a diploma in Hebrew literature from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University in 1978, says the language is easy for Arabic speakers to learn. “Arabic and Hebrew are very close, the languages have the same roots.”  He uses as a teaching tool a stapled booklet of his own poems – on “peace, beauty, love, politics and friendship” – which he has translated into Hebrew.

There have been a few objections to Hebrew being taught in Gaza, he says, but “many people want to learn the language precisely because we are in a conflict with Israel. They want to know the impact of that conflict, they want to be able to follow the news in Israel.”

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Number one was “to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons”. Number three referred to an “aspiration to achieve real peace” with the Palestinians. The others were economic responsibility, equality in military conscription and the cost of living.

Netanyahu, however, has emerged from the election in a much weaker position to pursue his agenda. The rightwing alliance he forged with the former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman won only 31 seats in the 120-place parliament, with Netanyahu’s party’s share weighing in at around 20. That compares to 27 in the last parliament. Netanyahu retained his post, wrote Aluf Benn on Haaretz, “but only after a painful slap in the face from voters”.

The coming days and weeks will be spent attempting to assemble a viable coalition government from nine parties now in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset (it is inconceivable that three Israeli-Arab parties, which won 12 seats, would be invited to join a ruling coalition).

It is inevitable that Netanyahu will have to make some concessions to his new coalition partners, and the final composition of the government will help determine its approach on his “central principles”.

On Iran, significant change is not expected in the Israeli government’s stance. The hawkish rhetoric of last year has given way to a more modulated tone, but Netanyahu still regards the Iranian nuclear programme as an existential threat which must be halted by military action if sanctions and diplomacy fail to produce results. The key question is whether Israel acts unilaterally or whether it falls into line with the United States.

The issue of Iran barely figured in the election campaign. Aside from Netanyahu, the main party leaders said little on the subject “so it’s very hard to predict how this will figure in coalition discussions”, said Emily Landau of the Institute for National Security Studies.

With speculation centring on the prospects of a centre-right coalition, as opposed to a right-extreme-right-religious composition, there may be “more moderate elements” in the government that could act as a restraint, said Landau. But “Netanyahu moved the timeline to the spring or summer of 2013, and we won’t hear strong voices until then,” she added.

Amos Harel, defence correspondent for Haaretz, wrote, “With a coalition that will squint towards the centre, it seems the chances of an Israeli attack, one that is not co-ordinated with the Americans, are shrinking significantly. In the Iranian context, even though you won’t catch anyone among the top brass in the IDF admitting it out loud, you can bet that at the general staff there were many sighs of relief as the election results came in.”

But the Iranian-born analyst Meir Javedanfar predicted nothing would change. “Netanyahu’s stance is based on rhetoric, on threatening military action, as a way of maintaining international focus on the Iranian nuclear issue. The results of the election won’t change that. In any case, a decision to attack Iran is extremely unlikely to be taken in Jerusalem rather than Washington.”

The Israeli public, he added, did not want to “see a nuclear armed Iranian regime. But people don’t believe that the country is on the verge of annihilation. For Yair Lapid (whose party came second in the election), Iran is not a priority — and maybe that’s one reason why he did so well.”

A centre-right coalition could have a more significant impact on the moribund peace process, although there is also scepticism.

Lapid gave an interview to the AP last week, in which he criticised Netanyahu’s failure to hold meaningful talks with the Palestinians.

He would not be a “fig leaf” for a hardline position taken by the next government, he said. He favoured withdrawing from smaller outlying settlements in the West Bank but opposed dividing Jerusalem, saying the Palestinians should relinquish their claim on the eastern half of the city.

A partnership with Lapid “may have a softening effect (on Netanyahu) but it’s unlikely to bring major change,” said David Newman of Ben Gurion University’s department of politics. “Even though Netanyahu’s been hit very hard, he’s still going to be prime minister. And his own MPs are now much more rightwing, and will put a lot of pressure on him to continue his pro-settlement policies.”

Among Palestinians, “no one is jumping with joy”, said Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation executive committee. The Israeli elections would not produce major change, she told a press conference in Ramallah. “We do not think that peace is on the horizon. I do not expect a miraculous transformation in Israeli policy.”

Regardless of Netanyahu’s strength or weakness, or the composition of the next coalition, there would be no breakthrough in the peace process until there was a “credible interlocutor” on the Palestinian side, said Amotz Asa-El of the Shalom Hartman Institute. “The international community plays a game of make-believe, but they watch (the region) with trepidation and they know the truth. If we signed a deal (with the Palestinians) now, we would instantly have rocket launchers and all kinds of Al Qaeda types in the West Bank.”

By arrangement with the Guardian

The trade, estimated by the Israeli government to be worth about $300m a year, is “an essential step in the process of reinforcing and consolidating the settlement enterprise, while simultaneously ensuring the viability of the entire settlement strategy”, according to the report, Feasting on the Occupation.

It points out that although the EU repeatedly states that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law, it continues to allow settlement produce to enter its markets. The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, receiving about 20 per cent of total Israeli exports.

Al Haq estimates that settlements in the Jordan Valley — the large swath of fertile agricultural land in the West Bank that is dominated by Israeli agribusiness — contribute 40 per cent of herbs, 50 per cent of grapes and 40 per cent of dates exported by Israel.

“The flourishing agricultural environment in the West Bank, particularly in the Jordan Valley area, coupled with the exploitation of water and other natural resources found in the occupied territory, has … turned Israeli settlements into profitable corporations,” says the report.

Settlement goods are often labelled “produce of the West Bank” or “produce of Israel”, implying it is Palestinian produce or it originates on the Israeli side of the 1967 green line.

The British government issued guidelines to UK supermarkets three years ago urging clearer labelling, such as “Israeli settlement produce”, to allow consumers to make informed choices about purchases. An EU-wide policy on labelling has been discussed in Brussels, although officials have rejected a boycott of settlement produce.

Al Haq argues that the EU is obliged by international law to ban trade with settlements. It says that in serious breaches of the fundamental principles of international law, such as colonialism or the appropriation of property, states must not assist in maintaining an illegal situation.

“While the EU has been quite outspoken in condemning settlements and their expansion, they continue to import produce from these same settlements and in doing so, help to sustain their very existence,” said Shawan Jabarin, of Al Haq.

“As things stand, the EU is doing little more than ticking a box by acknowledging that settlements are illegal. Until they support this rhetoric with action and ensure that no assistance or recognition are provided to settlements, even indirectly, any such criticism will continue to be meaningless.”

Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said: “Al Haq is confusing a political position with international law. They are entitled to their own political views, but not to their own law. The banning of produce on political grounds is not in accordance with international law, rather the contrary. To wit, no country has legislated in this sense.”
— The Guardian, London

Government minister Yuli Edelstein told a conference in Jerusalem that the lack of Israeli sovereignty over Area C — the 60 per cent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control in which all settlements are situated — “strengthens the international community’s demand for a withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines”.

Ze’ev Elkin, the chairman of the governing coalition, said Israel should adopt a “salami” approach to annexation. “We will try to apply sovereignty over as much as we can at any given moment,” he said.

A third Likud member, extreme rightwing settler Moshe Feiglin, proposed that the state of Israel should pay Palestinian families to leave the West Bank, using funds earmarked for security measures. “We can give every family in Judea and Samaria [the biblical term for the West Bank] $500,000 to encourage to emigrate … This is the perfect solution for us,” he said.

The comments, delivered at a conference organised by a radical settlers’ organisation, “removed the masks” of the Likud-Beiteinu electoral alliance, said Tzipi Livni, former foreign minister and leader of a new centrist party, Hatnua. “Likud-Beiteinu is extreme rightwing, and will lead to the destruction of Zionism and the establishment of a binational state,” she said. The rightwing “will make Israel into a boycotted, isolated and ostracised state”.

The Likud-Beiteinu alliance — led by the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and Avigdor Lieberman, who recently resigned as foreign minister ahead of a trial on fraud and breach of trust charges — is facing an unexpectedly strong challenge from Jewish Home, a party even further to the right and led by Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, Naftali Bennett.

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Tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists are expected to visit the birthplace of Jesus over Christmas. All of the West Bank city’s 3,700 hotel rooms are likely to be filled, with thousands more visitors making day trips from nearby Jerusalem.

This year has seen a 20 per cent growth in the numbers of visitors to Bethlehem compared with the previous year, and officials hope for a further rise in tourism to Palestine next year. The biggest number of tourists — more than a quarter — come from Russia.

Officials are heartened by the increasing number of visitors who are opting to stay in hotels in Bethlehem rather than just making the trip from Jerusalem. Hotel rates in Bethlehem are about half the price of the equivalent accommodation in Jerusalem, which is just 10km away.

But officials say the local tourist industry still faces huge hurdles as a result of Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank.

Israel controls all entry to the West Bank. Tourists and pilgrims either have to fly into Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv or cross overland from neighbouring Jordan via borders controlled by Israel.

Palestinian tour buses are forbidden from entering Israel to collect visitors from the airport and they are not allowed to take groups to visit holy sites in Jerusalem or Galilee.

Tourists and pilgrims to Israel are usually brought to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity and other historic sites on short visits organised by Israeli tour operators.

Palestinian officials say such visitors rarely stay overnight or spend money in local restaurants and souvenir shops.

“Ninety per cent of tourism to Bethlehem is controlled by Israel,” said local tourism expert George Rishmawi. “Many tourists are warned against coming to the West Bank, and are afraid to cross the wall,” he added, referring to the concrete barrier that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem.

Since the wall was constructed around Bethlehem almost 10 years ago, local businesses have struggled in the face of restrictions on movement and access.

But tourism, one of the main economic sectors, has picked up over the past year. “Next year, we are expecting a further increase,” said Samir Hazboun, the chairman of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce. “We are working on new markets, such as India and Latin America.”

Officials hoped that the United Nations’ implicit recognition of the state of Palestine and the inclusion of Bethlehem on the list of world heritage sites by the UN’s cultural arm, Unesco, would further boost tourist numbers.

The city is planning to increase the number of hotel beds, offer improved packages and invest in marketing and promotion, said Hazboun.

Bethlehem is “a symbol of hope and peace” to the world, said Rishmawi. However, he added: “Hotels in Bethlehem will be full at Christmas, but we need families to come here all the year round, to walk in our streets and eat in our restaurants.” — The Guardian, London